Hackers-Introduction

• one who hacks, particularly
• one who cuts with rough or heavy blows.
• one who kicks wildly or roughly.
• one who is consistent and focuses on accomplishing a task or several tasks.
• one who uses a computer to gain unauthorized access to data.
• (computing) one who is expert at programming and solving problems with a computer.
• (computing) a computer security professional.
• (informal) one who manages or copes (one hacks it).
• (informal) one who annoys (another party).
• (US) one who is inexperienced or unskilled at a particular activity (e.g. tennis).
• (US) one who loafs (around).
• (US) one who rides or drives at an ordinary pace or over the roads (especially distinguished from from racing or hunting).

There are a lot of meaning, terms, and definition of this word. It is also a broad meaning about this word.

• And those definition, terms, and meaning are follows:

1. Hacker (computer security)

• hacker is a person who breaks into computers, usually by gaining access to administrative controls.
  
  
• The subculture that has evolved around hackers is often referred to as the computer underground.
• Proponents claim to be motivated by artistic and political ends, and are often unconcerned about the use of illegal means to achieve them.
• Other uses of the word hacker exist that are not related to computer security (computer programmer and home computer hobbyists), but these are rarely used by the mainstream media.
• term referred to exploration of the phone network without authorization, and there has often been overlap between both technology and participants.
• A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. RFC1392, the Internet Users' Glossary, usefully amplifies this as:
• A person who delights in having an intimate understanding of the internal workings of a system, computers and computer networks in particular.
• One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming.
• A person capable of appreciating hack value.
• A person who is good at programming quickly.
• An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does work using it or on it; as in ‘a Unix hacker’. (Definitions 1 through 5 are correlated, and people who fit them congregate.)
• An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker
• One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations.

A malicious meddler who tries to discover sensitive information by poking around. Hence password hacker, network hacker. The correct term for this sense is cracker.

***The term ‘hacker’ also tends to connote membership in the global community defined by the net.

Buttom line:

Hackers are those people who do illegal work deals with computer for both business and personal reasons. A person who uses a computer system without a specific, constructive purpose or without proper authorization. Though, hacking is a good business especially now a days that we are experiencing and facing economic crisis. According to some expert, hacking is part of a new generation of easy money-easy go. Now you see, now you don't.

Hackers do have also code of ethics or Hacker ethics (principles) as they called it. This Hacker ethics are there bases upon on their work or operations. And this ethics or principles are followed below:

1. The belief that information-sharing is a powerful positive good, and that it is an ethical duty of hackers to share their expertise by writing open-source code and facilitating access to information and to computing resources wherever possible.

2. The belief that system-cracking for fun and exploration is ethically OK as long as the cracker commits no theft, vandalism, or breach of confidentiality.

Both of these normative ethical principles are widely, but by no means universally, accepted among hackers. Most hackers subscribe to the hacker ethic in sense 1, and many act on it by writing and giving away open-source software. A few go further and assert that all information should be free and any proprietary control of it is bad; this is the philosophy behind the GNU project.

Sense 2 is more controversial: some people consider the act of cracking itself to be unethical, like breaking and entering. But the belief that ‘ethical’ cracking excludes destruction at least moderates the behavior of people who see themselves as ‘benign’ crackers

On this view, it may be one of the highest forms of hackerly courtesy to:

(a) break into a system, and then

(b) explain to the sysop, preferably by email from a superuser account, exactly how it was done and how the hole can be plugged — acting as an unpaid (and unsolicited) tiger team.

The most reliable manifestation of either version of the hacker ethic is that almost all hackers are actively willing to share technical tricks, software, and (where possible) computing resources with other hackers. Huge cooperative networks such as Usenet, FidoNet and the Internet itself can function without central control because of this trait; they both rely on and reinforce a sense of community that may be hackerdom's most valuable intangible asset.

2. Hacker (programmer subculture)

• one of several meanings of the word in computing, a hacker is a member of the computer programmer subculture originated in the 1960s in the United States academia, in particular around the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)'s Tech Model Railroad Club (TMRC) and MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.
• Hackers follow a spirit of creative playfulness and anti-authoritarianism, and sometimes use this term to refer to people applying the same attitude to other fields.
  
