Categories of hacker

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 four partially overlapping categories. Sometimes alternate terms such as "cracker" are used in an attempt to more exactly distinguish which category of hacker is intended, or when attempting to put a contextual distance between the categories due to the Hacker definition controversy.


Hacker: Highly skilled programmer
The positive usage of hacker is one who knows a (sometimes specified) set of programming interfaces well enough to program rapidly and expertly. This type of hacker is well-respected (although the term still carries some of the meaning of hack), and is capable of developing programs without adequate planning or where pre-planning is difficult or impossible to achieve. This zugzwang gives freedom and the ability to be creative against methodical careful progress. At their best, hackers can be very productive. The technical downside of hacker productivity is often 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 environments 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 and network security expert
In the networking sense, a hacker is one who specializes in work with the access control mechanisms for computer and network systems. This includes individuals who work toward maintaining and improving the integrity of such mechanisms. However, the most common usage of hacker in this respect refers to someone who exploits systems or gains unauthorized access by means of clever tactics and detailed knowledge, while taking advantage of any carelessness or ignorance on the part of system operators. This use of hacker as intruder (frequent in the media) generally has a strong negative connotation, and is disparaged and discouraged within the computer community, resulting in the modern Hacker definition controversy.
For such hackers specializing in intrusion, the highly derogatory term Script kiddies is often used to indicate those who either claim to have far more skill than they actually have, or who exclusively use programs developed by others to achieve a successful security exploit.


Hacker: Hardware modifier
Another type of hacker is one who creates novel hardware modifications. At the most basic end of this spectrum are those who make frequent changes to the hardware in their computers using standard components, or make semi-cosmetic themed modifications to the appearance of the machine. This type of Hacker modifes his/her computer for performance needs and/or aesthetics. These changes often include adding memory, storage or LEDs and cold cathode tubes for light effects. These people often show off their talents in contests, and many enjoy LAN parties. At the more advanced end of the hardware hackers are those who modify hardware (not limited to computers) to expand capabilities; this group blurs into the culture of hobbyist inventors and professional electronics engineering. An example of such modification includes the addition of TCP/IP Internet capabilities to a number of vending machines and coffee makers during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Hackers who have the ability to write circuit-level code, device drivers, firmware, low-level networking, (and even more impressively, using these techniques to make devices do things outside of their spec sheets), are typically in very high regard among hacker communities. This is primarily due to the enormous difficulty, complexity and specialized domain knowledge required for this type of work, as well as the electrical engineering expertise that plays a large role. Such hackers are rare, and almost always considered to be wizards or gurus of a very high degree.

Hacker stereotypes
There are theoretical types of hackers who are considered to possess an atypical level of skill beyond that of other meanings of the positive form of "hacker", which include the Guru and the Wizard.
In some portions of the computer community, a Wizard is one who can do anything a hacker can, but elegantly; while a Guru not only can do so elegantly, but instruct those who do not know how. In other sub-communities, a Guru is one with a very broad degree of expertise, while a Wizard is expert in a very narrow field. In practice, such exact distinction are usually more at home in a RPG world, and not often heard in actual conversation.

What you mean for "HACKING"

A hacker is a person who creates and modifies computer software and computer hardware, including computer programming, administration, and security-related items. The term usually bears strong connotations, but may be either favorable or denigrating depending on cultural context (see the Hacker definition controversy).
In computer programming, a hacker is a programmer who hacks or reaches a goal by employing a series of modifications to exploit or extend existing code or resources. For some, "hacker" has a negative connotation and refers to a person who "hacks" or uses kludges to accomplish programming tasks that are ugly, inelegant, and inefficient. This negative form of the noun "hack" is even used among users of the positive sense of "hacker".
In computer security, a hacker is a person who specializes in work with the security mechanisms for computer and network systems. While including those who endeavor to strengthen such mechanisms, it more often is used, especially in the mass media, to refer to those who seek access despite them.
In other technical fields, hacker is extended to mean a person who makes things work beyond perceived limits through their own technical skill, such as a hardware hacker, or reality hacker.
In hacker culture, a hacker is a person who has attained a certain social status and is recognized among members of the culture for commitment to the culture's values and a certain amount of technical knowledge

A Hacker is not a Criminal

Another one got caught today; it's all over the papers. "Teenager Arrested in Computer Crime Scandal", "Hacker Arrested after Bank Tampering"... Damn kids. They're all alike. But did you, in your three-piece psychology and 1960's techno-brain, ever took a look behind the eyes of a real hacker? Did you ever wonder what made him tick, what forces moulded him, what may have fashioned him to something that you today call a criminal?

The story begins in his school... He is smarter than most of the other kids, the crap they teach him is bore... Response: Damn underachiever. Least interested in studies. They're all alike. He’s in high school. He has listened to teachers explain for the fifteenth time how to generate a fibonacci series. But he never got a pat on his back for anything, he always had to explain, “I do understand it Ma’m. No, Ms. Singh, I didn't show my rough work, I did it in my head. Believe me Ma’m!” and gets a stern reply, “Damn kid. Probably copied it. They're all alike.” Then things got different, he got his hands on a computer. “Wait a second this is cool. It does what I want it to. If it makes a mistake, it's because I screwed it up. Not because it doesn't like me... Or thinks I'm a smart one…” Response: “Damn kid. All he does is play games. Tying up the phone line again.

