Hacked and Hacked Off From the Bunker Day 41

Lately it seems that when I watch a movie or a television show it revolves around epidemics or computer hacking. Interestingly, these aren’t new shows. Epidemics and hackers are both the result of the fall, but hackers are worse. Epidemics we can’t control. A fallen world is bound to unleash diseases that ply the second law of thermodynamics and keeps the world in bondage to death. All we can do is react and try to come up with a solution. But hackers….oh, hackers are just plain mean. They have a choice and they volitionally try and ruin people’s lives and reputations.

The following are the top ten hacks. Click here for a definition of each.

1.     Denial-of-service (DoS) and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks

2.     Man-in-the-middle (MitM) attack

3.     Phishing and spear phishing attacks

4.     Drive-by attack

5.     Password attack

6.     SQL injection attack

7.     Cross-site scripting (XSS) attack

8.     Eavesdropping attack

9.     Birthday attack

10.  Malware attack

What seems to be the most common and annoying is the email hack, and yes it happened to me this morning. Everyone gets an email from me that says I need a response, and I don’t know what happens when they respond. Does the hacker get more email addresses, and what does he do with them? There is either money involved or the person is just pure evil. I get the money angle, but to do it for sport disrupts people’s lives for no reason, or at least one I can’t fathom. It means we have to be diligent or we will be led astray. I have to be diligent, but the receiver even more so. The hacker today missed how I sign my name. If you know me I never sign my name “Pastor Dr.” or “Dr. Pastor”. Those are dead give aways. If you slightly know me and how I have joked about my doctorate you might wonder if it is from me. If you don’t know me at all you will wonder what I need and try and contact me. In a world of hackers we have to be hyper vigilant or else we will get sucked into their scams.

It’s the same in our spiritual lives. Satan is constantly trying to hack or hijack our faith. That’s why Peter wrote this.

2 Peter 1:10,11. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The closer we are to Jesus, the less likely we are to be spiritually hacked. By developing our relationship with Him through prayer, study of the word, and the communion of the saints we fortify our spiritual lives like firewalls on our computer. It takes diligence… daily diligence. Satan doesn’t let his guard down. He is constantly looking for inroads into our lives; cracks that he can expand.

2 Peter 1:5-8. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Don’t let the hacker hack you, because you’ll just be hacked off. Be diligent. I’m just saying.

From the Bunker Day 41