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The Internet Editorial Security

Everyone Is A Hacker In Training 145

Posted by Zonk from the commentary-from-the-unique dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Michal Zalewski was recently interviewed by O'Reilly's Onlamp. During the interview, he stated a belief that hacking is a state of mind. From the article: 'I don't think that (good) hackers have any special, hardwired mental abilities or specific personality traits, and I do believe you can easily learn to think like a hacker, even when you come from a different background.'" The interview goes on to discuss the overall need for better security in protocols and communications.
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Everyone Is A Hacker In Training More

Everyone Is A Hacker In Training

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  • Can you really hack? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mejesster ( 813444 ) on Saturday August 27, 2005 @03:35PM (#13417295)
    This sounds absurd. A hacker isn't a mentality, it's a set of actions. I may think like a mass murderer, but until I do it, it doesn't mean much, does it?

  • He's partially right (Score:5, Interesting)

    by coflow ( 519578 ) on Saturday August 27, 2005 @03:36PM (#13417304)
    Hacking is a state of mind, but not in the typical sense of the word hacker. This [amazon.com] book defines hacker as one who delights in solving problems in interesting ways, and I think *that* is a state of mind more than breaking into someone else's machine.

    • Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Saturday August 27, 2005 @04:02PM (#13417435)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Hacking is a state of mind, but not in the typical sense of the word hacker. This book defines hacker as one who delights in solving problems in interesting ways, and I think *that* is a state of mind more than breaking into someone else's machine.

      10 years ago hacker was a dirty word. To many people today, a hacker still is a dirty word. It is someone who breaks into systems, either their own or those owned by others, and snoops around. For example, is there a better description of the people who hacked

    • The problem with this definition is it almost clashes and blends straight into the term "engineer".
    • That's pretty much what Mr. Zalewski said. He specified that a hacker was a "skillful, passionate enthusiast" as opposed to someone who approached what they did as simply "just a job." Of course, he's speaking in the context of computers, but i doubt he'd be offended if that term was stretched into other areas of study/work. That's just my two cents.

      (i didn't have a good referral link to put here, so i'll just leave this [kingdomofloathing.com])
    • That is the typical and only sense of the work hacker. The "breaking into computers" definition has been invented by the media, and has nothing to do with the hacker comunity.
    • Hacking is a state of mind, but not in the typical sense of the word hacker.

      If this article had appeared on Slashdot 5 years ago about half of the responses would have lamented the fact that few people used "hacker" correctly--and that an individual who breaks into other's machines is accurately called a "cracker."

      It appears that the hacker community has given up on on the differentiation, and all you can do is pick up what type of hacker people are talking about by the context.

      That's a shame, because the

      • That's a shame, because the breaking into the other's machines definition for hacker is overwhelming the solving problems in interesting ways definition, and the latter is a rather beautiful and unique concept that doesn't seem to have another word to use.

        Unfortunately I agree with this. The unfortunate part being that the meaning of "hacker" to too many people has become negative.

        Falcon

    • I think Steven Levy does a pretty good job of describing what hackers are in his book "Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution" [amazon.com].

      Falcon

  • Who Michal Zalewski is... (Score:5, Informative)

    by KingSkippus ( 799657 ) * on Saturday August 27, 2005 @03:38PM (#13417315) Homepage Journal

    Because neither the article nor the summary make it clear, Michal Zalewski [wikipedia.org] is a Polish author and hacker who has a book named Silence on the Wire [bookpool.com]: A Field Guide to Passive Reconnaissance and Indirect Attacks published by No Starch Press and sold at your favorite bookstores.

    O'Reilly has an online profile [oreillynet.com] of Michal:

    Michal Zalewski is a security researcher who has worked on topics ranging from hardware and OS design principles to networking. He has published research on many security topics and has worked for the past eight years in the InfoSec field for a number of reputable companies, including two major telecommunications firms.
  • well, everyone may be suited to be a hacker in training, but only those people with the desire to make the most of their "computing experience", the desire to know more and do more with it will actually follow through with it...

