Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Hacker |
HackerNoun1. Someone who plays golf poorly. 2. A programmer for whom computing is its own reward; may enjoy the challenge of breaking into other computers. 3. One who works hard at boring tasks. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "hacker" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1891. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Computing | Hacker n. [originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe] 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'. The correct term for this sense is cracker. The term `hacker' also tends to connote membership in the global community defined by the net (see the network and Internet address). For discussion of some of the basics of this culture, see the How To Become A Hacker (http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html) FAQ. It also implies that the person described is seen to subscribe to some version of the hacker ethic (see hacker ethic). 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). See also geek, wannabee. This term seems to have been first adopted as a badge in the 1960s by the hacker culture surrounding TMRC and the MIT AI Lab. We have a report that it was used in a sense close to this entry's by teenage radio hams and electronics tinkerers in the mid-1950s. Source: Jargon File. |
Occupations | Lifts green-clay products, such as brick, roofing tile, or quarry floor tile, from press-conveyor belt, and stacks them in specified pattern on kiln car, drier rack, or pallet. May press button to control movement of conveyor belt. (references) |
Slang | Noun. Source: When somebody is bad at playing golf, they literally hack apart the ground in effort of hitting the golf ball. Definition: Somebody who is really not good at playing the game of golf. They are trying, but just stink at it. Context: Usually said by somebody who is not terrible at playing the game, and is commenting on somebody who is. Social Source: Golfers. Source: Compiled by The University of Oregon. (additional references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A hacker is anyone who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations, primarily in their fields of interest, namely programming or electrical engineering.
Origin of the term at MIT
The term originally developed at MIT long before computers became common; a "hack" meant a simple, but often inelegant, solution. The term hack came to refer to any clever prank perpetrated by MIT students; the perpetrator is a hacker. To this day the terms hack and hacker are used in that way at MIT, without necessarily referring to computers. When MIT students surreptiously put a police car atop the dome on MIT's Building 10, that was a hack, and the students involved were therefore hackers.
Computer culture at MIT developed when members of the Tech Model Railroad Club started working with a Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-1 computer and applied local model railroad slang to computers. In modern computer culture, the label "hacker" is a compliment, indicating a skilled and clever programmer. In the media, however, it has negative connotations and has become synonymous with "software cracker".
The term hacker is used in five senses in common use:
"Script kiddie" is reserved for a computer user of little or no skill who simply follows directions or uses a cook-book approach without fully understanding the meaning of the steps they are performing.
- Someone who knows a (sometimes specified) set of programming interfaces well enough to write novel and useful software without conscious thought on a good day.
- Someone who (usually illegally) attempts to break into or otherwise subvert the security of a program, system or network, often with malicious intent. This usage was annoying to many in the developer community who grew up with the primary meaning in sense (1), and preferred to keep it that way; they preferred the media used the term cracker. However this wound up causing even more problems as simply creating a new word did nothing to dispel misconceptions. "Black hat hacker" is a phrase that wound up with the same problems as the word "cracker".
- Someone who attempts to break into systems or networks in order to help the owners of the system by making them aware of security flaws in it. This is referred to by some as a "white hat hacker" or sneaker. Many of these people are employed by computer security companies, and are doing something completely legal; and many were formerly hackers within sense 2.
- Someone who, through either knowledge or trial and error, makes a modification to an existing piece of software, made available to the hacker community, such that it provides a change of functionality. Such change is normally a benefit. Rather than a competition, the exchange of improvements is most often experienced as a cooperative learning effort.
- A Reality Hacker or Urban Spelunker (origin: MIT); someone who enjoys exploring air ducts, rooftops, shafts and other hidden aspects of urban life, sometimes including pulling elaborate pranks for the enjoyment and entertainment of the community.
"h4x0r" (pronounced Hacks-Or) is a script kiddie in the context of a computer game (i.e. someone who uses a program to modify a game giving them special and unfair advantages). "h4x0r" is often used jokingly or as a term of endearment between gamers.
