Hackers vs Crackers

Today I will explain the difference between hacker and cracker. There are lots of articles on internet about the difference between hackers and crackers. In those articles, authors or publishers often try to correct the public misconceptions. For many years, media has erroneously associated the hacker word with a cracker. The general public now believes hacker is someone who breaks into computer systems, hacking passwords and websites and misusing information. This conception is absolutely untrue and demoralizes some of our most talented hackers.

You can see for yourself the scope of the misconception: the world’s most popular authentic source, WIKIPEDIA, has defined hackers in a incorrect way.

“Hacking is unauthorized use of computer and network resources. (The term “hacker” originally meant a very gifted programmer. In recent years though, with easier access to multiple systems, it now has negative implications.)”

There is a very thin line separating hackers and crackers. Just like a coin has two sides, heads and tails, so do computer experts. Some use their techniques and expertise to help the others and secure the systems or networks; some misuse their skills for their own selfish reasons. 

There are several traditional ways to determine the difference between hackers and crackers. I will discuss these ways in order of their acceptance in the computer and IT market. First, let’s review the definitions of “hacker” and “cracker.”

These definitions are as follows:

Hackers: A Hacker is a person who is extremely interested in exploring the things and recondite workings of any computer system or networking system. Most often, hackers are expert programmers. These are also called Ethical Hackers or white hat hackers. The technique they use is called ethical hacking.

Ethical Hacking means you think like Hackers. First you hack systems and find the loop holes, and then you try to correct those loop holes. These type of hackers protect the cyberworld from every possible threat and fix potential future security loop holes. These peoples are also called the “GURU’s” of Computer Security. 

 

Crackers:  Crackers or Black Hat hackers are also called cheaters or simply criminals. They are called criminals because they intend to cause harm to security, stealing very useful data and using it in wrong ways. Phishers, who steal account information and credit card numbers, also fall into this category.