I am a Hacker.

[Varun_Pramanik]

I know what you're thinking - "What a moron! Doesn't he have anything else to do with his time than gain illegal access to a computer?". I'd like to tell you that the word Hacker is no longer used to refer to a computer criminal but is used to refer to a person who helps protect computers. Now, the word Cracker is used to refer to a computer criminal. So:
Good Guy:
-Hacker
-White Hat Hacker
-Ethical Hacker

Bad Buy:
-Cracker
-Black Hat Hacker
-Unethical Hacker
-"warez d00dz"
-"cyberpunk"


So, now that I've cleared that up, I can confidently say that I am a Hacker because I help protect computers.  

[Masamune no Hi]

Well, then, I appluad you. Somehow someone got my E-Mail address and is trying to send me viruses. I think I know who it is, but I have some good virus scanners.  

[Ame Yuki Kaze]

I applaud the white hat hackers and have some friends who do that. I have a strong dislike for black hat crackers because I've had email and online accounts stolen from under my nose by them back in the days when I was too naive to use a firewall.  

[Masamune no Hi]

While this is off topic, I would like to comment on your signature about not writing it that I just noticed. That is on the Guild of the Week or month or whatever that they have. It was a joke that the site admins did.  

[Archdemonessa]

I'm a Hacker for the college I try to volunteer at. It's sad, I'm smarter than the other students.  

[[ Pyrite ]]

[x]
For those who don't understand all this hat business:

White hat: Hacker who attempts to do good. For instance, if you have an unsecured wireless network with the default factory settings in place, a white hat would connect and upgrade your firmware for you.

Grey hat: Hacker who does what they do for fun. A friend of mine got a phone call from the Vancouver grey hat society and told him they gained access to his computer. They then recited his social security number and credit card information which he had stored on his PC - they didn't do anything with it.

Black hat: Hacker that does what they do for evil/malicious purposes. No examples needed.

Green hat: A novice, somewhat more capable than a script kiddie.

To the original poster: If what you do say is true, then the whole business is silly. A cracker is someone who codes and provides cracks for software so you don't have to purchase it to use it. It always bothers me when someone says they have a hacked piece of software, it's cracked damnit!

Edit: Forgot to mention that Linux named their 6.0 version "Red hat". I can't recall if that colour has any meaning or not.

~Pyrite
[x]  

[Gachetemas]

At first I thought you meant you're a bad golfer. So, what's wrong with playing on weekends, wearing a white hat, maybe chasing some squirrels in a golf cart? Damn those little buggers!  

[The Man who was Thursday]

I think Hacker has always been used to refer to a "good" hacker, but similarly, it's taken on a bad connotation rather recently.


But, whatever; you should be able to gather which kind of hacker the person means by context.  

[Mechanized_Demonclaws]

Wow, I'm learning stuff everyday  

[Ame Yuki Kaze]

Demonclaws: everyday every day. The end of a sentence is always punctuated with a period, exclamation point or question mark.

I blame a lot of the confusion on the mass media. Whenever I watch a news report about online security, they always use the word "hackers" and not "crackers". This of course leads people to believe they are all one and the same.  

[Varun_Pramanik]

Thank You! At least there are some people who know the difference between a hacker and a cracker.  

[LarryTheLlama666]

Wow that is different.(-Adds it to her memory-)  

[The Shoe Pile]

Oh I knew that. Hackers are suppose to be professionals, right? I learned this from an anti-virus site. smile  

[Totensonntag]

cooldude_62442

I know what you're thinking - "What a moron! Doesn't he have anything else to do with his time than gain illegal access to a computer?". I'd like to tell you that the word Hacker is no longer used to refer to a computer criminal but is used to refer to a person who helps protect computers. Now, the word Cracker is used to refer to a computer criminal. So:
Good Guy:
-Hacker
-White Hat Hacker
-Ethical Hacker

Bad Buy:
-Cracker
-Black Hat Hacker
-Unethical Hacker
-"warez d00dz"
-"cyberpunk"


So, now that I've cleared that up, I can confidently say that I am a Hacker because I help protect computers.

Personally, I till think it's the other way around. I'd use someone that called themselves a cracker before hacker to help me with my computer.

Hell, according to my slightly out dated text book, a hacker is someone who invaded the privacy of others, be it for malicious reasons, or just for fun.  

[Angel80272]

Quote:

Personally, I till think it's the other way around. I'd use someone that called themselves a cracker before hacker to help me with my computer.

Hell, according to my slightly out dated text book, a hacker is someone who invaded the privacy of others, be it for malicious reasons, or just for fun.

Your text book must be more outdated than you believe if it still refers to all computer invasion experts as "hackers". The common terminology is just as Pyrite said, and "Black hats" are commonly referred to as "Crackers" because they "Crack" your computer with the intention to do harm.

"Hacker" is a rather ambiguous term because, no matter how you look at it, you are still breaking into something without permission. The only differences are motives and what happens after you break in.