• The Jargon File, a compendium of hacker slang, defines hacker as "A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and stretching their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary."
• The Request for Comments (RFC) 1392, the Internet Users' Glossary, amplifies this meaning as "A person who delights in having an intimate understanding of the internal workings of a system, computers and computer networks in particular."
• These hackers are disappointed by the mass media and mainstream public's usage of the word hacker to refer to security breakers, calling them "crackers" instead.The difference between hackers and crackers, according to them, is that where hackers use their skills and knowledge to learn more about how systems and networks work, crackers will use the same skills to author harmful software (like viruses, trojans, etc.) and illegally infiltrate secure systems with the intention of doing harm to the system. True hackers don't participate in these activities and generally frown upon them.

3.Hacker (hobbyist)

• a hacker is a person who heavily modifies the software or hardware of their computer system. It includes building, rebuilding, modifying and creating software (software cracking, demo scene) and electronic hardware (hardware hacking, modding) either to make it better, faster, give added features or to make it do something it was never intended to do.
• Hobby hacking originated around the MITS Altair.
• one who creates novel hardware modifications.
• Hardware hackers are those who modify hardware (not limited to computers) to expand capabilities; this group blurs into the culture of hobbyist inventors and professional electronics engineering. An example of such modification includes the addition of TCP/IP Internet capabilities to a number of vending machines and coffee makers during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
• 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. This is primarily due to the difficulty and enormous complexity of this type of work, and the electrical engineering knowledge required to do so.
  Hardware hacking can consist of either making new hardware, or simply modifying old hardware (known as "modding").
• Real hardware hackers perform novel and perhaps dangerous modifications to hardware, to make it suit their needs.

4. Hacker (computing)

• a person in one of several distinct (but not completely disjoint) communities and subcultures.
• People committed to circumvention of computer security. This primarily concerns unauthorized remote computer break-ins via a communication networks such as the Internet (Black hats), but also includes those who debug or fix security problems (White hats), and the morally ambiguous Grey hats.
• A community of enthusiast computer programmers and systems designers, originated in the 1960s around the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)'s Tech Model Railroad Club (TMRC) and MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. This community is notable for launching the free software movement. The World Wide Web and the Internet itself are also hacker artifacts. The Request for Comments RFC 1392 amplifies this meaning as "

[a] person who delights in having an intimate understanding of the internal workings of a system, computers and computer networks in particular."

• The hobbyist home computing community, focusing on hardware in the late 1970s (e.g. the Homebrew Computer Club) and on software (computer games, software cracking, the demoscene) in the 1980s/1990s. The community included Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Bill Gates and created the personal computing industry.

Sometimes, Hackers lost their charm or their good luck charms. They were hacked in the cyber world by other hackers. And for some were indicted and end-up in jail. Through this, they were discovered, praise, and honored by other Hackers and computer addicts, as their "IDOLS" and they considered them as COMPUTER GENIUS or known as COMPUTER WIZARD. Which encourage them to explore their life, work, and their masterpiece beyond the publics knowledge. And this Indicted COMPUTER WIZARD are written as follows:

1. Abene, MarkMark Abene

• Phiber Optik
• United States
• Misdemeanor theft-of-service for a free-call scam to a 900 number.
• One count of computer trespass and one count of computer conspiracy 1991 19911993 1993.
• 35 hours of community service.
• One-year jail sentence

2. Jeanson James Ancheta

• United States
• Plead guilty to four felony charges of violating United States Code Section 1030, Fraud and Related Activity in Connection with Computers, specifically subsections (a)(5)(A)(i), 1030 (a)(5)(B)(i) and 1030(b).

3. Adam Botbyl

• United States
• Conspiracy to steal credit card numbers from the Lowe's chain of home improvement stores
• 2004-12-16 December 16, 2004
• Two years and two months imprisonment, followed by two years of supervised release

4. Cameron Lacroix

• cam0
• United States
  Plead guilty to hacking into the cell-phone account of celebrity Paris Hilton and participated in an attack on data-collection firm LexisNexis Group that exposed personal records of more than 300,000 consumers
• 2005-09-13 September 13, 2005
• 11 months in a Massachusetts juvenile detention facility

5. Mike Calce

• MafiaBoy
• Canada
• Plead guilty to 56 charges of "mischief to data"
• 2001-09-12 September 12, 2001
• Eight months "open custody," by the Montreal Youth Court, one-year of probation, restricted use of the Internet and a small fine

6. Chad Davis

• Mindphasr
• United States
• Intentionally hacking a protected computer and wilfully causing damage
• 2000-03-01 March 1, 2000
• Six months in prison, US$8,054 in restitution and three years probation

