hacker

hacker



Because of this increasing popularity of computers
and their continued high cost, access to them was
usually restricted. When refused access to the computers,
some users would challenge the access controls
that had been put in place. They would steal
passwords or account numbers by looking over someone’s
shoulder, explore the system for bugs that
might get them past the rules, or even take control
of the whole system. They would do these things in
order to be able to run the programs of their choice,
or just to change the limitations under which their
programs were running.
Initially these computer intrusions were fairly benign,
with the most damage being the theft of computer
time. Other times, these recreations would take the
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form of practical jokes. However, these intrusions did
not stay benign for long. Occasionally the less talented,
or less careful, intruders would accidentally bringdown
a system or damage its files, and the system administrators
would have to restart it or make repairs. Other
times, when these intruders were again denied access
once their activities were discovered, they would
react with purposefully destructive actions.Whenthe
number of these destructive computer intrusions became
noticeable, due to the visibility of the system
or the extent of the damage inflicted, it became
“news” and the news media picked up on the story.
Instead of using the more accurate term of “computer
criminal,” the media began using the term
“hacker” to describe individuals who break into computers
for fun, revenge, or profit. Since calling someone
a “hacker” was originally meant as a compliment,
computer security professionals prefer to use the
term “cracker” or “intruder” for those hackers who
turn to the dark side of hacking. For clarity, we will
use the explicit terms “ethical hacker” and “criminal
hacker” for the rest of this paper.