Note that while the term hacker denotes competence, the noun hack often means kludge and thus has a negative connotation while the verb hack generally shares the same competent connotations.
See also jargon file.
The hacker community (the set of people who would describe themselves as hackers, or who would be described by others as hackers) falls into at least three partially overlapping categories. The word hacker probably derives from the somewhat derogatory hack, used in the newspaper industry typically to refer to a Journalist who types his stories without checking his facts first.
Hacker -- Brilliant Programmer
One who knows a (sometimes specified) set of programming interfaces well enough to write novel and useful software without conscious thought on a good day. This type of hacker is respected within the development community for the freedom they represent, although the term still carries some of the meaning of Hack, developing programs without adequate planning. This zugzwang sets freedom and the ability to be creative against methodical careful progress. Corporate programming environments typically favor only either the good hackers or the careful computer scientist.
At their best, Hackers can be surprisingly productive. Industry standard rates of development are in the range of 6-10 lines of code (debugged, and documented) per hour. A Hacker in stride can produce a few hundred lines of code an hour as thought translates itself directly into code. As a result a Hacker may be able to sketch out the full shape of a program to a level of quality that can be used for demonstrating ideas in less than a week. Thus it isn't hard to see what some companies find useful in Hacker talent.
The down side of Hacker productivity is generally agreed to be in maintainability, documentation, and completion. Very talented hackers may become bored with a project once they have figured out all of the hard parts, and be unwilling to finish off the details. This attitude can cause friction in shops where other programmers are expected to pick up the half finished work, decipher the structures and ideas, and bullet-proof the code. In other cases, where a Hacker is willing to maintain their own code, a company may be unable to find anyone else who is capable or willing to dig through code to maintain the program if the original programmer moves on to a new job.
Hacker -- Computer Criminal
The popular press has been known to use the terms "hacker" and occasionally "cracker" for someone who attempts to break into or otherwise subvert the security of a system or network. Both usages are annoying to many in the developer community who grew up with the primary meaning of "hacker" in the Guru sense, and who don't see the problem solved by the invention of new and nebulous words like "cracker" or "black hat". Instead, there has been a move to define terms when describing these people. What makes someone a "hacker", a "computer criminal", or just a regular computer user? Once these details are known, the proper word (or combination) can be accurately applied.
While it will always be possible to use one's "hacker" skills in a destructive way, this tends to go against the loosely defined hacker ethic. One can certainly use hacking skills to commit a crime. However, this means that this particular hacker is now a criminal, vandal, malicious user, etc., existing words that do a much better job of describing the person's actions than the nebulous "cracker". If a locksmith used his skills to break into a building, few would debate that he had crossed into the criminal world and there would be no need to invent a word to define criminal or malicious locksmiths. The reason hackers face these kinds of problems is because the mass media tends to believe anyone who says they are a hacker - and people say they are hackers because of the mass media's sensationalist portrayals. This deceptive cycle will probably only come to an end with the education of reporters and the general public on what constitutes a hacker and what does not. A group known as the "Hacker Antidefamation League" has this goal.
Software cracking is the process of removing any sort of software enforced protection scheme from a piece of software.
There are several recurring tools of the trade used by hackers to gain unauthorized access to computers:
- Trojan horse -- These are applications that seem to do useful work, but set up a back door so that the hacker can later return and enter the system. These include programs which mimic login screens. Viruses that fool a user into downloading and/or executing them by pretending to be useful applications are also sometimes called trojan horses.
- Snooper -- Applications that capture password and other data while it is in transit either within the computer, or over the network
- virus -- An application that propagates itself opportunistically by waiting in the background until the user offers it a new medium to infect. The term came into usage by comparison with biological viruses, which reproduce by infecting a cell and taking advantage of its life functions. Similarly, computer viruses, unlike worms, embed themselves within files on the host system. When "infected" executables run, or sometimes when infected binary data files are read, the virus is able to spread to other binary format files on the local system, floppy disks or over the network. Viruses are often confused with worms.
