Modern "Hackers"

[RichardLinx]

I visit quite a few forums related to computing and technology, and I've noticed a lot (Well, a few, which seems like a lot) of women are asking questions about hacking. I don't mean to stereotype, but I think it's related to Facebook/MySpace/MSN/<insert social networking fad here>

Women seem to care about these things more. (IMO)

*Braces for possible flames from almost non-existant female Linux community*

They say that they mean "the good hacking" and go on about "basic stuff like someones email account or myspace"

Is it just me seeing this?

[NoaHall]

Yes. And that's not good hacking. Good(otherwise known as white-hat hackers) hacking is testing a system and finding errors, and reporting them, instead of exploiting them.

[CharlesA]

Yes. And that's not good hacking. Good hacking is testing a system and finding errors, and reporting them, instead of exploiting them.

This.

I think the only things I've seen around are stuff like "hack into yer husband/wife's email acct to see if they are having an affair!" BS.

Heh. I just typed "hack into" into google and the first thing on the list was facebook, myspace, yahoo..etc.

[RichardLinx]

Yes. And that's not good hacking. Good(otherwise known as white-hat hackers) hacking is testing a system and finding errors, and reporting them, instead of exploiting them.

I had quotation marks around those parts of the sentence for a good reason. :)

[lovinglinux]

How do you really know they are woman? Perhaps they are just pretending. I would certainly disguise myself as a woman if I needed such information from geeks.

[coldfusion1313]

I hate when people say my facebook/myspace/email has been hacked. I say please use the word cracked.

[NoaHall]

I hate when people say my facebook/myspace/email has been hacked. I say please use the word cracked.

Hacking is the accepted modern term.

[wojox]

I always refereed those types as "crackers". To answer your question about the women, I think their interested in what their significant other is up to.
My wife's friends always ask me questions about that.

[FuturePilot]

Hacking is the accepted modern term.

Accepted? Yes. Correct? No.

[doas777]

ahh, the parlance of our times. we at Zerox create a copy machine, and before you know it, people are misusing the term "zerox" as a verb or if as a noun, in reference to the piece of paper they are holding.

in the old school, all us linux tinkerers would be called "hackers". villians at the time would have been called crackers.

nowadays hackers covers both the good and bad bases, and crackers are the (good?) people that let you run photoshop for free. how times change.

in terms of demographics, there are more and more people of every possible subset of society using technology, and studying for expertise in the field.

that said, I was approached by a lady I haven't talked to in years a few months ago, because she wanted to break into her boyfriends email. needless to say, I told her that I couldn't help, and wouldn't even if I could.

[doas777]

Yes. And that's not good hacking. Good(otherwise known as white-hat hackers) hacking is testing a system and finding errors, and reporting them, instead of exploiting them.

I'm with you, though I tend to define pentesters as grey-hats.

in the really old school, a skilled sysadmin was a "hacker", long before anyone even considered security beyond a short cleartext password.

[saif_held]

I always wondered how hackers such as the guy in the [Die Hard 4] movie became the way he was..or maybe overrated?

[aysiu]

I visit quite a few forums related to computing and technology, and I've noticed a lot (Well, a few, which seems like a lot) of women are asking questions about hacking. I don't mean to stereotype, but I think it's related to Facebook/MySpace/MSN/<insert social networking fad here>

[snip]

Is it just me seeing this? I hope it's just you.

I searched through our very own forums. There are a ton of threads concerned about supposed "hackers" (intended to mean "cracker" or "black-hat hacker"), and almost all of the usernames of the people posting are gender neutral (the ones that aren't seem male):
is wget a hacker? (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1160575&highlight=hacker) (StOoZ)
Ubuntu Irc hacker posting virus url (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1134514&highlight=hacker) (wirechief)
System hacker deterent. (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1122260&highlight=hacker) (gmanigault)
Possible hacker? (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1072570&highlight=hacker) (Excedio says "my fiancee's laptop," so maybe Excedio is male?)
UK hacker appeals for pardon (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1041231&highlight=hacker) (ubuntu-freak)
Hacker on my gateway? (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1007782&highlight=hacker) (Shwick2)
Hacker Problem, Wanna Buy New Ubuntu Machine (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=744563&highlight=hacker) (OrcaWave)
hacker detected ?? (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=793631&highlight=hacker) (Q-ro)
Basic hacker watching (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=740023&highlight=hacker) (othsy2k)
Hacker Warning (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=686605&highlight=hacker) (Gizkaguy sounds like a guy, since the word guy is at the end of the username)
hacker redirecting my browser ? (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=621200&highlight=hacker) (firedancer)
Hacker!!! (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=513859&highlight=hacker) (Lacrimstein)
Problem with hacker (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=328708&highlight=hacker) (Tasidious)
Hacker? (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=287519&highlight=hacker) (marcusdean.adams sounds male to me, the marcus part, anyway)
Hacker? (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=38771&highlight=hacker) (Das Ein)

Please leave your gender stereotyping at the door. Thanks.

