Who is a Hacker?

Definition of a Hacker

In the media the word "hacker" is often used, for what I would call a "cracker", someone that breaks into systems to damage it, or for the purpose of getting illegitimate access to resources.Ari Lukumies wrote:

As far as my terminology serves, crackers are those who give hackers a bad name (because most of the people cannot distinguish the two). Somebody who breaks into other's computer systems, or digs into their code (in order to make a copy-protected program run, for example) is a cracker. Then, someone who's really good at what he does with computers, is called a hacker. A hack, in software circles, is a quickly written short piece of code that makes something work. It may not be beautiful to look at, but it makes things function.

From the Hacker Dictionary

hacker: [originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe] n. 1. 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. 2. One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming. 3. A person capable of appreciating hack value. 4. A person who is good at programming quickly. 5. 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.) 6. An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example. 7. One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations. 8. [deprecated] A malicious meddler who tries to discover sensitive information by poking around. Hence `password hacker', `network hacker'. See cracker.It is better to be described as a hacker by others than to describe oneself that way. Hackers consider themselves something of an elite (a meritocracy based on ability), though one to which new members are gladly welcome. There is thus a certain ego satisfaction to be had in identifying yourself as a hacker (but if you claim to be one and are not, you'll quickly be labeled bogus).

Are you a cracker if you break into a system for finding security holes?

Someone wrote me the following question:

I have a question for you involving the definition of a hacker vs a cracker. I am in training to be a IT professional and am wondering what you think of this:A serson has just built a new network for a buisness and wants to know any weakness's in it. He hires his friend, who he knows is trust worthy, to "hack" into his network and report any weaknesses that occur. He brute forces threw telnet and pingsweeps the ports and finds several backdoors and weakpoints, then reports them. Now my question for you is, is this person who is hired a hacker or a cracker. he is trying to break security into a network, but it is for a good reason in which he is getting paid. Personaly i think he is a hacker and not a cracker because it isnt malicious. You thoughts would be very helpfull because i am writing a report for school, thanks.

My idea on this is:

I think that at the core of the hacker definition that I use (and as it is used according to the hacker's Jargon dictionary), a hacker is someone who just want to know everything from a system just for the joy of it, whereas a average user wants to know just enough to use a system. From having a deep knowledge also comes the desire to stretch the system to its limits and achieve things that others did not consider to be useful. Some of these kinds of hackers are focusing on networks, protocols and security. If then they use this knowledge to find security holes in a system, then are still considered as hackers. But there are also people who (like the average users) learn some tricks and use this tricks to create virusses, break into system and such. I would call these people crackers, because they do not seek knowledge for the knowledge itself, but to show off that they can break into a certain system or create a nasty virus.So, really, the definition of a hacker does not refer to whether someone uses his knowledge to break into a network for good or bad reasons, but if the person sought knowledge just for the joy of seeking, or whether he sought knowledge only to use it. So, really, I cannot judge whether the person in your story is a real hacker or not, because you do not mention his motivation. At least he does not seems to be like the typical "cracker", as a real "cracker" would not have told the owner of the system about the weaknesses he has found.

           ^^SUNNY^^