Hacker: A computer programmer. The rest of the bio is ambiguous. Many years ago he was a villain with a bland job profile: stealing data from secure computer systems. It became exciting when people realized the networks could belong to Fortune 500 companies and defence organizations and that the hot girl in college could be a hacker. Today, pin – striped computer programmers claim the “hacker” tag as their own. They say their super intelligent peers of Massachusetts Institute of Technology coined the term as a joke for programs that performed functions they weren’t designed for. Another set says all who bust a network don’t steal data. Some are paid to do it for checking network security. They like to be known as “white hats”. Those who end up cracking prison codes are the “black hats”. White hats can also set up over $20 billion worth companies. Like Stephen Wozniak, who devised “blue boxes” for making free long distance phone calls, co-founded Apple.
Cracker: A computer programmer with no hang –ups about stealing data. All crackers are hackers, but not the other way around. “Black hats” and “crackers” seem to do the same job but somehow the two groups refuse to merge. Their techniques are no secret: cracking passwords, capturing data packets in transit, etc. The pin-up boy of this ilk is Kevin Mitnick, described by the US department Of Justice as the most wanted computer criminal in the history of the US. What he hacked: networks of top tech companies like Motorola, Nokia and Fujitsu? He served five years in prison, of which eight months were in solitary confinement. Now, he has crossed to the other side, runs a security consultancy and hobnobs with respected guys like Wozniak. So is Stieg Larson’s famous heroine of the Millennium trilogy, Lisbeth Salander, a cracker or a hacker? Depends on whether you think she is psychotic or a quirky moralist.
Cracker: A computer programmer with no hang –ups about stealing data. All crackers are hackers, but not the other way around. “Black hats” and “crackers” seem to do the same job but somehow the two groups refuse to merge. Their techniques are no secret: cracking passwords, capturing data packets in transit, etc. The pin-up boy of this ilk is Kevin Mitnick, described by the US department Of Justice as the most wanted computer criminal in the history of the US. What he hacked: networks of top tech companies like Motorola, Nokia and Fujitsu? He served five years in prison, of which eight months were in solitary confinement. Now, he has crossed to the other side, runs a security consultancy and hobnobs with respected guys like Wozniak. So is Stieg Larson’s famous heroine of the Millennium trilogy, Lisbeth Salander, a cracker or a hacker? Depends on whether you think she is psychotic or a quirky moralist.
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