[NoaHall]

I always wondered how hackers such as the guy in the [Die Hard 4] movie became the way he was..or maybe overrated?

It's not that hard. You've just got to think "if it can be done, it will be done, if it can't, it will still be done".

[Simian Man]

I visit quite a few forums related to computing and technology, and I've noticed a lot (Well, a few, which seems like a lot) of women are asking questions about hacking. I don't mean to stereotype, but I think it's related to Facebook/MySpace/MSN/<insert social networking fad here>

I suggest you visit a higher class of technology forum.

[doas777]

I always wondered how hackers such as the guy in the [Die Hard 4] movie became the way he was..or maybe overrated?
it's kevin smith man. he started out that fat.

[miegiel]

... I was approached by a lady I haven't talked to in years a few months ago, because she wanted to break into her boyfriends email. needless to say, I told her that I couldn't help, and wouldn't even if I could.

Lucky lady. If she had asked me I would have asked the address and and told her it might take a while till I cracked it. Next I'd send him a mail to warn him. I have absolutely no empathy for people who want to do things like this.

[yester64]

True hackers obey the hacker ethics.
http://dasalte.ccc.de/hackerethics?language=en

What people want you describe is more like either,

a) cracking someone's email
b) social diversion

On the internet everyone can be anyone. So be wary to who you talk and who ask's.
Since law changed, it is kinda tricky to be a 'good' hacker. Everything you do will collide with some law which brings you behind bars.

And i do not buy that women are now more in to hacking then males. These "women" on those sites are perhaps an exception, if they are women at all.

[alexfish]

I visit quite a few forums related to computing and technology, and I've noticed a lot (Well, a few, which seems like a lot) of women are asking questions about hacking. I don't mean to stereotype, but I think it's related to Facebook/MySpace/MSN/<insert social networking fad here>

Women seem to care about these things more. (IMO)

*Braces for possible flames from almost non-existant female Linux community*

They say that they mean "the good hacking" and go on about "basic stuff like someones email account or myspace"

Is it just me seeing this?

Gender irrelevant

Terminology needs to be Defined

Hacker :


To write or refine computer programs skillfully

Hacky :

a. Filthy or totally dirty.


what ever method do it cleanly


If in doubt; get a shower first........:P

[Sporkman]

Do crackers eat Saltines? Do they even wear hats?

Also, crackers have many different fields of interest:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker


Sorry, but I'll stick with "hacker"! Now let me go back to sitting on my davenport and watching some talkies in technicolor.

[Frak]

Accepted? Yes. Correct? No.
This.

[chillicampari]

...

Is it just me seeing this?


Probably.

[RichardLinx]

Terminology needs to be Defined

I thought it was pretty obvious from my initial post that I was referring to "black-hat hackers" (ie. Crackers).

I'll take this into account for future reference.
Note: "Linux users must have specific terminology and have trouble making sense of obvious assumptions made through use of natural language."
(J/K):D

Now that that's out of the way, sorry to anyone I offended with what may have sounded like a sexist opening. It wasn't intentional.


I suggest you visit a higher class of technology forum.
Any recommendations?

[doas777]

I thought it was pretty obvious from my initial post that I was referring to "black-hat hackers" (ie. Crackers).

I'll take this into account for future reference.
Note: "Linux users must have specific terminology and have trouble making sense of obvious assumptions made through use of natural language."
(J/K):D

Now that that's out of the way, sorry to anyone I offended with what may have sounded like a sexist opening. It wasn't intentional.


Any recommendations?

that is why most security authors refer to them as "attackers". just cut across all the ambiguity of colloquialisms.

[Grenage]

I always wondered how hackers such as the guy in the [Die Hard 4] movie became the way he was..or maybe overrated?

They don't. Contrary to popular belief, you can't give someone a mobile phone, laptop and soldering iron and expect them to start controlling military satellites in 5 minutes.

[doas777]

They don't. Contrary to popular belief, you can't give someone a mobile phone, laptop and soldering iron and expect them to start controlling military satellites in 5 minutes.

unless of course they are the star of "Battle Programmer Shirase".

ahh fiction. better than reality anyday. just ask Haruhi.