hacker
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hacker
A person who writes programs in assembly language or in system-level languages, such as C. The term often refers to any programmer, but its true meaning is someone with a strong technical...
Dictionary
Definition: hacker
A person who writes programs in assembly language or in system-level languages, such as C. The term often refers to any programmer, but its true meaning is someone with a strong technical background who is "hacking away" at the bits and bytes.
Hackers Have a Bad Name
During the 1990s, the term "hacker" became synonymous with "cracker," which is a person who performs some form of computer sabotage. The association is understandable. In order to be an effective cracker, you had to be a good hacker, thus the terms got intertwined, and hacker won out in the popular press.
However, sometimes, hackers are not even worthy of the original meaning of the term. Today, a lot of malicious acts are performed by people with limited knowledge who gain unauthorized entrance into computers to steal data or perform mischief (see script kiddie). See cracker, hack, white hat hacker, samurai and Anonymous.
Hackers Targeted the Internet
The term \"hacker\" was entrenched by the time this article appeared in early 2000, which referred to a huge denial of service (DOS) attack on Yahoo!, eBay, Amazon.com and other Web sites. (Article headline courtesy of the Philadelphia Inquirer.)
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Will Lego produce a hardware hacker's idea of a set for girls?
After hearing about a controversy over Lego's girls-oriented set, hacker Limor Fried came up with Ladyada's Workshop, a set that imagines girls as makers. If 10,000 people agree, Lego could make...
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Hacker, rootkit find place in new novel by infosec journalist
Dennis Fisher finds a way to embed information security subplots into a new novel.
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NASA, ESA confirm hacks; The Unknowns says systems patched
NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have confirmed they were recently hacked. The hacking group The Unknowns says most of the 10 companies it attacked have patched their systems.
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Facebook hacker tells his side of the story (video)
Glenn Steven Mangham has written a lengthy blog post, and even posted a YouTube video, explaining why he hacked into Facebook and stole the service's source code.
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Abortion clinic seeing thousands of copycat hacking attempts
Ever since a hacker was arrested for stealing 10,000 database records from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), the abortion clinic is now seeing thousands of copycat hacking attempts.
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Anonymous claims Pastebin censorship, creates alternative
The hacktivist group Anonymous has gotten so pissed off at Pastebin and its "censorship" plans that it has created its own alternative: AnonPaste. It's currently in alpha though, so don't expect much.
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Chinese hackers top world leading programmers' site
Nine of the leaderboard's top 10 programmers are from China. The only American in the top 20 ranks 12.
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Anti-abortion hacker jailed for stealing 10,000 records
Anonymous member James Jeffery last month hacked into the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) and stole 10,000 database records. He has now been sentenced to 32 months in jail.
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Hacker steals Chinese government defense contracts
Hacktivist Hardcore Charlie says he has hacked China National Import & Export Corp (CEIC), a Chinese government defense contractor, and stole over 500MB worth of documents.
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All's fair in hacks and war
The hacker collective Anonymous defaces Chinese government websites. The message: serve others, not yourself.
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Pastebin to hunt for hacker pastes, Anonymous cries censorship
Pastebin is looking for more manpower to monitor the site's content for sensitive information, such as what hackers dump on the site. The hacktivist Anonymous group is calling the move censorship.
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Researchers develop quantum encryption method to foil hackers
Researchers from the University of Toronto and the University of Vigo believe quantum cryptography is the solution to the hacker problem. They are turning their proof-of-concept into a prototype.
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Hacker jailed for stealing 8 million identities
A British hacker has been sentenced to 26 months for stealing 200,000 PayPal accounts, 2,701 bank card numbers, as well as 8,110,474 names, dates of birth, and postcodes of U.K. residents.
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Hackers can steal credit card data from used Xbox 360s
Security researchers at Drexel University and Dakota State University say they can extract credit card information from Microsoft Xbox 360s even after they have been restored to factory settings.
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Three Ways to Thwart XRY's 2-Minute iPhone Passcode Hack
You may not be able to prevent your iPhone or Android smartphone from being hacked in 120 seconds or less, but your company can.
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FBI: US losing hacker war
A Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) executive says "we're not winning" the hacker war. He warns that FBI's current model to fight hackers infiltrating governments and companies is "unsustainable."
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Dutch police arrests 17-year-old hacker
A 17-year-old boy has been arrested for hacking into mobile telecommunications company KPN in the Netherlands. He has also been accused of other breaches in Japan, Korea, and Norway.
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Chinese hacker arrested for leaking 6 million logins
Forget the attacks that have compromised thousands of accounts. This Chinese hacker managed to steal and leak the data belonging to 6 million users, before he was arrested of course.
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US government pays $250,000 for iOS exploit
Selling exploits to government agencies is becoming a more and more lucrative business. Hackers can get paid anywhere between $5,000 and $250,000 for a security vulnerability.
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Celebrity hacker to plead guilty
Christopher Chaney is expected to plead guilty on Monday for hacking into the e-mail accounts of multiple celebrities, including Christina Aguilera, Mila Kunis, and Scarlett Johansson.
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