What do you think of when you hear the word 'hacker'? You probably have a picture of a teenage boy in a darkened room, typing furiously at his computer, trying to break into other people's computers and steal information from all around the world. The only part of that description that might be correct is the 'boy'. Generally speaking, hackers are male – although one reason for that statistic may be that female hackers often use male screen names. Interestingly, the connection between the word 'hacker' and the idea of 'crime' is a recent development.
When the study of computer science first began in the 1950s and 1960s, a 'hack' was a term used at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to describe a clever or beautiful solution to a problem. A hacker, therefore, was a person who came up with this solution, and not in any way thought to be a criminal. In those days a computer filled an entire room. Students amused themselves by 'playing', finding the limits of this new science, and by breaking into other people's systems. There was no criminal intention behind this.
By the 1980s, the number of computers in the world had grown considerably, and so had the number of hackers. Society was more dependent on computers. In the 1960s, nobody cared much about a computer that didn't work; but by the 1980s, it had become a serious issue. The British and American governments passed laws criminalising hacking. In the USA action was taken against hackers on a number of occasions throughout the following years, culminating in Operation 'Sundevil' in 1990, when FBI agents arrested people across fourteen states. If this plan of attack was intended to put an end to hacking, it failed.
The cyber world had begun to change – but not the hackers. They stayed the same, their name just took on a new meaning. From the early days at MIT, hackers had had little respect for those in power. IBM was hated for being traditional, ordered and too respectful of the machine. A new set of laws wasn't going to stop them. In fact, it just made the challenge that much bigger and more exciting.
As the use of computers continued to spread, a new generation of hackers grew up, keen to show what they could do. Many hackers start their careers breaking into websites and leaving graffiti. But this is seen as a lowest form of hacking (though not as low as being caught). Skilled hackers operate at a completely different and much higher level, searching for far bigger prizes. One hacker, going by the name Mafiaboy, made his name by crashing the websites of Yahoo, Amazon, eBay and CNN. Another, Dark Dante, hacked into the telephone lines of a radio show in order to become the 102nd caller on the show and win a Porsche.
These new hackers fall into two main groups depending on how they operate. The 'white hats' are the good guys and the 'black hats' are the bad guys - though 'good' and 'bad' are not necessarily absolute moral values in cyberspace. The 'black hats' are the ones that governments want to catch and lock up; the 'white hats' are the people that governments and large companies want on their side. Facebook, for example, has a 'white hat programme' where they offer rewards to hackers who tell them about problems with their system.
If hacking was something that started in the USA, it is truly a worldwide activity now. There are groups all over the world. In some countries, it is even believed that many hackers actually work for their governments. And what explains this growth? Probably not an improvement in the teaching of computing. More likely it's the fact you can download programs off the internet that get people who want to learn about hacking off to a good start. However, if you're thinking of doing that, make sure you're wearing your white hat!
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