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Information Express of Helter Skelter 016
iXHS - information express by helter skelter
issue 15
about different types of hackers
by divine overflow
***
Clearing Up the Controversy on Hackers
There are many types of hackers in our society. In this article I will
explain to you the differences between them and why you shouldn't always
refer to them as a hacker. Since referring always hackers in general when
your really talking about a specific activity or type of hacking, your
message might get through but in the wrong sense.
************
A hacker has many definitions in this society now. Probably because of all
the medias propaganda. I like to refer to a hacker as "A person who enjoys
exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their
capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum
necessary." Most hackers believe in at least one of two things. 1. the
belief that information-sharing is a powerful positive good, and that it is
an ethical duty of hackers to share their expertise by writing free software
and facilitating access to information and to computing resources wherever
possible, 2. The belief that system-hacking for fun and exploration is
ethically OK as long as the cracker commits no theft, vandalism, or breach of
confidentiality. You can refer these two points as the hacker ethics. They
are never really refered to directly but are what most hackers generally
beleive in.
When hacking a system, hackers might require a certain password or phone #.
They'll obtain many different ways. The most commonly used way to learn
about a system or to learn it's password and phone # is to use a little
social engineering. The aim of this method is to trick people into
revealing passwords or other information that compromises a target system's
security. Classic scams include phoning up a mark who has the required
information and posing as a field service tech or a fellow employee with an
urgent access problem.
******************
Most people have never heard of a cracker, probably because it is most used
in the underground. I have seen alot of people always referring to hackers
as a person who breaks security on a system for criminal and malicious
activities. Well this is not the case, since people have never heard of the
word cracker before they always refer to crackers as hackers.
Crackers are the ones who break security on a system for criminal and
malicious activities. Also referred to as a Dark-Side Hacker (Taking from
George Lucas's Darth Vader, "seduced by the dark side of the Force". The
implication that hackers form a sort of a elite of technological Jedi Knights
is intended.) When cracking a system it does not usually involve some
mysterious leap of hackerly brilliance, but rather persistence and the dogged
repetition of a handful of fairly well-known tricks that exploit common
weaknesses in the security of target systems. Accordingly most crackers are
in other words, a type of mediocre Hacker.
******************
In cracker subculture the term Warez Doodz (pronounced weirz dudes) is used
often. When warez doodz write messages they commonly do one or more of the
following:
* Mispell frequently
* Always substitute `s's for `z's (i.e. "codes" -> "codez")
* Type random emphasis characters after a post line (i.e. "Hey dudes!#%@")
* Use the emphatic `K' prefix frequently (i.e. "K-Kool, K-Rad, etc...)
* Abbreviate compusively (i.e. "I got losa warez w/ docs")
* Type randomly in caps lock, or all the time.
* Substitute A for 4, B for 8, C for (, E for 3, I for 1, K for ]<, O for 0,
S for Z or 5, T for 7, V for \/, and Y for `/.
(i.e. "warez doodz" -> "w4r3z d00dz")
Warez dOOdz are people who get illegal copies of copyrighted software. If it
has copy protection on it, they break the protection so the software can be
copied. Then they distribute it around the world cia several gateways.
Warez dOOdz form badass group names (i.e. RAZOR 1911). They put up local
boards that distribute the latest ware, or pirate program. The whole point
of the warez sub-culture is to get the pirate program released and
distributed before any other group. This whole idea of warez trading is
beyond comprehension. This is how they (they meaning the warez dOOdz) prove
their poweress. It gives them the right to say, "I released Word Perfect 9
before you so obviously my testicles are larger." Again this is beyond
anybody's understanding. Warez dOOdz try to emit 0-day warez (that is
commercial software copied and cracked on the same day as it's retail
release). Warez dOOdz also hoard software in a big way, collecting untold
megabytes of games, utilities and graphics they'll never use onto their hard
disks. The reason people become warez dudes if because they want to belong
to groups. Warez dOOdz will never have a handle like "Pink Daisy" because
warez dudes are insecure. Only someone who is very secure with a good dose
of self-esteem can stand up to the cries of fag and girlie-man. More likely
you will find a warez dOOdz handle like: Hellraiser and Twin Turbo. They
like to sound badass when they can hide behind their terminals. More likely,
if you were given a sample of 100 people, the person whose handle is
Hellraiser is the last person you'd associate with the name.
******************
The last type of hacker that i'll mention in this article is a Samurai or a
Sneaker. This type of hacker is mostly used in the corporate world. They are
hired out for legal cracking jobs, snooping for factions in corporate
political fights, lawyers pursuing privacy-rights and First Amendment cases,
and other parties with legittimate reasons to need an electronic locksmith.
So as you can see there is more than just hackers in our society, there are
many different groups and types of hackers. I, myself am one, I believe in
both hacker ethics that I have stated previously in this article. I hope
this has cleared up some of the controversy between hackers in general and
the types of hackers out there. So next time people refer to hackers in
general and really mean one type of hacker, please be more specific.
___ ___ _
/ \ / \ /
/ \ / \ /
---/-------\-------/-------\-------/--- Divine Overflow
/ \ / \ /
_/ \___/ \___/
Sources:
--------
The Hackers Haven BBS: 303-516-9969 (Remote Access, first call validation)
The Jargon File of Jan. 1996 (supplied on the internet)
Symbio.sys Pack # 2 (Darkness's article "the Warez Trading Sydrome")
iXHS # 3 (Ruiner's article "How to be cool on IRC")