  • Is Your Son a Computer Hacker? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 27, 2005 @03:42PM (#13417336)
    As an enlightened, modern parent, I try to be as involved as possible in the lives of my six children. I encourage them to join team sports. I attend their teen parties with them to ensure no drinking or alcohol is on the premises. I keep a fatherly eye on the CDs they listen to and the shows they watch, the company they keep and the books they read. You could say I'm a model parent. My children have never failed to make me proud, and I can say without the slightest embellishment that I have the finest family in the USA.

    Two years ago, my wife Carol and I decided that our children's education would not be complete without some grounding in modern computers. To this end, we bought our children a brand new Compaq to learn with. The kids had a lot of fun using the handful of application programs we'd bought, such as Adobe's Photoshop and Microsoft's Word, and my wife and I were pleased that our gift was received so well. Our son Peter was most entranced by the device, and became quite a pro at surfing the net. When Peter began to spend whole days on the machine, I became concerned, but Carol advised me to calm down, and that it was only a passing phase. I was content to bow to her experience as a mother, until our youngest daughter, Cindy, charged into the living room one night to blurt out: "Peter is a computer hacker!"

    As you can imagine, I was amazed. A computer hacker in my own house! I began to monitor my son's habits, to make certain that Cindy wasn't just telling stories, as she is prone to doing at times.

    After a few days of investigation, and some research into computer hacking, I confronted Peter with the evidence. I'm afraid to say, this was the only time I have ever been truly disappointed in one of my children. We raised them to be honest and to have integrity, and Peter betrayed the principles we tried to encourage in him, when he refused point blank to admit to his activities. His denials continued for hours, and in the end, I was left with no choice but to ban him from using the computer until he is old enough to be responsible for his actions.

    After going through this ordeal with my own family, I was left pondering how I could best help others in similar situations. I'd gained a lot of knowledge over those few days regarding hackers. It's only right that I provide that information to other parents, in the hope that they will be able to tell if their children are being drawn into the world of hacking. Perhaps other parents will be able to steer their sons back onto the straight and narrow before extreme measures need to be employed.

    To this end, I have decided to publish the top ten signs that your son is a hacker. I advise any parents to read this list carefully and if their son matches the profile, they should take action. A smart parent will first try to reason with their son, before resorting to groundings, or even spanking. I pride myself that I have never had to spank a child, and I hope this guide will help other parents to put a halt to their son's misbehaviour before a spanking becomes necessary.

    1. Has your son asked you to change ISPs?

    Most American families use trusted and responsible Internet Service Providers, such as AOL. These providers have a strict "No Hacking" policy, and take careful measures to ensure that your internet experience is enjoyable, educational and above all legal. If your child is becoming a hacker, one of his first steps will be to request a change to a more hacker friendly provider.

    I would advise all parents to refuse this request. One of the reasons your son is interested in switching providers is to get away from AOL's child safety filter. This filter is vital to any parent who wants his son to enjoy the internet without the endangering him through exposure to "adult" content. It is best to stick with the protection AOL provides, rather than using a home-based solution. If your son is becoming a hacker, he will be able to circumvent any home-based measures with surprising ease, using information gleaned from variou

  • Hacker Manifesto (Score:4, Interesting)

    by brajesh ( 847246 ) <brajesh.sachan@g ... om minus painter> on Saturday August 27, 2005 @03:47PM (#13417362) Homepage
    Quoting from Wikipedia:-
    "The Manifesto [wikipedia.org] states that hackers choose to hack because it is a way for them to learn, because they are frustrated and bored in school. It also expresses the satori of a hacker realizing his potential in the realm of computers."

  • The Zen of Hacking (Score:5, Insightful)

    by SuperDuG ( 134989 ) <<kt.celce> <ta> <eb>> on Saturday August 27, 2005 @03:47PM (#13417365) Homepage Journal
    Okay, I'm not trying to burst everyone's bubble here, but there is no kung-fu hacking style. I guess the best metaphor I can come up with here is hacking is like martial arts. Anyone can turn on a computer and run a program, just like anyone can punch things.

    There is no skill involved in hitting things, just as there is no skill involved in running a "script". However even with a script and a punch you can still bring harm.

