Security hacker

In the 1982 film Tron, Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) describes his intentions to break into ENCOM's computer system, saying "I've been doing a little hacking here."

This concern became real when, in the same year, a gang of teenage hackers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, known as The 414s, broke into computer systems throughout the United States and Canada, including those of Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Security Pacific Bank.

Pressured by media coverage, congressman Dan Glickman called for an investigation and began work on new laws against computer hacking.

The popularity of Stoll's book The Cuckoo's Egg, published one year later, further entrenched the term in the public's consciousness.

Eric S. Raymond, author of The New Hacker's Dictionary, advocates that members of the computer underground should be called crackers.

According to Ralph D. Clifford, a cracker or cracking is to "gain unauthorized access to a computer in order to commit another crime such as destroying information contained in that system.

[18] Black hat hackers form the stereotypical, illegal hacking groups often portrayed in popular culture, and are "the epitome of all that the public fears in a computer criminal".

[19] Grey hat hackers sometimes find the defect in a system and publish the facts to the world instead of a group of people.

Even though grey hat hackers may not necessarily perform hacking for their personal gain, unauthorized access to a system can be considered illegal and unethical.

[19] A blue hat hacker is someone outside computer security consulting firms who is used to bug-test a system prior to its launch, looking for exploits so they can be closed.

Hacktivism can be divided into two main groups: Intelligence agencies and cyberwarfare operatives of nation states.

[28] Furthermore, recent ransomware attacks on industries, including energy, food, and transportation, have been blamed on criminal organizations based in or near a state actor – possibly with the country's knowledge and approval.

[30] Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies facilitate the extortion of huge ransoms from large companies, hospitals and city governments with little or no chance of being caught.

[32] A typical approach in an attack on Internet-connected system is: In order to do so, there are several recurring tools of the trade and techniques used by computer criminals and security experts.

These events include SummerCon (Summer), DEF CON, HoHoCon (Christmas), ShmooCon (February), Black Hat Conference, Chaos Communication Congress, AthCon, Hacker Halted, and H.O.P.E.

Hacker groups became popular in the early 1980s, providing access to hacking information and resources and a place to learn from other members.

Computer bulletin board systems (BBSs), such as the Utopias, provided platforms for information-sharing via dial-up modem.

While the information contained in hacker magazines and ezines was often outdated by the time they were published, they enhanced their contributors' reputations by documenting their successes.