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Makawak
01 Sep 2009, 10:28 AM
Hey everyone.

Was hoping just to share a few minutes of your time. The media and most of the world today use the term "hacker" to describe individuals who use their computers for illegal malicious purposes.

The fact is anyone doing that is not a hacker. They are a cracker.

A hacker is someone who will take apart things to see how it works(eg. right click -> view source), will push things to their limit, and are continuously trying to expand and seek new knowledge as well as help. They do not use their knowledge for personal gain or to cause trouble.

A cracker is someone who is like a hacker however does it for the soul purpose of causing trouble, and personal gain. They do things because they can, and they don't care who they hurt.

Two other terms are white hat and black hat. White for being a hacker, and black for a cracker. There is also a gray hat. Gray hats are those who mostly work in this field for their government. Although they would generally be considered a white hat, since they're doing something to attack an enemy its also considered black. However instead of having to have the dishonor of being branded black, hackers established gray. This way when a war ends and peace resumes, respect can still remain.

Being a hacker by profession it is always frustrating to see people use it to describe it as something we're not.

Hope you guys don't mind the post, and hopefully a few have learned something new. :)

dreamst8
01 Sep 2009, 12:15 PM
Thank you for clearing that up, Makawak. Now that I know, I will be sure to address hackers and crackers properly.

Learn something new everyday. :-)