    With training you can learn how and where to hit someone to inflict pain, debilitate them, or kill them. Just like anyone with an iota of programming knowledge can shutdown a server, destroy the data on it, or bring down entire networks.

    Like martial arts, thankfully those that do know how to kill someone with their hands and those that do know how to do malicious things with a computer, do not do them. Anyone can write a virus, and knowing programming I know that you could make a very nasty virus to do very nasty things.

    But that doesn't happen. Usually what happens is those who might know the tools of the trade or a few moves don't have the discipline. They lack the ability to know that "you can" is different than "you should".

    However, there is no kung-fu quality of knowing how to "hack". There is a quality to knowing how a computer works, how they can be exploited, and how they can be repaired. It's the knowledge of computers that will get a person to a point in which they can contribute to the community, sometimes make money, and sometimes just get noticed.

    Then there's the smeg-heads who are the l33tz0r hax0rts d00dz that ... don't get it.

    • The Zen of Cracking (Score:1, Informative)

      by Zecritic ( 858738 )

      Okay, I'm not trying to burst everyone's bubble here, but there is no kung-fu hacking style. I guess the best metaphor I can come up with here is hacking is like martial arts.

      If you replace every instance of "hack" in your post with "crack" I'll agree with you. The media may call them hackers, but that's really not accurate. And it's not "kung-fu" if you're thinking of hacking, it's "kung-foo" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foo#Nonsense_words [wikipedia.org]

    • if there is "no foo" how can you name it?
      if no one does "foo", then how can you blame it?
      "must. reject. that-which-is-not-mine!"
      "must. detect. that-which-is-not-fine!"
      we eat different foods, and yet out comes same shit?

    • Learn how to hack in two easy steps:
      1. Read.
      2. Repeat #1.

      But, considering that the word "read" is surpassing "fuck" as the ultimate dirty-shock-word in the US, I think we dwellers of cyberspace are secure in our niche for just a couple more years.

    • There's a great quote in the DC Comics series, "The Hacker Files", where the protagonist says something to the effect of: "There are two things I hate - one is passwords, and the other is locks".

      There most certainly IS a kung-fu quality to the hack. Here's an example for you; You can read a book on lockpicking - there's even a great classic reference, the MIT Guide to Lockpicking. It will explain all the theory behind basic pin tumbler locks, and make you very knowledgable of their exploits. Now, go buy the
    • With training you can learn how and where to hit someone to inflict pain, debilitate them, or kill them. Just like anyone with an iota of programming knowledge can shutdown a server, destroy the data on it, or bring down entire networks. But I have two iotas of programming knowledge and I can't even poke a Windows box.

  • Intensity over Extensity (Score:5, Insightful)

    by rolfwind ( 528248 ) on Saturday August 27, 2005 @03:49PM (#13417371)
    I agree that it's not always something specifically mental in that some people simply can do it and some simply can't (but some do have more natural talent). I disagree about personality traits.

    I think good hackers tend to be obessive about what they hack - meaning that they eat, drink, and sleep the subject they are good at hacking at.

    A lot of people these days tend to try to learn (too) many things and turn out to be more of a jack of all trades than an expert in a single subject (thinking of all those programmers who have to learn a new language everyother week) or simply can't concentrate on any one thing for longer than 5 minutes at a time.

    This is my issue with college - many of which try to teach a wide variety of subject to a student that really only wants a specific degree (say in Math or Science related) - studies have shown that people tend to remember less than 15-20% of what they learned in school/college several years after attending so why force something that will only be forgotten later for lack of interest?

    Genius - 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration. Morale: Prize Intensity over Extensity.

    A genius that probably can't be replicated in everybody is a renaissance man who can excel in multiple non-related subjects - like Leonardo Davinci. But that still took some type of concentrated obsession.
    • I agree 50%. I agree with your obsessive hack, but I've seen guys that put their mind to a single subject and excel at that subject. AND most of the really tallented "hackers" I know have no after highschool training other than the on the job kind.
      • I don't disagree. But I didn't mention someone needed training either and my whole point was that people should rather concentrate on a single subject/topic/whatever:) Sorry if it didn't come out that way.

