What is a hacker?
A hacker is someone who likes to tinker with electronics or computer
systems. Hackers like to explore and learn how computer systems work, finding
ways to make them do what they do better, or do things they weren’t intended to
do. There are two types of hackers:
White Hat – These are considered the good guys. White hat hackers don’t use
their skills for illegal purposes. They usually become Computer Security experts
and help protect people from the Black Hats.
Black Hat – These are considered the bad guys. Black hat hackers usually use their
skills maliciously for personal gain. They are the people that hack banks, steal
credit cards, and deface websites.
These two terms came from the old western movies where the good guys wore
white hats and the bad guys wore black hats.
Now if you’re thinking, “Oh boy! Being a black hat sounds awesome!”, Then I have
a question for you. Does it sound cool to live in a cell the size of your bathroom
and be someone’s butt buddy for many years? That’s what I thought.
Hacker Hierarchy
Script kiddies – These are the wannabe hackers. They are looked down upon in
the hacker community because they are the people that make hackers look bad.
Script kiddies usually have no hacking skills and use the tools developed by other
hackers without any knowledge of what’s happening behind the scenes.
Intermediate hackers – These people usually know about computers, networks,
and have enough programming knowledge to understand relatively what a script
might do, but like the script kiddies they use pre-developed well-known exploits (-
a piece of code that takes advantage of a bug or vulnerability in a piece of software that allows
you to take control of a computer system) to carry out attacks
Elite Hackers – These are the skilled hackers. They are the ones that write the
many hacker tools and exploits out there. They can break into systems and hide
their tracks or make it look like someone else did it. You should strive to
eventually reach this level.
What does it take to become a hacker?
Becoming a great hacker isn’t easy and it doesn’t happen quickly. Being
creative helps a lot. There is more than one way a problem can be solved, and as
a hacker you encounter many problems. The more creative you are the bigger
chance you have of hacking a system without being detected. Another huge
quality you must have is the will to learn because without it, you will get
nowhere. Remember, Knowledge is power. Patience is also a must because many
topics can be difficult to grasp and only over time will you master them.
