Hacking, Hacker > Cracker

<Quote>
There is a community, a shared culture, of expert programmers and networking wizards that traces its history back through decades to the first time-sharing minicomputers and the earliest ARPAnet experiments. The members of this culture originated the term `hacker'. Hackers built the Internet. Hackers made the Unix operating system what it is today. Hackers run Usenet. Hackers make the World Wide Web work. If you are part of this culture, if you have contributed to it and other people in it know who you are and call you a hacker, you're a hacker.

The hacker mind-set is not confined to this software-hacker culture. There are people who apply the hacker attitude to other things, like electronics or music -- actually, you can find it at the highest levels of any science or art. Software hackers recognize these kindred spirits elsewhere and may call them "hackers" too -- and some claim that the hacker nature is really independent of the particular medium the hacker works in. But in the rest of this document we will focus on the skills and attitudes of software hackers, and the traditions of the shared culture that originated the term `hacker'.

There is another group of people who loudly call themselves hackers, but aren't. These are people (mainly adolescent males) who get a kick out of breaking into computers and phreaking the phone system. Real hackers call these people `crackers' and want nothing to do with them. Real hackers mostly think crackers are lazy, irresponsible, and not very bright, and object that being able to break security doesn't make you a hacker any more than being able to hotwire cars makes you an automotive engineer. Unfortunately, many journalists and writers have been fooled into using the word `hacker' to describe crackers; this irritates real hackers no end.

The basic difference is this: hackers build things, crackers break them.

<quote>

If you want to be a hacker, live learn and prosper along side some of the best security minded people I have ever had the pleasure to chat with.

If you want to be a cracker, go read the alt.2600 newsgroup and get ready to do five to ten in the slammer after finding out you aren't as smart as you think you are.


In short if you want to be maliciuos this site is not for you !!!.

One thing ive noticed though mark is not matter how many of theese posts people put up we still end up with thread after thread "how do i use sub7" or "how can i get my girlfreinds password" and they all get the same response. one question though.....where is the quote from and is there more to the article. If so could you please post a link i would like to read the rest if there is any more to it.

I have copied it onto my website for you zombieman.

http://itdepartment.0catch.com

note: this is on some ropey free host who includes popups in the free price.
if you minimise the first popup you usually don't get to many more.

Cheers

i remember reading this, its in a few books i have, Hacker attack has that paragraph in it.

ARGGH
Further washing of the Term Hacker

Talk to an old school AD/C++ programmer (some one who was programming from the 70's or 80's) about hackers and you will get a very negative response.

There was a time when hacker=bad programmer/some one who broke into computers
Phreaker= some one who stole phone calls
Cracker= some one who broke the copy protection on software

Some time around the mid 90's a bunch of usnet geeks decided to redefine hacker (note they where mostly made up of bad programmers) and so we now have this false mythology.


this pet peeve ranks slightly below the damm obfuscated code morons.

BBalad, think of what was said in the lotus smartsuite forum yesterday and see if you can guess what I hoped to achieve by this.

If you read the full Essay on my website it is actually pretty neat and I would be proud to call myself a hacker if its terminology wasn't associated with wrong doing.

Anyway. I think thats how we should play it

Hacker = Good, Computer Enthusiast
Cracker = bad
Script Kiddie = bad

Mark very ineresting reading especialy for a newbie like me. Thanks for the post. your website has earned a spot in my bookmarks. I am curently working on my own website [hopefully not sludge :)] and would like to put a link to your page on mine if thats okay with you.

imho, hacking is the process of writing spaghetti code (i.e. no use of structured programming methodolgy)<homer>"mmmm...spaghetti...."</homer>. This can be a useful skill, akin to someone who can give a pretty good speech in front of a room full of people with no preparation. Point is, if the person HAD prepared, their speech would likely have been better than a person's speech who had less natural talent, but who had prepared. I guess that's why the syntactically forgiving perl is so popular with these folks.

Some people need heros & legends.

Bahh...the term hacker was in use long before the internet was (at least the modern post arp/mil net internet...interestingly called the matrix until 93) and no hackers didn't create the arpnet that as created by professional programmers. this was all long before the movie Hackers.
Until the last 10 years the term hacker has always had a negative connotation (meaning either bad programmer/person who broke into computers).

On another note alt.2600 predates the internet and Usenet (at least the commercial post great renaming Usenet.) it was somewhere else and drop the alt. but still 2600.

A hacker is still either someone who quickly produces code, or is a skilled computer-security enthusiast. Someone should pick one! I think we should start a movement to get hacker redifined as the latter definition and have different hats for 'crackers'. black hats would be the ones who break into systems, remove copy-protection etc. Grey hat crackers would identify flaws by breaking in, telling those responsible for the system, and leaving it alone. And white hats would be securing systems. What do you all think about that?