        I only mentioned college because I disagree with the approach most take - trying to cram multiple unrelated topics onto students (via requirements) instead of letting people get degrees by taking courses that are directly related to their field of interest.

        • I only mentioned college because I disagree with the approach most take - trying to cram multiple unrelated topics onto students (via requirements) instead of letting people get degrees by taking courses that are directly related to their field of interest.

          You don't think students should take "unrelated" classes to their major? So education shouldn'r be balanced? I totally diagree though I do have problems or bones to pick with the educational system. An example deals with college, at one tyme I looke

  • Personality traits (Score:3, Insightful)

    by kevin_conaway ( 585204 ) on Saturday August 27, 2005 @03:57PM (#13417410) Homepage
    From what I understand, a good "hacker" in the sense that he uses the word should probably be:

    - Attentive to detail.
    - Patient.

    Finding bugs in software requires a lot of patience and attention to detail because often times you have to manipulate time and memory to get what you want..over and over and over again.

    That said, FINDING bugs is tricky. Using or modifiying a POC off of bugtraq is not so hard.
    • Finding bugs in software requires a lot of patience and attention to detail because often times you have to manipulate time and memory to get what you want.

      Even Donald Knuth can't manipulate time.

    • I think the term you're looking for is Asperger's.
    • This sounds kind of similar to Paul Graham [paulgraham.com] - In particular, his great hackers [paulgraham.com] essay. What he says:

      If it is possible to make yourself into a great hacker, the way to do it may be to make the following deal with yourself: you never have to work on boring projects (unless your family will starve otherwise), and in return, you'll never allow yourself to do a half-assed job.

      This sounds about right to me.
      -ReK

  • I shouldn't have any trouble finding recruits for my secret invincible army of death-hackers

  • Im not so sure (Score:4, Interesting)

    by eneville ( 745111 ) on Saturday August 27, 2005 @04:11PM (#13417486) Homepage
    I think hacking really is a thirst for knowledge. Since the advent of the internet search engine, anyone can now freely research a topic. Why should hacking be limited to computers?

    It is easier for someone to become a bad hacker these days. I think what divides the good from the bad is the fear of being caught, perhaps the good hackers know that the log file is forever watching.

    In the true sense of hacker, someone sitting in front of a computer all waking hours does not have to be producing anything of worth.
    • When he said a "good hacker", he was talking about ability, not good vs. bad.

    • I don't take hacking as being about only computers. To me a hack can be most any unusual trick like what phreaks did with phones. At one tyme, in the early 1900s writers and reporters were called hacks or hackers. Here's a website for Horse Hackers [horsehackers.com]. This site, Expressions & Sayings [tinyonline.co.uk], on etymology or the study of words says:

      Hack-work
      In Old English a hackney was an ordinary horse (i.e. not a thoroughbred) suitable for general use, especially for riding by ladies; the name may have come from Hackne

  • Use of the word....... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 27, 2005 @04:11PM (#13417487)
    Hacking is an art.... You don't just wake up one morning calling yourself a hacker. It takes years upon years to even learn the necessary skills. And "hacker" is a word that other people call you after you have proven yourself knowledgible in certain areas.

    Not everyone can have the title hacker, its a name that you earn because you are very good in your line of work, not because your a wannabee and want to be called a cool name. Of course they all start out as wannabees anyway, but many never go through with their quest for knowledge and understanding.

    And for you media-freaks out there, hacker does not mean breaking into another person/business's computer unauthorized, that would be a cracker. The media has tainted the word into something unwanted and looked down upon when it really means something very good (who doesnt like the quest for knowledge?).

    • Oh, lots of people I know call me a hacker. The one's a Farmer whom I used to help with his computer, similiar situations with some more ;) They sometimes ask me things like "Could you hack $WEBSITE for me?" in fun of course, but I know that they think I could do it. I usually leave them with their beliefs.
  • I think that you can consider yourself a hacker based on lots of things. You could throw together a quick software hack to help you get something done, or you could embark on a reality hacking [wikipedia.org] campaign to play with the minds of thousands of people. You can beat out the man by hacking your CVS camcorder for fun, or you could attempt to make your own nigh-vision scope [flickr.com].

