The only bright spot on the horizon is the development of automated investigation tools to counter the automatic hacking tools.

ECONOMIST: Forensic computing studies the anatomy of computer crime

Of course, these search engine hacking tools could also be used by malicious hackers trying to suss out vulnerabilities in a target or strafe the Internet for new victims.

FORBES: Researchers Will Turn Google And Bing Into Web Bug Warning System

Pwnie Express' stealthy sequel to the Pwn Plug ships with a Debian 6 instance of Linux whose handy hacking tools are as easy to launch as they are tough to detect.

ENGADGET: DARPA-backed Power Pwn is power strip by day, superhero hack machine by night

Criminals "are designing hacking tools in a smart way, so it doesn't take as many resources in the computer" and slow down performance, which could signal something wrong with the machine, Kim said.

CNN: Cyber attacks touching celebrities, governments

But if we ever wanted to consider treaties on cyber disarmament, or regulations on the use of hacking tools by those wishing to do more than simply spy or steal, we would become immediately stymied by how to enforce the rules.

CNN: Cyber arms control? Forget about it

As well as the data, they are also building up a significant amount of karma from the modding and hacking community that their Sony phones will be tools they can adapt into whatever they want.

FORBES: Sony's Lesson In Winning Friends And Smartphone Hackers With Firefox OS

Tools for attack known to industry leading white-hat hacking organizations, some of which are proprietary, but most of which are not.

FORBES: Written by David Lowenstein and Risu Na

For the National Day of Civic Hacking, participants will focus on producing full, production ready apps and visualization tools that will be featured on the We the People website and made available under an open source license.

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