What’s the latest update? The general unwashed public thinks that the bad guys are “hackers.” But I, in my very non-tecnical, unread fashion, keep hearing cries of “crackers” are the bad guys. What’s the SD?
Well as I understand it, crackers are the ones who break codes and sometimes steal things (however usually the thrill for the cracker is to break the code, and nothing more) Hackers on the other hand penetrate networks using vulnerabilities in a systems infastructure.
Either may do damage, or not.
Crackers are hated more by porn sites (or any pay information site) as they will often break into their site and then allow others access.
I dont think its the label as much as the activity of the individual and thier chosen method.
-x out
Crackers are the bad guys. Hackers are people who are good at using computers/programming for good causes.
Examples:
Break into site and steal credit card numbers = bad = cracker.
Crack CSS code = good = hacker.
Thats the way I look at it anyway.
Er, either crackers OR hackers can be “good” or “bad.” The difference is what they do, not why they do it.
Generally, as xeno said, a cracker breaks code in software, while a hacker is more involved in breaking into a network. For instance, in the most popular sense, a program that had copyright protection that was removed is cracked, while a server that is accessed is hacked.
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 dictionary definitions reflect laymen’s use of the terms… " 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’" are just silly.
Well, back in the 70’s, when I first got into computers heavily, Hacker meant someone who obtained unauthorized access to a computer system. Thats what it meant to myself, my friends, and the computer professionals I knew back then…among them a guy from Sperry-Univac, and another who was head of computer security at a Nuke plant.
A cracker, was someone who defeated protection on copy procted software…
Someone who tried deliberately to do damage was called a crasher…They were mostly looked down upon by other hackers, as were people who broke in for profit of some sort.
Sometime in the late 80’s or so I started seeing that Hacker had never meant someone who broke into computers, but just meant someone was really good at them. I laughed my ass off the first time I heard it…As did all my old friends…We thought it was a ridiculous piece of revisionism…But who knows.
I cant say for sure, and I doubt anybody else can either, but the people I knew, back then, from many differant areas(Computer proffesionals, punk kid hackers(such as myself back then and the general public) of the computer world all used the term hacker to mean someone who broke in to computers…
Maybe someone was using it for something else somewhere else, but I doubt it.
mblackwell and Grievar are correct. xenotrhope and Zagadka are using outdated definitions.
I hacked my Tivo to add functionality by putting it on my LAN, letting it get it’s updates via broadband internet, putting a webserver on it to pick shows to record from anywhere, adding drive space, and getting on-screen caller ID. This is legal and even IMO commendable.
When a hacker crosses the line into activities that are illegal or immoral, such as cracking copy protection on software or breaking into a private network, they become a cracker.
Hacker = good
Cracker = bad
That definition that Grievar quotes is from the Jargon File. It’s written by computer programmers - smart, well-read computer programmers perhaps - but they’re no experts on making dictionaries. Many of the definitions reflect the slant of the editor. The definition of “hacker” at best represents the definition of the term as it is usually used by someone who works with computers themselves. It doesn’t represent the usage of most people. It doesn’t even represent the usage of everybody who works in the computer field. Eric Raymond, the editor, has some rather distinct political and philosophical positions (I know him a little bit), and the definitions he writes tend to support those positions (and that’s something that any professional lexicographer would carefully avoid).
They are almost interchangable nowadays. How often do you hear of an admin saying his system was cracked? Or a webpage being cracked? It’s hacked, anymore. Probably shouldn’t be, but even in the computer workplace “hack” is more often used to describe a compromised system.
I think there are a lot of hackers who would disagree with your use of the terms in that manner.
Generally, the terms “to hack” “hacker” “hacked” etc have been changed in definition by the public, a morphing word change. And language does change. But just because you “hacked” your Tivo doesn’t mean it generalizes all definitions of “hacking.” Maybe the language is changing, but the OP is talking about the technical difference between “hacking” and “cracker” - they are distinct terms mutilated by the general usage.
For instance, even the media refers to Kevin Mitnik as a “hacker.” Using the terms to define “good” or “bad” intent is pretty silly, IMHO. Maybe hte laymen’s terms change to mean other things and gain wider usage - but it doesn’t change the definition of the technical term. If you are talking to someone who hacks, phreaks, or cracks reguarly, they will have pretty different ideas of the terms.
For instance, they would likely say that you modded your Tivo. That is what you did. You mod radio sets to operate out of frequency, you mod game systems to play different hardware, you can mod an X-Box to run Linux. You don’t HACK a X-Box to run Linux.
The Canadian Broadcasting Company has apparently tackled this issue already. Their conclusion agrees with mine; there are computer enthusiasts who make a distinction between ‘hacker’ and ‘cracker’, but the distinction is lost on the general public. (And for the record, “The New Hacker’s Dictionary” cited on their page is The Jargon File (as described by Wendell Wagner) published in book form.)
However, they also accept the positive connotation of ‘hack’. Modifying an X-Box to run Linux counts as a hack in my book, at least for the first person who figured out how to do it. I’m waiting for someone to hack a Furby to run the programs from a Palm Pilot.
Granted, you may call it a hack, and the word may be used on a number of applications. People who use computers a lot have been called hackers for a long time, because of the popular image from way back of computer users as nerdy programmers doing strange things, and when security was pretty damn primative.
But in the interest of combatting ignorance, if you want to go into a IRC channel with (real) hackers and talk about how k3wl j00 r in hax0ring x-boxxxes lols (so to speak, maybe you’ll understand the derogatory nature of that or maybe not), maybe you’d find your definition of “hacking” quicker than in explaining it to me. Either way, you’ll be broadcasting your IP everywhere, but that’s OK, because obviously hackers are good guys.
You knock yourselves out. I’d rather find myself in a channel of crackers.
I’ve heard (possibly from cnet) that hackers are the ones who really know what they are doing and have a fundimental understanding of the underlying code. While crackers are ones who run premade ‘kiddie scripts’ and the like to break into stuff. A true hacker would be insulted being called a cracker.
Geez. This sounds like “no, I only practice white witchcraft.”
I agree with bdgr. The first time someone called me a “hacker”, I took it as an insult.
That was the only interpretation available at the time, i.e., someone that broke into accounts and databases. The code hacker interpretation came later.
My real question is where the hell this “hacker == good cracker == bad” use came from…
And, samclem, if you’re intending to write this up, you’d do well to look into electronics and computing mags from the mid to late seventies.
Well, the way general population sees it, Hacker=bad (and cracker=US word for dry biscuit), regardless of what a small subsect of computer users may think.
[Dr Hibbert] And Hillbillies want to be called ‘sons of the soil,’ but it ain’t gonna happen[/Dr Hibbert]
Nope. Just an idle question that hit me at that moment. Thanks for all the good opinions and well-reasoned replies.
No, they wouldnt, because in the hacker comunity(the kind who break into systems illegally), cracker still means someone who defeats security on software. It takes a great deal of skill to reverse engineer programs to defeat protection, it is not an insult.
NOTE: I am in no way saying that I condone illegal activities on computers…I havent done that sort of thing in many years, and I shouldnt have to begin with.