19 replies to this topic

[Athleone]

What is a hacker?

Contrary to what you might think, and what the media and the Internet have told you, a hacker is not one who cracks a security scheme, or breaks into another's computer. These people are called crackers, and they should not be associated with hackers, who are a far different type of person. Hackers are those who adjust computers and its programs to their needs - Technological wizards, you might say.

Stereotype

It is wrong to stereotype hackers. For example, many hackers are stereotyped as Unsociable. However, this is not true. Just look at one of the greatest hackers in history, Linus Torvalds, creator of the popular operating system Linux. He has a wife, and several children. This shows that hackers should not be stereotyped.

Hacker Culture

The Jargon File is a very good resource of information about hacker culture. 1337 5p34k has been created by hackers, as a way to get around BBS censoring systems. Also, there are many symbols of the hacker culture - Tux, the Linux penguin, the BSD Daemon, and the Perl Camel stand out as examples.

I hope this got you a better understanding of what a hacker is. For more information, look to this wikipedia article.

[shadowx]

As a typical definition i would say a hacker is "one who modifies or otherwise forces a computer system to work differently to its original specification or purpose" (i didnt copy that, i made it up, hence no quote tags )

So it COULD mean someone who modifies a security program to allow access rather than deny it. Or it could be someone who creates a mod or addon for a piece of software, for example creating their own doc>pdf converter addon.

Crackers IMHO are those who "hack" passwords by brute forcing (i know its now hacking, hence the quotes) eg "he cracked the password" or those who analyse and decipher encryptions or cyphers, hence cracking the code, cracking the cypher, cracking the password etc.... IMHO they are only one step up from the dreaded "script Kiddie" Those who would take a brute forcing application and run it on a file to crack the password and then claim they hacked it or that it was some form of elite system or hacking that they used, when in fact they clicked one button. Generally to me it describes someone who has no understanding of the security in place and no understanding of what they are doing. Instead blindly doing it to prove a point to a friend.

But there you go. I do agree that the media has stereo typed hackers very badly, when in fact many advanced systems such as traffic control software, operating systems, application, firewalls etc... wouldnt exist without the help of hackers making sure they are secure and functioning.

[xpress]

Hmmm....Well now a days most people know that hackers are not that bad.
Atleast people who are using internet knows media has changed the meaning of
the term hacker. In every hacking related book you read you'll find that hacker is
not a bad person.
Originally the word hacker was used to describe a person who was well skilled in
a programming language.

So to clear the meaning the internet community termed new words
to differentiate between a malicious hacker and good hacker(ethical hacker).

Three different words using to differentiate hacking. They are

1. White-Hat Hacker: These are ethical hackers. They work to improve system security.

2. Black-Hat Hacker: Unethical hackers who exploit systems for their personal use.

3. Grey-Hat Hacker: There are many arguments about these Grey-Hat hackers.
To define simply, they have good intentions, but they do some damage. For example hackers
who others hacks websites to notify the webmasters that, it has some vulnerabilities.
Even though their intention is good, they do some damage to the website.

Ethical hackers are security experts, Black-hat hacker is the dangerous one. But whomever the hacker may
be, definitely he has some great knowledge.

[joeblogg]

i think hackers should hack because they are holding a larger power over webowners who are very good at securing their site against hackers. whether their white hat or not their still doing something that they should do.

but i'm still a hacker...

[innosia]

I think most businessman fear of hacker (before the cracker terms coming out), then they try to persuade those geniuses to think that they are 'good' and they are several level between them (such as black grey and so on), then those hackers will be hired by them, and they are safe from exploitation while can keep securing their company, they blame the bad work is done by cracker.

Then the terms cracker comes out, which means bad one that hack people site and hack software, and illegal activities and hackers then is a person who hack into a system for the reason of testing the system security. Which means that they are easily and sweetly manipulated by the sweet term of hacker not a cracker. Then who knows anything in fact that its not easy hacking?

