Are you a Hacker or Cracker ?
Definition of “hacker”
RFC 1392: “a person who delights in having intimate
understanding of the internal working of a system, computers, and computer
networks in particular.”
Hacker definition and categorization are disputed by
many, especially by those who wants to be one, or would like to be called as
one.
Hacker category:
- Free software hacker
ex : Torvalds, Deraadt, rms, djb
- Security hacker
ex : Fyodor, Schneier, hdm
- General hacker
ex : Anyone who
demonstrate hacker characteristic in
their respective field.
Hacker characteristics
- High curiosity; a hacker will have vast knowledge
on their respective field, and will
have an in-depth understanding on specific areas of interest (which can be many
as well).
- Think out of the box; especially good in practical
solution (which not necessarily elegant).
- Stimulated by challenge; get bored easily by
repetition and/or mundane tasks.
- Love to share, and WILL have information and genuine
work (mostly software) available for free.
- Emphasis on ‘what’ instead of ‘who’.
Classification of security hacker based on ethics:
- Whitehat: perform security tests only after obtaining
approval/consent from the target’s authorized representative. Will follow
applicable law, rules, and regulation in performing the tests.
- Greyhat: will perform security tests without
authorization, but will not use the results for malicious intent (Robinhood
style).
- Blackhat: will perform security tests without
authorization, and will use the results for all kinds of purpose, not limited
to any ethical values.
If you assume hacker is a bad person who can damage
all system or stole any account information and password, you are wrong.
Because that is what called "Cracker".
A cracker is someone who breaks into someone else's
computer system, often on a network; bypasses passwords or licenses in computer
programs; or in other ways intentionally breaches computer security.
That’s the point of view about Hacker. Are you
interested to be a Hacker ? Be the Whitehat J.