They're all alike.” And then it happened... a door opened to a world... rushing through the phone line like heroin through an addict's veins, an electronic pulse is sent out, a refuge from the day-to-day incompetence's is sought... a board is found. This is it... this is where He belongs... He knows everyone here... even if He has never met them, never talked to them, may never hear from them again... still he feels comfy. He was spoon-fed baby food at school when he hungered for steak... the bits of meat that was let slip through him were pre-chewed and tasteless. He had been dominated by sadists, or ignored by the apathetic. The few that had something to teach found him willing pupils, but they were like a bucket of water in the desert. But now, things have changed, he explores a new world where he is the sole master, he has found an unending, boundless and unexplored arena, and he is a soak-pit. He’ll absorb every bit and scrap of knowledge and construct his own rules. It was his curiosity, which gave him such powers that now no password can withstand him and no security can jam his way. This teen has now moulded into a hacker, but ‘He is certainly not a criminal…!’

So what exactly is a hacker? First, let's define what a hacker is not. A hacker is not a mugger. The people with weird names who are arrested for stealing credit cards or shutting down Yahoo are not hackers. They are criminals. Other people with uncanny names, who advise the president of the United States, NASA, and various three-letter agencies, are hackers. They are computer security professionals.

A hacker is one of the most feared types of persons on the Internet. Hackers have been called both techno-revolutionaries and heroes of the computer revolution. Hacking has become a cultural icon about decentralized power. But for all that, hackers are reluctant rebels. They prefer to fight with code than with words. And they would rather appear on the net than at a news conference. As a result of this tabloid mentality, the hacker attempts to fade into the digital world, where he and it is almost always he who has a place if not a home. The aurora of a hacker is a mystical one that has eluded many of their victims. To say that they are rude and arrogant would be far from the truth.

A Hacker is a "person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities." Which means that he is not necessarily a computer geek or a nerd. The hacker defines himself in terms that extend beyond the computer, as an "expert or enthusiast of any kind. So in the broadest sense, the hacker hacks knowledge, he wants to know how things work, and the computer, the prototypical programmable system simply offers more complexity and possibility, and thus more fascination, than most other things. From this perspective, hacking appears to be a harmless if nerdish enthusiasm. But at the same time, this seemingly innocent enthusiasm is animated by an ideology that leads to a conflict with civil authority. The hacker is motivated by the belief that the search for knowledge is an ending venture and should be unrestricted.

But invariably, when a hacker explores programmable systems, he encounters barriers that bureaucracies impose in the name of security. For the hacker, these security measures become arbitrary limits placed on his exploration, or in cases that often lead to confrontation, they become the focus of further explorations: for the hacker, security measures simply represent a more challenging programmable system.

As a result, when a hacker explores such systems, he hacks knowledge, but ideologically he hacks the freedom to access knowledge. They have deep and intimate lust to search around inside of a place they've never been, to explore all the little nooks and crannies of a world so unlike the boring cesspool we live in. So why would he destroy something and take away the pleasure from someone else?

A true hacker seeks to expand his own knowledge and free it for everyone. In the field of computer security, exposing the flaws in programs and operating systems, used by most people, to heighten security awareness, etc, does this. It's a learning experience. When an exploit is released, it's not to cause trouble; it's to make administrators and users aware of potentially serious problems so they can fix them. At the same time, it keeps software developers on their toes, making sure that they don't make shoddy, hole-ridden software. But there is a disturbing growth in what the hacking scene refers to as “Script kiddies”, People, usually nosy teens, who use code written by a hacker to break into systems in order to get the information they want without any regard or regret for how they do it. Why should they bring down the whole world on the few true hackers who aren't cruising the phone lines with malicious intent?

To quote from one of the reference’s I got hands on, which says the same point. ..."These kids don't really have any skills," says Deth Veggie of cDc, one of the oldest hacker crews around. "Since they didn't learn it for themselves they don't respect the system they're infiltrating. And so they steal things and download files, which a real hacker would never do."... Incidents like that, end up giving true hackers a bad reputation, and they end up looking like pranksters. Although the account is from the perspective from a hacker, it shows that there is a certain degree of division of the term hacker, as well. But I won’t label the latter as ‘Crackers’, which is an inappropriate but the most often word used while referring to nefarious hackers. ‘Crackers are usually programmers or code-breakers who crack softwares, create and spread viruses and do other such wicked jobs but they rarely ever break into a system. Those who do so are usually a novice in this jungle and are very much illumined by the power of code, but in any case they are the one who are loathed the most by the real hackers. Hackers have a sort of honour among thieves. There are hacker’s ethics, and these chaps scorn upon their reputation. Hacker is somewhat of a very honourable title, and they don’t like anyone giving them a bad name. But in this creepy world of ours where computer literacy is still much beyond the priorities of a major population, a general opinion about a Hacker is out of the question. But still among the persons who claim to be familiar with the term, this man is nothing more than someone with an extraordinary intellect and indulged in the greyish sort of jobs. Still he has got no less magnitude than a celebrity for he is certainly a face out of the crowd. But he may never have the honour he is worthy of and would always be treated as a mere crook or a criminal. And that’s too, for something that is not a wrong at all… for something that he just can’t spare with and that is his curiosity and his nature to explore the depths of technology to feed his grey cells. At last I’d like to end with an excerpt from a manifesto of a true hacker, known as ‘Mentor’: - “This is our world now... the world of the electron and the switch, the beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already existing without paying for what could be dirt-cheap if profiteering gluttons didn’t run it, and you call us criminals. We explore... and you call us criminals. We seek after knowledge... and you call us criminals. We exist without skin colour, without nationality, without religious bias... and you call us criminals. You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, murder, cheat, and lie to us and try to make us believe it's for our own good, yet we're the criminals. Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like. My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you may never forgive me for.”

......................Thanks to www.ankurshukla.com