Is it ethical to hack my own network?

[Going_AFK]

I want to start practising cyber security since it will be my course in uni, would i be allowed to hack my own network, my router has been provided by my ISP, Sky (UK brand)

I wanted to get a headstart so would it be fine?

[Fasauceome]

Having any network is neutral, not ethical or otherwise. It's what you do when you've successfully broken security that matters.

 

Heard of white hat hacking? Users will break security, and then immediately report how they did it to the developers to help them patch flaws. Very ethical.

[Going_AFK]

yes, white hat hacking, my uncle has a job as a contracter i wanted to follow his footsteps, i just wanted to make sure that i wasnt doing anything illegal thanks

[Drama Lama]

15 minutes ago, Going_AFK said:

I want to start practising cyber security since it will be my course in uni, would i be allowed to hack my own network, my router has been provided by my ISP, Sky (UK brand)

I wanted to get a headstart so would it be fine?

Maybe hacking your router might be illegal because it is provided by your isp and the contract doesn’t allow the hacking of your router but for things in your own network it should be legal

( but I‘m obviously not a lawyer)

ask your uncle 

[AbsoluteFool]

33 minutes ago, Drama Lama said:

Maybe hacking your router might be illegal because it is provided by your isp and the contract doesn’t allow the hacking of your router but for things in your own network it should be legal

( but I‘m obviously not a lawyer)

ask your uncle 

Why would he need permission to break into something the ISP have already gived him access to?

 

The term ethical is way to subjective and far too often missused. The best rule is if you do not own it do not touch it.

[straight_stewie]

Theoretically you can't really "hack" your own stuff since you can just put in your password and get to it anyway.

I guess so long as you respect the privacy of the other people on your private network, and that it is your private network and not a school or residential complex network, then I can't imagine that you'd have any problems.

Besides that, even if it wasn't legal, who would know: You're hacking yourself. What are you gonna do, call the feds on yourself?

[wanderingfool2]

17 hours ago, Going_AFK said:

I want to start practising cyber security since it will be my course in uni, would i be allowed to hack my own network, my router has been provided by my ISP, Sky (UK brand)

I wanted to get a headstart so would it be fine?

To be clear, are we talking about actual ethics, or legality here?

 

Ethics are a real grey area, and can vary between communities.  Overall, I think in a white hat hacker way, it is ethical if it's your connection and you are just trying to practice. (Or of equipment within your control)

 

I don't know your laws there, but for the router not being yours it might be another grey area (Some places I know are illegal to do so)

[colonel_mortis]

Depending on exactly what you're planning to do, it's probably fine. If you're going to be intercepting your own network traffic or sniffing your own network, there's nothing wrong with that (provided that everyone else on the network is aware and consents). If you are actively trying to find vulnerabilities in the ISP's hardware (eg by probing the admin panel of your router), it's more of a grey area, but as long as you're not looking for ways to do any harm to the ISP (so, no searching for vulnerabilities that let you do stuff to the internet side of your router) you aren't breaking UK law (nb I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice), and you're far from the only person who has tried that, so that would normally also be considered ethical hacking.