    Hacking is what you make of it; it's as simple as that.

  • IMHO (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Skiron ( 735617 ) on Saturday August 27, 2005 @04:24PM (#13417546)
    I can see what means, but as always, it comes out wrong.

    I know for a fact there are (intelligent) people that no matter HOW hard they try, they cannot program - it is just literally impossible for them, they just cannot grasp the concept. Maybe this is to do with the way some people's mind works or not, I don't know, but it has something to do with it.

    Now to the 'hacker' bit. Anybody that can/does understand programming/concept is only one step away from being a 'hacker' (not a _cracker_ !). It is the next step after learning the base, and 'hacking' is the logical next step to learn more.

    But as I said, not everybody has the ability, willing or unwillingly.
    • I know for a fact there are (intelligent) people that no matter HOW hard they try, they cannot program - it is just literally impossible for them, they just cannot grasp the concept.

      I disagree with this. I've met a great many people who claim that they can't program. I ask if they can give directions. Tell me how to go somewhere. Do they understand the concept of "keep going until..."? Do they understand the concept of "if you're on xxx road, do this, if you're on yyy road, do that"? Most people can

  • I used to be a self-proclaimed hacker. Key word being 'used'.

    I can't remember when it started, but the word 'hacker' has changed its meaning. It used to mean someone who 'thinks outsid eof the box' - solves problems in a new way. It used to mean someone who would improve things by writing their own code/making their own hardware. Crackers used to be people who would 'crack' security codes etc. to illegally gain access to a computer.

    Somehow 'hacker' is now a synonym for cracker. I propose 'hacker' is

    • Somehow 'hacker' is now a synonym for cracker. I propose 'hacker' is rostored to its former glory and a new word is instated to mean cracker; 'h4x0r' or 'script kiddy (or 'skiddy' for short)'.

      It's my hope that if enough people correct those who use "hack" and "hacker" incorrectly then people will start to use it correctly. When I can I try to correct it myself, having done it a few tymes in this article thread. For those who have the wrong impression I recommend they read Steven Levy's book Hackers: H [amazon.com]

  • Everyone Is A Hacker In Training

    Way to go getting everyone on the fucking terrorist watch list in America.

  • As we seem to be hacki..--sorry, cutting & pas (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Care and Feeding of your Hacker

    The following list is an attempt to cover some of the issues that will invariably come up when people without previous experience of the hacker community try to hire a hacker. This FAQ is intended for free distribution, and may be copied as desired. It is in an early revision. If you wish to modify the FAQ, or distribute it for publication, please contact the author. The author is seebs@plethora.net. The official distribution site (as of revision 0.05) is "http://www.plethora.

  • Hackers (Score:5, Interesting)

    by starfishsystems ( 834319 ) on Saturday August 27, 2005 @04:59PM (#13417711) Homepage
    I don't think that ("good") hackers have any special, hardwired mental abilities or specific personality traits, and I do believe you can easily learn to think like a hacker, even when you come from a different background.

    (For a contrasting point of view, see Paul Graham's essay on Great Hackers [paulgraham.com].)

    I'm inclined to agree that hacking is a state of mind. But it seems that only a certain kind of temperment is drawn to cultivate that state of mind. In practical terms, therefore, personality matters greatly.

    From long observation, I would have to say that most people don't know -- and don't want to know -- how things work. In fact, many people have developed quite elaborate defenses against knowing, strange though it may seem to the hacker mind. These people will claim that they don't have time, or that it's risky, or that it's more cost-effective to pay someone else, or that they don't see why it all has to be so hard, et cetera. Hackers seem notably disinclined to raise such objections.

    I'm not sure that hackers, as a group, are naturally drawn to rigor and formalism any more than the general population, but most of them seem at least willing to go there if the situation calls for it. Hackers might prefer to immediately start prying the covers off stuff, but if that doesn't work, the more committed ones tend to have no problem reading manuals, circuit diagrams, or assembler code if that's what it takes.

