I`ve learned over the past few years while writing about IT security that if you ever mention the word "hacker" in reference to someone who breaks into a computer system or defaces a Web site, you`re bound to get a whole lot of "real hackers" coming out of the woodwork to tell you off.
Each time it is the same story: we`re hackers because we like to "experiment", but they (being the alleged criminal element) are "crackers" because they have some sort of malicious intent. More often than not, you get referred to one or other online definition of the differences between hackers and crackers.
Maybe critics should do a little more questioning of the assumptions and less posturing.
Alastair Otter, Journalist, ITWeb
I understand the history of the term hacker, but I am starting to find it tiresome to be told off every time I, or anyone else, write about hackers (or crackers). I frankly think it is time for the so-called "hackers" to get off their high-horses and accept that common language practice will continue to refer to people who penetrate systems (whether for good or bad) as hackers. Very little is going to change that.
Besides, the fine line between hacker and cracker is too subtle a one for us "dumb" journalists to make the distinction. A good case in point is the actions of LowVoltage over the past year or so. When he bypassed the payment gateway to enter the 702 share price game earlier this year, was he hacking or cracking? The company running the payment system will tell you he is a cracker, but local hacking lists never once suggested that the term hacker was wrong and we didn`t have a flood of complaints when we headlined the story with the word "hacker".
A couple of days ago ITWeb ran a story on a "hacker" that compromised a host of South African sites, and suddenly we were castigated for not calling the perpetrator a cracker. Even if, in the words of one of our detractors, the criminal is just a stupid script kiddie.
Which brings me to a related topic: the 20 local Web sites supposedly defaced in one day (SA sites hit by hacker).
While all the feedback we`ve received has berated us for using the term hacker, not one has pointed out the fact that all 20 sites are hosted by one company. A quick look-up on all the domain names leads to one IP address. An address held by one local hosting company. So very likely the 20 sites were all hosted on a single box, a fact that makes the "20 sites in one day" claim far less spectacular. Only one comment on a local hackers` list has even alluded to this fact.
It is time to move beyond hacker and cracker. I consider myself a hacker because I like to push my systems as far as possible and I try to understand how they work. But I am secure enough in myself not to care less whether I`m labelled a hacker, cracker or a script kiddie.
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