What is a criminal hacker?

Answer 1

Originally the term referred to people who used a razor blade and/or fingernail clippers to "hack" or roughly cut parts in electronics such as the traces on circuit boards, legs of diodes etc. Police scanners were "hacked" in order to add more memory, remove CPU processors , speed up scanning by "hacking" the crystal oscillator and replacing with faster ones. Thes methods are directly related to why computers now have more RAM, and are faster. Some of the old (and I do mean old) "hackers" devised a system in the 1960s to simultaneously send voice and data over a phone line using frequency phase shifting and filtering. A similar process used later by DSL.

"Hacking" and "Modding" evolved into things such as examining the programming of a thing. Beginning with noticing things such that by pressing certain keys or combinations of keys in certain secquences on a device could produce certain results. Following the era of IBM's "Big Blue" Chess tournament, AT&T introduced the "unbeatable Tic Tac Toe Computer, and exhibited it. I, I mean a "hacker" back then, was able to beat the computer with a sequence of key presses in order to "cheat" the computer out of a move. On many Shortwave radios, Police Scanners, even cell phones etc, certain key presses are used in the programming, and could be used to alter that programming.

The keys on a keyboard of a device are a "Matrix" Keyboards use a matrix with the rows and columns made up of wires. Each key acts like a switch. When a key is pressed, a column wire makes contact with a row wire and completes a circuit. The keyboard controller detects this closed circuit and registers it as a key press to the software.

I'm going to try to keep this understandable to readers ...

Software can emulate or act like hardware.

Example: a hardware modem versus a DSP/Digital Signal Processor modem, where a chip is programmed to act like the hardware....

So, later, the focus turned even more from "hacking" the actual electronics and hardware to software "hacking" through PROGRAMMING.

A "black hat" hacker is often referred to as a microcomputer user who attempts to gain unauthorized access to proprietary computer systems. Although that could be a "cracker" ... a person cracking passwords etc.

Most often people who call themselves "hackers" are called "wannabes" by the old-timers, and nowadays are often adolescents using a program they didn't write, by clicking a button they didn't create, to do what don't understand, in an attempt to disrupt something they don't know how to fix.

"White Hat" hackers are the "good guys" like ... Like the old-timers who vastly improved what computers are capable of doing, and the ones currently trying to improve security by locating and preventing weaknesses.

This Answer is dedicated to the memory of Bill Cheek, author, The Scanner Modification Handbook series, and his BBS and Fidonet terminal (prior to "The internet") Good man, Good freind to many... May he R.I.P.

Answer 2

there are 3 basic types of hackers , each with their own code...

First is the most applied version Blackhat.

they are the pirates of the internet living only to destroy and take from those they attack on the internet.they live to futher their own egos and names in the internet and to be feared aswell.

Whitehats are the good guys , only wanting to learn and help ppl out with their security problems. Living to a strict code of ethics to not harm anyone for any reason and to report vulnerabilities when found.

And finally GrayHats. gray hats deal with conflicting beliefs. they want to help ppl but are still attracted to the power of controling and being able to harm.

Answer 3

Short answer: They make modifications to things. Their aim is to gain entry to the computer systems of others (private, corporate, government) by other than legitimate means. Most countries have strict laws governing unauthorized access.

Many people get hackers confused with crackers; hacking is the process of modification while cracking is the stereotypical "I'mma steal your password."

Their are two main types of hackers :

1) Black hat hackers:

Black hat hackers use their skills for immoral reasons, such as hacking their way into a bank to transfer funds into their own account

2) White hat hackers:

White hat hackers use their skills for legitimate reasons, such as modifying software to make a program more efficient.

In any case, hacking is always unwelcome and usually illegal.

Answer 4

A hacker is a programmer who enjoys the challenge of breaking into other computers but does no harm, true hackers have a code of ethics and look down upon crackers

Crackers on the other hand are programmers crack (gain unauthorized access to) computers to do malicious things

Oli Crompton

Answer 5

This is a very good question . A hacker is someone who brakes into someones Belongings . e.g .. Msn account Bank account etc .. They try to disguise themselves as the person's account they have hacked into.

Answer 6

There is no such thing as a malicious hacker, malicious hackers are in fact crackers.

Hackers hack into computer system for the challenge, they do no damage.

Crackers on the other hand crack into computer systems to cause damage or steal information.

Answer 7

A hacker is someone who uses computers to gain unauthorised entry to a computer system. Hackers may be referred to as "black-hat" or "white-hat" (an analogy to old American western movies where the bad guys always wore black hats). A white-hat hacker is someone who is employed or otherwise authorised to gain entry by unauthorised means, typically to test the security of a system. A black-hat hacker uses unauthorised entry for personal gain, whether to damage the system or commit computer fraud.

Answer 8

Hackers take personal information, and steal, or have a jump ahead. Viruses will just affect your computer, and mess with you.

Answer 9

hacking a system is illegal a crimnal hacker is someone who hacks into a system and steals information and then uses it to blackmail companies/people.