    Hackers seem to be well represented by the Myers-Briggs INTJ and INTP personality types. On the other hand, this combination (introverted, intuitive, thinker) is rare in the general population. Most people wouldn't dream of taking the covers off a new piece of gear. To them, it would be far safer not to know than to risk voiding the warranty.

    My point is that neither position is objectively more correct than the other. It's a question of what you subjectively value. So yes, I suppose that anyone could, in principle, learn to think like a hacker. After all, it's not like there's any secret to what's involved. And we live in a highly technological era, where it would seem to make excellent sense to cultivate that way of thinking. But I don't see it happening.

  • I wonder what makes them say that? Maybe I can find out from their other writings. Hm, if I don't like what they wrote there, maybe I can write them a message, and get them to think differently. Maybe they'll even say something different!

  • It's About Problem Solving (Score:3, Insightful)

    by tjasond ( 680156 ) on Saturday August 27, 2005 @05:04PM (#13417739)
    Even though he states that (good) hackers have any special, hardwired mental abilities, I disagree.

    From the article: What I wanted to achieve is to show how to think creatively and see problems that go beyond textbook examples

    This is exactly what I've always thought good hacking was all about - creative problem solving. I agree that good hackers go beyond a textbook or class work in order to solve problems, but I also think this is an ability that some have and others just don't. Good problem solvers can be found way beyond IT. It's the same as people that are considered good "handymen", for lack of a better term. Give them a problem, be it move some heavy furniture or fix something that's broken and they'll come up with a creative solution, even though it initially looked impossible to solve. I'll even bet that some hackers are considered good "handymen" around their neighborhood.
  • Yes, I can certainly see the teenaged girl with "Hottie" embroidered on her ass cracking my Ubuntu box.
  • o/~ I'm a hacker, you're a hacker, he's a hacker, she's a hacker, would you like to be a hacker too? Be a hacker, drink Dr. Hacker. o/~

    OK, it doesn't work, but this guy was just asking for something like this.

  • 'I do believe you can easily learn to think like a hacker, even when you come from a different background.'

    I fully believe that statment. I also believe it is the background that you come from, the morals you hold and your beliefs that will determine the outcome of what you do with the knowledge when you learn to think like a hacker.

    I also very fully beleive in the following statement:

    The difference between hackers and people who just deal with computers for a living, 9 to 5, is quite simple--hacke

  • I don't know how he can make this claim given the "walking on water" study that showed the top fraction of programmers were 4x as productive as the average one, and could do things the others could not no matter how much time they were given.

    Now I'll grant you, many hackers are lame little shits who are in it not for any intellectual reasons...
  • I've worked in corporate IT for 6 years now. Majority of the users, and even those who consider themselves "power users", have simply memorized the steps necessary to log in, send e-mail, reply to e-mail, open and save an Office document, print, etc... They are not technical and they can't be trained to be technical. Let alone to think like hackers.

    Hell, I've just gotten a support call from someone who couldn't find the backslash key on his keyboard!!! He was not able to log onto a site that required "domai
    • Using Google to find a pic of his keyboard is an example of hacker thinking that an average person is NEVER going to master.

      Ha ha! You're right, I would have told him to use a flashlight and a mirror and a speculum to check his...

  • "I don't think that (good) hackers have any special, hardwired mental abilities or specific personality traits, and I do believe you can easily learn to think like a hacker, even when you come from a different background." I think the whole idea of hacking is way over-credited, mainly by the hacking subculture itself... "hacker" is obviously just a label that describes a person who performs a certain set of actions, and people talk about it like its something special, like being a "jedi" or something.
  • "Everybody is becoming a hacker"? This, in the face of the ten thousand Slashdot posts I've read from people who complain because EVERYTHING about computers is just too hard to figure out, and the people who adamently insist that they should be expected to use NOTHING but a Windows box running AOL, and the people who didn't even make it to Slashdot, they have to tell me in person that they have never touched a computer and don't care to learn them.

    Same planet. Different worlds.

  • So, I'm a stupid kid who was fooling around on a website of an organization with which I have some affiliation. I found a complete lack of security, and was able to post a picture of homestar along with some text outlining the problem to the page.

