As decades passed away, ARPANET evolved into what is now known as the Internet. After hackers emerged out of the artificial intelligence labs at MIT in the 1960s, a network known as ARPANET was founded by the Department of Defense as a means to link government offices. The term hacker was accepted as a positive label slapped onto computer geniuses who could push computer systems beyond the defined limits. As a matter of fact, majority of officials had no knowledge about what hacking was. No one seemed to pay attention to hackers back in the 1960s when this was the most widely accepted reputation. Then, later in the very early 1970s, Dennis Ritchie invented the computer programming language “C” which was specifically invented to be used with UNIX. The history of hackers came to be with certain innovative landmarks.įirst, in 1969, Bell Labs employee, Ken Thompson, invented UNIX and greatly changed the future of the computer industry. There, extremely skilled individuals practiced hardcore programming in FORTRAN and other older languages. The history of hackers can be traced back to the 1960s at MIT. ( Also Read: Top Ways to Protect Your Identity from Hackers ) Lastly, some hackers do it for patriotic reasons as in state-sponsored cyber attacks during wartime. Third, corporate spies allow organizations to possess information on services and products that may be hijacked or used as a leverage within the marketplace. Second, some hackers act for egoistic motives to increase their reputation within the hacker subculture, leaving their signatures on the system or network after a breach.

The first motive is monetary gain, especially when it involves breaking into systems with the specific purpose of stealing credit card numbers or manipulating banking systems. Now that you know who a hacker is, you may be wondering: “why do they do what they do?” Primarily, there are about four motives behind the actions of hackers attempt to break into computer systems. If the reasons are based on ulterior motives, the person can also be called a “cracker”. The definition of a hacker is therefore “someone who is able to subvertcomputer security. Although the term “hacker” can basically refer to any skilled computer programmer, it has however become more synonymous with the idea of a security hacker that is, a person who, with their technical knowledge, uses bugs or exploits to break into computer systems. A computer hacker is a skilled computer expert who uses their technical knowledge to overcome a problem.

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