#!usr/bin/perl
use "geek.pm";
require "sanity";

$cracker=Geek("hacker");
$hacker=Geek("programmer");
$kiddie=Geek("loox0r");

$hacker!=$kiddie|die("Ahhh, the universe is spinning wildly out of control!");

--infosecguru

I look at hacking as your 2nd ammendment right to bear arms in the digital world. I think true hackers, and when I say true I mean grey and white hats, should take a more active role in society in helping to protect citizens and consumers. It seems more and more the general public cannot and willnot take the time to be educated as to the computer world. Just look at all the problems network admins deal with to see how little people understand("It says, I love you, how can it possibly be bad" :p)

Anyway, talking to people, the majority don't even realize the danger that they are in. For example almost knowone I know is aware of the fact that the federal government is requiring cell phone makers to be putting in a gps unit, that will track them as long as the phone is on. Also, the reality is that crackers, kiddies, and black hats are not going to go away, and as such we need to encourage hackers to find the weaknesses first so that none of our critial systems are compromised.

Also, with just looking for example, just think what if a hacker had found documents that could have prevented the Enron ordeal, terrorist attacks or anything of that nature.

Further, with the increased Homeland Security, someone has to keep the government honest, otherwise that system could quickly turn into a KGB type system where people disappear in the middle of the night.

Quote:

---

bad programmer/person who broke into computers

---

there is no implication here. you can be a "bad" ( or amateur, i.e. not trained ) programmer and never write anything to break into a computer ( a single computer, or a computer on a network ) and that includes anything from network programming to some sort of password breaking device.

and most importantly, you can break into computers and not be a programmer at all.

there are too many types of people doing various different things associated with computation devices. you can't use one word to describe them all. especially the one word that already means different things to each person. its like the word terrorism. the media focus on a word and it gets thrown around so much it loses all meaning.

Quote:

---

Main Entry: 1word
Pronunciation: 'w&rd
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English; akin to Old High German wort word, Latin verbum, Greek eirein to say, speak, Hittite weriya- to call, name
Date: before 12th century

2 a (1) : a speech sound or series of speech sounds that symbolizes and communicates a meaning without being divisible into smaller units capable of independent use (2) : the entire set of linguistic forms produced by combining a single base with various inflectional elements without change in the part of speech elements
2 c : a number of bytes processed as a unit and conveying a quantum of information in communication and computer work.

---

i would argue that before there were ``hackers'', there were people who would ``hack''.
so, if you hacked, you were a hacker. that is, if you performed the action the verb becomes a noun.

Quote:

---

Main Entry: hack (verb - that's an action)
Date: 13th century
1 a : to cut or sever with repeated irregular or unskillful blows
1 b : to cut or shape by or as if by crude or ruthless strokes

Main Entry: hack (noun)
Function: noun
Date: 14th century
1 : an implement for hacking
2 : NICK, NOTCH
3 : a short dry cough
4 : a hacking stroke or blow
5 : restriction to quarters as punishment for naval officers <under hack>

Main Entry: hack (noun - that's a person, place or thing)
Date: 18th century
a writer who aims solely for commercial success

---

and who knows how many alternate, undocumented meanings people alive during the 13th and 14th centuries had for the word hack? (rhetoric)

so you are saying that words can have more than one meaning and that their meanings can change with time. yes. so what does hacker mean. i'm going to assume that you want to call yourself a hacker. yes. thats fine, all you have to do is advertise to others what you think it means in relation to what you do with computation devices and by association you become a hacker.

anyway, don't become too attached to this word, 'cause it'll probably mean completely different things to different people in a hundread years [i]anyway[/i. :D

"A hacker is still either someone who quickly produces code, or is a skilled
computer-security enthusiast. Someone should pick one!"

It's really a silent badge of respect given by other
Hackers not only for having decent/ high skills as a
computer programmer but for making many positive
contributions to the community your judged
according to your works and deeds and for
respecting the code and the culture :)

Why do so many people care so much about how some people use the term "hacker"?

hopefully thats not a rhetorical question.

the term hacker implies what it means to be a hacker. but its the meaning of the word hacker that people care about.

so when people deceide what the word hacker means, then i'll get back to you with what it means to be a hacker. :D

This is alot like the muslims getting off, because the vast majority of them are not bad. It's perfectly reasonable, in fact, essential. The term hacker could very well be associated with people who break into systems, the redeeming factor however, is that there are plenty who do it leagally, i.e. by breaking into thier own, or being contracted to do so.

The hackers who don't suck have every right to claim the name, call it thier own, and work on cleaning it up. bballad, I really don't understand your problem. The term hacker is certainly not sacred enough to only allow one group from years ago to keep it, and if you think the nature of such words is completely static you've got more problems than should be discussed here. The fact is a term, as controversial as hacker is destined to have a dynamic meaning, defined by society.

I for one, applaude the movement to clear the white hats of the stigma earned by what they quite rightly call crackers. Claiming the name hacker promises them the air of mistique generated by it's history and current meaning to the public.


Attempts to deter this movement are no doubt spawned from either selfish wannabe's or those who have not fully considered the issue. There IS NO downside to this separation of the good and the bad. The only shortcomming is that it may only be maintainable among the well informed, the 'elite',

THE TRUE HACKERS, to whom we all look up. would anyone else understand? should we care? hehe...

