A computer user who communicates with other remote computers, usually via the telephone network or the Internet. In recent years, the term has acquired a pejorative sense, referring to those who access remote computers without permission, often obtaining access to confidential information of a personal or business nature. Malicious hacking is now illegal within several countries. Computer systems are vulnerable to the infiltration of viruses or bugs which give control of the computers to hackers with malicious intent. This has led to a growing demand for anti-virus programs designed by computer security experts.
A hacker is someone who creates and modifies computer software and computer hardware, including computer programming, administration, and security-related items. The term usually bears strong connotations, but may be either favorable or denigrating depending on cultural context (see the Hacker definition controversy). Common definitions include:
In computer programming, a hacker is a software designer and programmer who builds elegant, beautiful programs and systems. A hacker can also be a programmer who hacks or reaches a goal by employing a series of modifications to exploit or extend existing code or resources. For some, "hacker" has a negative connotation and refers to a person who "hacks" or uses kludges to accomplish programming tasks that are ugly, inelegant, and inefficient. This negative form of the noun "hack" is even used among users of the positive sense of "hacker". In computer security, a hacker is a person who specializes in work with the security mechanisms for computer and network systems. In this case, many consider the right term to be cracker In other technical fields, hacker is extended to mean a person who makes things work beyond perceived limits through their own technical skill, such as a hardware hacker, or reality hacker. In hacker culture, a hacker is a person who has attained a certain social status and is recognized among members of the culture for commitment to the culture's values and a certain amount of technical knowledge.Categories of hacker
The hacker community, the set of people who would describe themselves as hackers or described by others as hackers, falls into at least four partially overlapping categories. Sometimes alternate terms such as "cracker" are used in an attempt to more exactly distinguish which category of hacker is intended, or when attempting to put a contextual distance between the categories due to the Hacker definition controversy.
Hacker: Highly skilled programmer
The positive usage of hacker is one who knows a (sometimes specified) set of programming interfaces well enough to program rapidly and expertly. This type of hacker is well-respected (although the term still carries some of the meaning of hack), and is capable of developing programs without adequate planning or where pre-planning is difficult or impossible to achieve. At their best, hackers can be very productive. The technical downside of hacker productivity is often in maintainability, documentation, and completion. Very talented hackers may become bored with a project once they have figured out all of the hard parts, and be unwilling to finish off the "details". In other cases, where a hacker is willing to maintain their own code, a company may be unable to find anyone else who is capable or willing to dig through code to maintain the program if the original programmer moves on to a new job.
Additionally, there is sometimes a social downside associated with hacking. The stereotype of a hacker as having gained technical ability at a cost in social ability has historical basis in an uncomfortable amount of factual foundation in many individuals. While not universal, nor even restricted to hackers, the difficulty in relating to others and the often abrasive personalities of some hackers makes some of them difficult to work with or to organize into teams. On the other hand, it is not uncommon for hackers to thrive on social interaction.
Hacker: Computer and network security expert
In the networking sense, a hacker is one who specializes in work with the access control mechanisms for computer and network systems. This use of hacker as intruder (frequent in the media) generally has a strong negative connotation, and is disparaged and discouraged within the computer community, resulting in the modern Hacker definition controversy.
For such hackers specializing in intrusion, the highly derogatory term script kiddies is often used to indicate those who either claim to have far more skill than they actually have, or who exclusively use programs developed by others to achieve a successful security exploit.
Hacker: Hardware modifier
Another type of hacker is one who creates novel hardware modifications. This type of Hacker modifes his/her computer for performance needs and/or aesthetics. At the more advanced end of the hardware hackers are those who modify hardware (not limited to computers) to expand capabilities;
Hackers who have the ability to write circuit-level code, device drivers, firmware, low-level networking, (and even more impressively, using these techniques to make devices do things outside of their spec sheets), are typically in very high regard among hacker communities. Such hackers are rare, and almost always considered to be wizards or gurus of a very high degree.
Hacker stereotypes
There are theoretical types of hackers who are considered to possess an atypical level of skill beyond that of other meanings of the positive form of "hacker", which include the Guru and the Wizard.
In some portions of the computer community, a Wizard is one who can do anything a hacker can, but elegantly;
Within the mainstream media, hackers are often characterised as strange, mysterious, reclusive, and especially tricky.
Recognized hackers
Due to the overlapping nature of the hacker concept space, many of these individuals could be included in more than one category. See also Hacker (computer security), which has a list of people in that category, including criminal or unethical hackers.
Skilled programmers
Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the world wide web, while a student in the 1970s, was banned from access to the Oxford University computer for hacking access. Through his work, he has made significant contributions to the field of 3D computer graphics and his games have sold in the millions. Grace Hopper, the first programmer of the Mark I Calculator, also developed the first compiler for a computer programming language. Mel Kaye, the archetypal Real Programmer, was credited with doing "the bulk of the programming" for the Royal McBee LGP-30 drum-memory computer in the 1950s. Ed Nather, another hacker, published the widely acclaimed "Story of Mel" in the 1980s. Donald Knuth, best known for practically creating the field of algorithm analysis, coding the TeX typesetting system, and writing The Art of Computer Programming - one of the most respected references in the field. Ritchie is also notable for having created the C programming language, from Ken Thompson's B programming language. Randal Schwartz, Perl programming language pioneer, billed himself as "Just another Perl hacker (but not what the media calls "'hacker'!)" This was in reference to characterizations made during his criminal prosecution for unauthorized computer access. Acclaimed in Steven Levy's Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution as "The Last True Hacker." Steve Wozniak, a co-founder of Apple Computer (with Steve Jobs).Security experts
Fyodor — Author of the open source Nmap Security Scanner, web site Insecure.Org, co-author of hacking novel How to Own a Continent, and founding member of the Honeynet Project. Adrian Lamo - American hacker who gained notoriety by hacking high-profile websites using common flaws in their webpages. Hacks include The New York Times, AOL, MCI Worldcom, Cingular, Google, and the NSA.Hacker media personalities
Listed below are individuals who, while fitting in one or more of the above categories, are currently more widely famous (especially among the general public) for their media presence than their technical accomplishments. Author of The Conscience of a Hacker (Hacker's Manifesto). Eric Corley (also known as Emmanuel Goldstein) — Long standing publisher of 2600: The Hacker Quarterly and founder of the H.O.P.E. He has been part of the hacker community since the late '70s. Kroupa (also known as Lord Digital) — Former LOD member, co-founder of MindVox, author of Phantom Access programs, and MindVox: The Overture. Kevin Mitnick — A former computer criminal who now (since his release from prison in 2000) speaks, consults, and authors books about social engineering and network security. CULT OF THE DEAD COW — A high profile hacker group that has both made news and been consulted by the media on numerous occasions. He also maintains the Jargon File for the Hacker culture, which was previously maintained by Guy L. The 414s and Neal Patrick — teenage hackers who gained brief but widespread media coverage in 1983 Gary McKinnon — accused of hacking into 97 United States military and NASA computers in 2001 and 2002. The Hacker Crackdown. Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness and Obsession on the Electronic Frontier. The Hacker Diaries : Confessions of Teenage Hackers.
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