- worm -- An application that actively probes for known weaknesses across the network, then propagates itself through an exploitation of those weaknesses. The original Usenet post describing the MorrisWorm described the distinction between viruses and worms thus: worms do not attach themselves to code. Popular usage appears to favour worms being more active than viruses. However, the Jargon File, as of version 4.4.1, maintains the original sense of the term. A Worm in this original sense is any independent program which reproduces itself over a network (a program reproducing itself on the local machine only repeatedly until the machine crashes is known as a wabbit). After the comparison between computer viruses and biological viruses, the obvious comparison here is to a bacterium.
- Vulnerability Scanner -- A tool used to quickly check computers on a network for known weaknesses. Hackers also use Port Scanners. These check to see which ports on a specified computer are "open" or available to acess the computer through.
- Exploit (computer science) -- A prepared application that takes advantage of a known weakness
- Social engineering -- Asking someone for the password or account (possibly over a beer.) Also includes looking over someone's shoulder while they enter their password, or posing as someone else in order to get sensitive information.
- Root kit -- A toolkit for hiding the fact that a computer's security has been compromised. Root kits may include replacements for system binaries so that it becomes impossible to see applications being run by the intruder in the active process tables.
- Leet -- An English pidgin that helps to obscure hacker discussions and web sites, and paradoxically it simplifies the location of resources in public search engines for those who know the language.
Hacker -- Grey Hat
1) A black-hat hacker turned white-hat. See below.
2) A white-hat hacker who uses black-hat techniques to satisfy their employers, for whom they act as white-hat.
Hacker -- White Hat
White hat hackers often overlap with black hat depending on your perspective. The primary difference is that a white hat hacker observes the hacker ethic, a sort of golden rule of computing similar to: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Like black hats, white hats are often intimately familiar with the internal details of security systems, and can delve into obscure machine code when needed to find a solution to a tricky problem without requiring support from a system manufacturer.
An example of a hack: Microsoft Windows ships with the ability to use cryptographic libraries built into the operating system. When shipped overseas this feature becomes nearly useless as the operating system will refuse to load cryptographic libraries that haven't been signed by Microsoft, and Microsoft will not sign a library unless the US Government authorizes it for export. This allows the US Government to maintain some perceived level of control over the use of strong cryptography beyond its borders.
While hunting through the symbol table of a beta release of Windows, a couple of overseas hackers managed to find a second signing key in the Microsoft binaries. That is without disabling the libraries that are included with Windows (even overseas) these individuals learned of a way to trick the operating system into loading a library that hadn't been signed by Microsoft, thus enabling the functionality which had been lost to non-US users.
Whether this is good (white hat) or bad (black hat) may depend on whether you are the US Government or not, but is generally considered by the computing community to be a white hat type of activity.
How Some Hackers Define Themselves
The following is the definition given by the jargon file (a dictionary of hacker jargon) accepted by some (but not all) in the hacker community:hacker n.[originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe]
The term `hacker' also tends to connote membership in the global community defined by the net (see the network and Internet address). For discussion of some of the basics of this culture, see the How To Become A Hacker FAQ. It also implies that the person described is seen to subscribe to some version of the hacker ethic.
- 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.
- 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, for example.
- One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations.
- [deprecated] 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.
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). See also geek, wannabee.
This term seems to have been first adopted as a badge in the 1960s by the hacker culture surrounding TMRC and the MIT AI Lab. We have a report that it was used in a sense close to this entry's by teenage radio hams and electronics tinkerers in the mid-1950s.
Notable Hackers
- Richard Stallman -- A hacker of the old school, Stallman walked in off the street and got a job at MIT's Artificial Intelligence Lab in 1971. Stallman is a legendary hacker, the founder of the free software movement, a MacArthur "genius grant" recipient and a programmer capable of prodigious exploits.
- Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie -- The driving creative force behind Bell Labs' legendary computer science operating group, Ritchie and Thompson created UNIX in 1969.
