Re: *** ADMIN: How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

[Scott Klement <klemscot@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, 5 Jan 2002 MacWheel99@aol.com wrote:
>
> The only thing I did not like about the site was that the good guys here are
> hackers.
> The word "hacker" to me is a cyber terrorist in denial that he doing anything
> bad.
>

I'm sorry, but...  That's NOT what the term "Hacker" means.

Hacker, as a computer term, was originally someone who knew the inner
workings of a program or system so well that when a special feature or
function was needed from the system, he could insert a quick piece of
code (called a "hack") that would make the system perform the special
feature.

Nowadays, the term is more generalized to be:
   a) someone who is an expert on the details of a particular program or
         application.
   b) someone who programs enthusiastically, for the challenge of it.
         or programs just because he likes to program.

Someone who is so familiar with a piece of software that he can find a
buffer overflow, and then is so familiar with the operating system that
he can use that overflow to cause arbitrary code to be executed is
almost certainly a hacker.

However, using this exploit to damage other peoples computers is done by a
criminal, not a hacker.

What usually happens is that some hacker finds the problem, and reports
it to the manufacturer, and to security organizations like BugTraq, CERT,
and so on.   The security orgs & manufacturers send out warnings
explaining the bugs, and why it's important that people protect
themselves against these possible exploits.

Then some CRIMINAL will see those warnings, and use that information to
do something that's not nice.  99% of the time, the criminal and the
hacker are two TOTALLY different people.