7. Nahshon Even-Chaim

• Phoenix
• Australia
• 15 charges including trespassing on the University of Texas computer network, altering data at NASA and the theft of the ZARDOZ file
• 1993 1993
• One-year suspended sentence: AU$1,000 good-behaviour bond and 500 hours community service

8. Raphael Gray

• Curador
• United Kingdom
• Plead guilty to theft and hacking offences which fall under the Computer Misuse Act and six charges of intentionally accessing sites containing credit card details and using this information for financial gain
• 2001-07-06 July 6, 2001
• Three years of psychiatric treatment after evidence emerged that he was suffering from a mental condition which needed medical treatment rather than incarceration

9. Jonathan James

• c0mrade
• United States
• Two counts of juvenile delinquency
• 2000-09-21 September 21, 2000
• Six-month prison sentence and probation until the age of eighteen

10. Richard Jones

• Electron
• Australia
• Trespassing on the University of Texas computer network and theft of the ZARDOZ file
• 1993 1993
• One year and six months suspended sentence, 300 hours of community service and psychiatric assessment and treatment

11. Adrian Lamo

• United States
• One-count of computer crimes against Microsoft, LexisNexis and The New York Times
• 2004-07-15 July 15, 2004S
• Six months detention at his parent's home plus two years probation and roughly US$65,000 in restitution

12. Kevin Mitnick

• Condor
• United States
• Four counts of wire fraud, two counts of computer fraud and one count of illegally intercepting a wire communication
• 1999-08-09 August 9, 1999
• 46 months in federal prison

13. Dennis Moran

• Coolio
• United States
• Misdemeanor charges of hacking
• 2001-03-09 March 9, 2001
• Nine months in jail and US$5,000 in restitution to each victim

14. Robert Tappan Morris-rtm

• United States
• Intentional access of federal interest computers without authorization thereby preventing authorized access and causing a loss in excess of US$1,000
• 1990-05-16 May 16, 1990
• Three years probation and 400 hours of community service in a manner determined by the Probation Office and approved by the Court

15. Jeffrey Lee Parson

• T33kid
• United States
• Plead guilty on August 11, 2004 to one count of intentionally causing or attempting to cause damage to a protected computer via his version of the Blaster computer worm
• 2005-01-01 January 1, 2005
• 18 months in prison and 100 hours of community service

16.Kevin Poulsen

• Dark Dante
• United States
• Plead guilty to seven counts of mail, wire and computer fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice
• 1994-06-01 June 1, 1994
• 51 months in prison and ordered to pay US$56,000 in restitution

17. Leonard Rose

• Terminus
• United States
• Illicit use of proprietary software (UNIX 3.2 code) owned by AT&T[1] and 2 counts of computer fraud and three counts of interstate transportation of stolen property.
• 1991-06-12 June 12, 1991
• One-year jail sentence

18. David L. Smith

• Kwyjibo
• United States
• Plead guilty to knowingly spreading a computer virus, the Melissa virus, with the intent to cause damage
• 2002-05-01 May 1, 2002
• 20 months in federal prison, US$5,000 fine and 100 hours of community service upon release

19. Ehud Tenenbaum

• Analyzer
• Israel
• Admitted to cracking US and Israeli computers, and plead guilty to conspiracy, wrongful infiltration of computerized material, disruption of computer use and destroying evidence
• 2001-06-15 June 15, 2001
• Six months of community service, one-year of probation, a two-year suspended prison sentence and fined about US$18,000

20. Simon Vallor

• Gobo
• United Kingdom
• Writing and distributing three computer viruses
• 2003-01-21 January 21, 2003
• Two-year jail sentence

21. Gerald Wondra

• The 414s
• United States
• Unauthorized access to computers at the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and a Los Angeles bank and two counts of "making harassing telephone calls"
• 1983-05-01 May 1, 1983
• Two years probation

22. Jan de Wit

• Netherlands
• Spreading data into a computer network with the intention of causing damage as the creator of the Anna Kournikova virus
• 2001-09-27 September 27, 2001
• 150 hours community service

Hacking is a good challenge especially for those freshmen or First time on this job or kind of work....But on the second thought it is a good practice especially for those professional 'coz it affect your profession, personality, and your whole self.....You're breaking a law, breaking the code of ethics as a professional, destroying your future and breaking yourself as well.....