- Steve Wozniak -- The co-founder of Apple Computer got his start making devices for phone phreaking.
- Linus Torvalds -- Torvalds was a computer science student at the University of Helsinki when he wrote the Linux kernel in 1991.
- Larry Wall -- The creator of the Perl programming language.
- Johan Helsingius -- Operated the world's most popular anonymous remailer, the Penet remailer (called penet.fi), until he closed up shop in September 1996.
- Tsutomu Shimomura -- Shimomura outhacked and outsmarted Kevin Mitnick, the United States's most infamous hacker, in early 1994.
Notable Crackers
Here are a few of the more famous crackers (many of whom have since turned to positive hacking):
- Eric Corley (a.k.a Emmanuel Goldstein) -- Long standing publisher of 2600 the Hacker Quarterly. He has been part of the hacker community since the late 70's.
- John Draper (a.k.a. Captain Crunch) -- Figured out how to make free phone calls using a plastic prize whistle he found in a cereal box. (See phreaking.)
- Mark Abene (a.k.a. Phiber Optik) -- Inspired thousands of teenagers around the country to "study" the internal workings of the United States's phone system. One of the founders of Masters of Deception.
- Robert T. Morris -- This Cornell University graduate student accidentally unleashed the first major Internet worm in 1988.
- Kevin Mitnick -- The first hacker to have his face immortalized on an FBI "Most Wanted" poster.
- Kevin Poulsen -- In 1990 Poulsen took over all telephone lines going into Los Angeles area radio station KIIS-FM to win a call-in contest.
- Vladimir Levin -- This mathematician allegedly masterminded the Russian hacker gang that tricked Citibank's computers into spitting out $10 million.
External Links
- The MIT Gallery of Hacks
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Hacker."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The term hacking has a number of meanings, not always very well-defined.
See also: phreaking
- Hacking means to attack something with a blade in an imprecise manner - "hacking down the tall grass with a machete".
- In connection with computers and computer software, see hack and hacker.
- For unauthorized computer access, see Cracker (computing).
- Hacking also means to ride a horse cross-country
- Hacking is British slang for driving fast - " I was hacking up the M1..."
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Hacking."
Synonyms: HackerSynonyms: drudge (n), hack (n). (additional references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I prefer to be called a hacker! (Jurassic Park; writing credit: Michael Crichton) I'm a hacker! (Jurassic Park; writing credit: Michael Crichton) Not a great deal if you're a hacker. (The Net; writing credit: John D. Brancato; Michael Ferris) | |
Movie/TV Titles | El Hacker 2001 (2001) Happy Birthday Hacker John (1986) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books | |||
Periodicals |
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
 |
| "Hacker" by vares Commentary: "Haker's button." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | As the permanently on nature of cable modems and ADSL connections may increase the likely hood of hacker attacks, a boost of interest in security related products, such as firewalls, can be expected. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Hacker" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 72.73% of the time. "Hacker" is used about 66 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 72.73% | 48 | 49,194 |
| Noun (proper) | 27.27% | 18 | 82,615 |
| Total | 100.00% | 66 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "hacker" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Hacker | Last name | 5,000 | 2,313 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expressions using "hacker": a Portrait of J. Random Hacker ♦ hacker ethic ♦ hacker Folklore ♦ hacker humor ♦ hacker humour ♦ hacker Speech Style ♦ hacker Writing Style ♦ helping Hacker Culture Grow ♦ J. Random Hacker ♦ true hacker ♦ weaknesses of the Hacker Personality ♦ white hat hacker. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "hacker": ex-hacker, true-hacker. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "hacker"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Chinese | 黑客 . (various references) | |
Czech | prùnikář, poèítaèový škùdce. (various references) | |
Danish | hacker. (various references) | |
Dutch | hacker, kraker (squatter), aftapper, aanvaller (aggressor, assailant, attacker, forward). (various references) | |