[Diffusr]

Athleone, on Sep 28 2008, 12:47 PM, said:

What is a hacker?

Contrary to what you might think, and what the media and the Internet have told you, a hacker is not one who cracks a security scheme, or breaks into another's computer. These people are called crackers, and they should not be associated with hackers, who are a far different type of person. Hackers are those who adjust computers and its programs to their needs - Technological wizards, you might say.

Stereotype

It is wrong to stereotype hackers. For example, many hackers are stereotyped as Unsociable. However, this is not true. Just look at one of the greatest hackers in history, Linus Torvalds, creator of the popular operating system Linux. He has a wife, and several children. This shows that hackers should not be stereotyped.

Hacker Culture

The Jargon File is a very good resource of information about hacker culture. 1337 5p34k has been created by hackers, as a way to get around BBS censoring systems. Also, there are many symbols of the hacker culture - Tux, the Linux penguin, the BSD Daemon, and the Perl Camel stand out as examples.

I hope this got you a better understanding of what a hacker is. For more information, look to this wikipedia article.

I quite agree. What you refer to is a "computer hacker". Hacking actually covers a much wider subject field than just computers. In fact, ANY subject field can have hackers, from DNA hacking, aeronautical hacking, diesel engine hacking. Hacking is far more than merely gaining access to restricted cyber systems, though doing this can quite easily be part of a hack.

[Evolke]

Wow! I didn't actually know that! I was under the impression that a Hacker was someone that altered with another persons computer in order to recieve personal or private information, Card Numbers, Phone Numbers etc.
Learn somthing new everyday!

[rpgsearcherz]

This thread was found to me to be quite entertaining, because it's something I knew about already, but most don't.

A lot of people don't know that Bill Gates was arrested when he was....17, I think it was, for hacking a PC. This was before the normal PC's that we all see today, and to my understanding was just a system of sounds that were simulated.

Along with this, there are many people that do 'black-hat' hacking and get jobs from the companies they crack into.

I mostly find this interesting because it's one of the few things that is illegal but can get you rich if you do it to a major corporation. Or it can get you thrown in jail. Either way, I find it entertaining to learn more about just how many people make millions of dollars each year now solely because they decided 'Hey, let's go break the law and risk going to prison so we can hack this!'

[HDuffRules]

Although public perception of hackers might be changing, there really still exists a rather large portion of the population that knows very little about hacker (and by association) geek culture.
In lots of movies, hackers are still bad people who do bad things. Ex. Sydney White (2007), Die Hard 4 (2007) and others.


Interesting point about the term "cracker" though. Up until this point I was under the impression that 'cracker' referred exclusively to the kind folks that make free software..

[ychael]

Athleone, on Sep 28 2008, 11:47 AM, said:

What is a hacker?

Contrary to what you might think, and what the media and the Internet have told you, a hacker is not one who cracks a security scheme, or breaks into another's computer. These people are called crackers, and they should not be associated with hackers, who are a far different type of person. Hackers are those who adjust computers and its programs to their needs - Technological wizards, you might say.

Stereotype

It is wrong to stereotype hackers. For example, many hackers are stereotyped as Unsociable. However, this is not true. Just look at one of the greatest hackers in history, Linus Torvalds, creator of the popular operating system Linux. He has a wife, and several children. This shows that hackers should not be stereotyped.

Hacker Culture

The Jargon File is a very good resource of information about hacker culture. 1337 5p34k has been created by hackers, as a way to get around BBS censoring systems. Also, there are many symbols of the hacker culture - Tux, the Linux penguin, the BSD Daemon, and the Perl Camel stand out as examples.

I hope this got you a better understanding of what a hacker is. For more information, look to this wikipedia article.

hack are some techniques that full of constructivity ,everything has
knacks,hacker is who has ablility to use them

Edited by ychael, 22 October 2008 - 04:56 AM.