Questions people have always wanted to ask, but didn't know who to ask

The answer to the age-old question: What is the difference between a hacker and a cracker?

A hacker is a person intensely interested in the arcane and recondite workings of any computer operating system. Most often, hackers are programmers. As such, hackers obtain advanced knowledge of operating systems and programming languages. They may know of holes within systems and the reasons for such holes. Hackers constantly seek further knowledge, freely share what they have discovered, and never, ever intentionally damage data.

A cracker is a person who breaks into or otherwise violates the system integrity of remote machines, with malicious intent. Crackers, having gained unauthorized access, destroy vital data, deny legitimate users service, or basically cause problems for their targets. Crackers can easily be identified because their actions are malicious.
(Special thanks to http://newdata.box.sk/bx/hacker/ch03/ch03.htm for the definitions)

Different types of hackers:

Black Hat:

Black hat is used to describe a hacker (or, if you prefer, cracker) who breaks into a computer system or network with malicious intent. Unlike a white hat hacker, the black hat hacker takes advantage of the break-in, perhaps destroying files or stealing data for some future purpose. The black hat hacker may also make the exploit known to other hackers and/or the public without notifying the victim. This gives others the opportunity to exploit the vulnerability before the organization is able to secure it.
The term comes from old Western movies, where heroes often wore white hats and the "bad guys" wore black hats.

White Hat:
White hat describes a hacker (or, if you prefer, cracker) who identifies a security weakness in a computer system or network but, instead of taking malicious advantage of it, exposes the weakness in a way that will allow the system's owners to fix the breach before it can be taken advantage by others (such as black hat hackers.) Methods of telling the owners about it range from a simple phone call through sending an e-mail note to a Webmaster or administrator all the way to leaving an electronic "calling card" in the system that makes it obvious that security has been breached.
While white hat hacking is a hobby for some, others provide their services for a fee. Thus, a white hat hacker may work as a consultant or be a permanent employee on a company's payroll. A good many white hat hackers are former black hat hackers.
The term comes from old Western movies, where heros often wore white hats and the "bad guys" wore black hats.

Grey Hat:
Gray hat describes a cracker (or, if you prefer, hacker) who exploits a security weakness in a computer system or product in order to bring the weakness to the attention of the owners. Unlike a black hat, a gray hat acts without malicious intent. The goal of a gray hat is to improve system and network security. However, by publicizing a vulnerability, the gray hat may give other crackers the opportunity to exploit it. This differs from the white hat who alerts system owners and vendors of a vulnerability without actually exploiting it in public.
(Special thanks to http://www.whatis.com )

Famous Hackers:

Black Hats:

• Jonathan James
• Adrian Lamo
• Kevin Mitnick
• Kevin Poulsen
• Robert Tappan Morris
• Vladimir Levin
• Donald Lloyd
• David Smith
• Michael Calce
• Mark Abene

White Hats:

• Stephen Wozniak
• Tim Berners-Lee
• Linus Torvalds
• Richard Stallman
• Tsutomu Shimomura

That's all for now

Hope you enjoyed today's blog

Techno Master