Finnish | hakkeri (a computer enthusiast who attempts to gain unauthorized access to a computer system), krakkeri (a computer enthusiast who attempts to gain unauthorized access to a computer system). (various references) | |
French | hacker, pirate informatique, piocheur. (various references) | |
German | Hacker (a computer enthusiast who attempts to gain unauthorized access to a computer system). (various references) | |
Greek | πειρατής (pirate), πληροφορικός πειρατής (a computer enthusiast who attempts to gain unauthorized access to a computer system). (various references) | |
Hungarian | csákányozó (picker), csákányos, csákány (hack, pecker, pick, pickax, pickaxe, picker, pike), bárd (adz, adze, bard, blade, hatchet, pole axe). (various references) | |
Italian | hacker (a computer enthusiast who attempts to gain unauthorized access to a computer system), pirata informatico, pirata (buccaneer, freebooter, pirate, shark). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | ハチ公 (statue of Hachikoat Shibuya station), コンピューター犯罪 (computer crime, computer virus, computerization, computer-music, computer-science, computer-software, computer-vision). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ハッカー , コンピュータマニア . (various references) | |
Korean | 해커. (various references) | |
Manx | speiyder (hewer, picker, sapper). (various references) | |
Norwegian | datasnok. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ackerhay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | pirata informático (a computer enthusiast who attempts to gain unauthorized access to a computer system), mutilador. (various references) | |
Romanian | târnãcop (pecker, pick, pickax, picker). (various references) | |
Russian | хекер. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | lopov (blackleg, burglar, crook, lifter, picklock, prig, robber, sneak thief, taker, thief, yegg). (various references) | |
Spanish | pirata informático (a computer enthusiast who attempts to gain unauthorized access to a computer system). (various references) | |
Swedish | hacker (a computer enthusiast who attempts to gain unauthorized access to a computer system). (various references) | |
Turkish | bilgisayarı ile başka bir sistemi bozan kullanıcı, bilgisayar sistemine gizlice giren kişi. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "hacker": hackers. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "hacker": bushwhacker, whacker. (additional references) | |
Words containing "hacker": bushwhackers, whackers. (additional references) | |
| |
"Hacker" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: acker, chacker, hacer, Hackert, hackery, hackerz, hacket, hackit, Haecker, haker, Hakikar, Hakka, hakker, hakkert, harker, Haschke, hauker, Haukur, haxer, hicke, hickery, hicket, Hocken, hocker, Hucke, hucker. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "hacker" (pronounced ha"ker) |
| 3 | -a" k er | attacker, backer, blacker, cracker, lacquer, makar, packer, racker, slacker, Stacker, tacker, tracker. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-e-h-k-r" | |
-1 letter: chare, chark, crake, creak, hacek, reach. | |
-2 letters: ache, acre, arch, cake, care, cark, char, each, hack, hake, hare, hark, hear, heck, race, rack, rake, reck, rhea. | |
-3 letters: ace, arc, are, ark, car, ear, era, hae, her, kae, kea, rah, rec. | |
-4 letters: ae, ah, ar, eh, er, ha, he, ka, re. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-e-h-k-r" | |
+1 letter: charked, hackers, hackler, whacker. | |
+2 letters: aircheck, archduke, chalkier, hacklers, hacklier, havocker, hijacker, kreplach, shackler, thwacker, whackers, whackier. | |
+3 letters: airchecks, archdukes, artichoke, benchmark, checkmark, chickaree, hackamore, hackberry, haversack, havockers, heartsick, hijackers, horseback, marchlike, packhorse, raincheck, shacklers, shortcake, thwackers. | |
+4 letters: aftershock, artichokes, backhander, backlasher, backrushes, benchmarks, blackheart, checkmarks, chickarees, cockchafer, hackamores, hammerlock, haversacks, horsebacks, jackhammer, matchmaker, packhorses, packthread, rainchecks, ramshackle, reichsmark, shortcakes, watchmaker. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Digital Art 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Names: Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Derivations 14. Rhymes 15. Anagrams 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
