Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1999 12:00:18 +0100 (CET) From: Jeroen Ruigrok/Asmodai <asmodai@wxs.nl> To: "Jason C. Wells" <jcwells@u.washington.edu> Cc: FreeBSD-chat <freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: RE: Confused on Hacker/Cracker Definition Message-ID: <XFMail.990110120018.asmodai@wxs.nl> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.05.9901092054590.18456-100000@s8-37-26.student.washington.edu>
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On 10-Jan-99 Jason C. Wells wrote: > I have long held the understanding that in computing, a "hacker" fixes > things and a "cracker" breaks them. As I continue to try to learn about > information security I read many articles. > > It seems that the distinction between hacker and cracker is blurred in > cyberpress. This blurring seems to occur even on computer savvy news > sites like cnet, slashdot, and wired. > > TNHD still provides a negative view on "crackers". Some of these cracker > groups seem to claim themsleves as hackers. Is this a bid for credibility > akin to a terrorist claiming to be a politician? > > I am wondering if the meaning of words is shifting and the people that I > continue to call cracker are gaining (perceived) credibility enough to be > called hacker? Is my understanding outdated? Not really, back in the Amiga days (say begin 1990) hackers were still hackers as in people with a knack for `hacking' at the keyboard to make software or solutions work. Crackers were the guys and still are the people who crack the protection on various pieces of software and other related things. I work as a network/security specialist and have always defended the hackers out there against my colleagues as most of the people who stage attacks are merely script kiddies. The true Hackers also never openly declare they are hackers. Hacking still means the same except the territoy has shifter from hacking at system to test security to hacking Operating Systems such as the BSD's and Linux. My 0.02 centen PS: people never bother to read something like the Jargon file or netiquette documents nowadays. Needless to say that I hate my work's mail software (Novell's GroupWise) since it doesn't allow for header tweaking nor does it allow a normal reply format such as these mails. *sigh* --- Jeroen Ruigrok van der Werven A veil of smoke is what I am, asmodai(at)wxs.nl I wait and I wait... Network/Security Specialist <http://home.wxs.nl/~asmodai>; BSD & picoBSD: The Power to Serve <http://www.freebsd.org>; To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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