The term "Hacker" originated in MIT as a reference for people who were adept at programming and computers and were known for pushing computers beyond their the limits of how far they were expected to go.
However in my mind a Hacker is any white/grey/black hat who can break into computers.
a Cracker is a black hat or someone into breaking warez copy protection.

I have recently finished reading a book called "Snow Crash", very good book, would recommend it to you guys. Anyway the term hacker in this book refers to someone who creates programs that take advantage of other programs, an advanced programmer.

This is what i believe a hacker to be, someone who knows how to use software, someone who can squeeze that little bit extra out of a program.

A hacker is not someone who breaks into security system, and steals data, this is a thief, plain and simply.

BTW, the book was written around th 80's so none of this stupid cracker **** has influenced it, again, well worth a read

hey take it easy. the wannabe' have to have a place to belong too right??its not truly their fault for being imature, thoughtless, showoffs, ignorant, foolish, mislead, stupid, and gay. ryte??

How do u crack registration codes of softwares?

Nice post. So you can do a little research on the origins of language. What I really want to know though Is have you yet wrote a program that actually executes. Nice site I saw with your self proclamation of your programming skills or was that the humor of that site. Nothing annoys me more than a bs artist, in here or anywhere else and until you prove me wrong i will drop in on your threads from time to time because just like my comment on the negs I have given you in the past YOU SUCK!

How do I crack registration codes indeed.

Start at the beggining of this forum and perhaps you will get the point.

Quote:

---

Originally posted here by Fabs
The term "Hacker" originated in MIT as a reference for people who were adept at programming and computers and were known for pushing computers beyond their the limits of how far they were expected to go.
However in my mind a Hacker is any white/grey/black hat who can break into computers.
a Cracker is a black hat or someone into breaking warez copy protection.

---

[Old Man Rant]

This is probably where all of this confusion started, Replace MIT programmers with Model rail road club of the 50's and replace adept programming with electronics whiz and you have the MIT origin of the term (this stayed very obscure and seems to transfer over to spaghetti coders read bad programming at MIT during the 60's/70's) This seems to have died out there before the 80's (but may have stayed alive in the mind of on RMS..hes the source of all the trouble). Independently in the early 80's both the teens playing with modems and they guys trying to keep them out of systems coined the term "to hack” to mean an attempt to break into a system over a modem (you beat on a system looking for holes, similar to hacking at a door with an ax..most early intrusions where brute force or dumb luck) and so the term Hacker in a security sense was born, a Hacker is someone who hacks at a system in an attempt to find a way in.

Now in the 90's with the explosion of the net and Linux one RMS got some popularity and tried to revive the old MIT meaning of the word (it had been long dead and forgotten) With the help of some USNET groups and /. he has been somewhat successful in the geek community but has failed else where.

As some one who was on both sides of the early hacking world I think this is very unfortunate that the Linux geeks claim the media has stolen the word "hacker"..it wasn't the media that first used it in a security context. We used it in our culture independent of the bad programmers, and as the term died in the programming culture but stayed alive in the security culture thus it should be the current definition.

It is also interesting to note that "Cracker" has always had a bad connotation, originally it was "oh he’s just a cracker" meaning that the person just broke copy protection on programs and pirated software.


Also note that 133t speak didn't originate with the hackers of the 80's, but with the ANSI art clans (who where basically script kiddies who could draw pictures with letters...they thought that this made them hardcore hackers). That is something that has at least stayed true, it was used by the posers of the 80's and now its used by the posers of today.

Man I miss the BBS days, come back Rusty and Edie

So ends the history lesson

[/Old Man Rant]

L33t Talk and Ascii Art were pretty Kewl,

Check out the HTML attatchment.

I am still sticking by the definition of hacker in the essay. I prefer it to all others and it does give a specific name to people with good Computer and English skills as well as a positive and enquisitive mental attitude.

In short, If hacker isn't the name for people like us then what is the word ?

I admit the y where useful for makeing splash screens for the bord, but that was it...and they allways wanted into the preivet forums/fidonet fourms in exchange.

ok maybe i misunderstood something but someone was saying something was NOT created by hackers, involving the internet. Free BSD hackers created TCP\IP, isnt that enough? damn.

BUt at the time they where not callig themselfs hackers

Also note that the internet was created from arpnet/millnet created by mostly worthwhile programmers (not the BSD guys)
also note that the BSD guys didn't create tcp/ip, the paper outlineing it was written in 1974 (forgot by who, one of the AT&T guys), it was first implamented in 1977, IP was added in 1978, and then in 1984 the UCB version was intorduced (it added some security features), it became the standared mostly because you didn't have t opay a royelty to use it.

Also note that the great schism hadn't happend yet so there where no free/open/ BSD guys it was just BSD.

Yeah i have read that too. It was in HappyHacker i believe. I could be wrong though.

PeacE
-BoB