    The organization found out it was me and threw me out. At my hearing, the CIO referred to the "Foxfire web browser" and asserted that I'd found some flaw in the "ColdFusion web server" (it was an Apache server, and it's being out-of-date had not been the method I u

  • The H word (Score:3, Insightful)

    by petrus4 ( 213815 ) on Saturday August 27, 2005 @11:28PM (#13419301) Homepage Journal
    I've noticed for a while that the term "hacker" is generally considered a vague, legendary and elusive title which supposedly only a very few godlike souls are ever able to attain or become worthy of. ESR seems to have led the charge in perpetuating this pretentious tripe, but it is a belief which sadly a great many people seem to be afflicted with.

    How do I define a hacker myself? Someone who:-

    (a) Has sufficient knowledge of a particular system/topic (and although use of the term normally applies to computer related areas, it has been colloquially lent to other fields) that they are able to employ a degree of intuition when solving problems in said area.

    (b) Performs said problem solving in an improvisatory, rather than formal, manner.

    (c) Has a tendency to develop solutions to problems which involve surrealistic associations. By that I mean that their solutions will involve combining objects, ideas, or processes which would not ordinarily go together.

    Contrary to the common belief, this doesn't require being a god, either. It generally doesn't require too much more than at least a basic level of intelligence and familiarity with the area in question. So given that, yes, pretty much anyone who has any level of proficiency in anything could call themselves a hacker if they wished to do so.

    ESR's claim of, "you're not a hacker until somebody else calls you one," implies to me that *he* anyway is somebody who forms his self-perception on the basis of other people's assessments...a rather questionable idea, to my mind.

    • Listening to Charlie Parker on the saxophone, you can hear the influence of earlier forms of jazz on his playing, and his technical knowledge of scales and other music-theoretic disciplines, much the same as a music professor. But, the difference lies in his ability to 'let go' of traditional moves and use his technical skills to invest fluency in apparently 'new' ways of playing his instrument. The other side of the coin is that anyone can pick up a sax and create noise. Music usually lies within a framew

  • 'I don't think that (good) hackers have any special, hardwired mental abilities or specific personality traits, and I do believe you can easily learn to think like a hacker, even when you come from a different background.'

    Next up on tonight's news, a golf pro weighs in on sports physiology.

  • In highschools its not hard to tell who's a what (hacker, cracker, scriptkiddie). Most of them are full of it, and just want to muck around with passwords. About 3 or 4 guys in my grade are all bragging because they can get hotmail or yahoo passwords. I might also point out here that they think they are Anarchists because they read the Anarchists Cookbook. Exactly.
    And people wonder why I hate people my own age!
    • Call them on the Anarchist thing, I had a friend who devoutly professed to be an Anarchist an completely wanted Anarchy to reign. One day after I grew weary of hearing his mindless repetition, I asked him quite calmly and seriously, "so what have you done today?"

      I used to believe in the phylosophy (*SIC) of anarchism, but the whole idea is flawed, there will always be a class system no matter what we do. If you want true political change you must do it from within the system. The only time, at least per h
      • Apparently I get on their nerves. I asked one of them what distro he's using. Wish I'd taken a picture.
        Just for reference: I'm not an anarchist, but a lot of people think I am. I have nothing against anarchists, just any radicals, the same way that there are other radicals (*cough* bush *cough*) Recap: I'm not an anarchist, I'm just reasonably hard left.
  • I think that the distinction is between: someone who inadvertently screws up a system, a script kiddie, and an actual hacker who does it for a purpose.
  • There is no doubt we need better security for internet users and companies that operate on the internet but hacking is not a state of mind it is a total sum of wrong or illegal actions.
    • Why oh why do drones like you insist on propagating the mindless drivel that comes out of the news agencies?
      Hacking existed way before the age of computers, and was never linked to criminal activities, how many times does one have to repeat this?

      It's amazing how one idiotic "reporter" on tv decides that a word will have a new meaning to make it more interesting for the couch-potato-zombies watching, and everyone accepts that! I can dig it on any other site, but here I'd think that people would know differ

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