Term 2 Individual Work 2 (8 hours)

Topic: Computer Crime

HACKER

Ex.1. Read and translate the text.

Vocabulary

Community- сообщество To be accused of – быть обвиненным в Fraud – обман, подлог, мошенничество Intellectual property theft – кража интеллектуальной собственности Remote - удаленный

To be employed – работать на sneaker – проникший тайком To stretch- расширять To overcome limitations – преодолевать ограничения Intruder - самозванец cracker - взломщик

Hacker is a term used to describe different types of computer experts. In popular usage and in the media, it generally describes computer intruders or criminals. "Hacker" can be those who use it in its positive sense as members of the computing community. The term "hacker" can also be used in the computing community to describe a particularly brilliant programmer or technical expert (for example: "Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, is a genius hacker.").

A possible middle position says that "hacking" describes a collection of skills, and that these skills are used by hackers in different ways.

Categories of hacker

The hacker community (people who would describe themselves as hackers, or who would be described by others as hackers) consists of at least three categories of hackers.

1. Hacker: Intruder and criminal

The most common usage of "hacker" in the popular press is to describe those who break computer security without authorization or anyone who has been accused of using technology (usually a computer or the internet) for terrorism, vandalism, credit card fraud, intellectual property theft, and many other forms of crime. This can mean taking control of a remote computer through a network.

A hacktivist is a hacker who uses the World Wide Web as a way to express their political views. These individuals use other people’s websites, to promote their political views. For instance these hackers may use a political candidate’s web page and adjust it to promote their opposition candidate.

2. Hacker: Brilliant programmer

The positive usage of hacker - one who knows a (sometimes specified) set of programming interfaces well enough to write software quickly and expertly. Very talented hackers may become bored with a project once they have figured out all of the hard parts, and be unwilling to finish off the "details". Types of hackers in this sense are gurus and wizards. "Guru" has age and experience, and "wizard" often has particular expertise in a specific topic, and an almost magical ability to perform hacks no one else understands.

3. Hacker: Security expert

The term white hat hacker is often used to describe those who try to break into systems or networks in order to help the owners of the system by making them aware of security holes, or to perform some other altruistic activity. Many such people are employed by computer security companies (such professionals are sometimes called sneakers). Collections of these people are often called Tiger Teams.

Jargon File definition

The following is the definition given by the most recent edition of the Jargon File (a dictionary of hacker jargon), which emphasizes the positive sense of "hacker". The definitions in this dictionary were not made through research into common usage, but reflect the opinions of its editors.

hacker [originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe]

1. A person who enjoys studying the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary.

2. One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming.

3. A person who is good at programming quickly.

4. An expert at a particular program, or one who often does work using it or on it;

5. An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example.

6. One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming limitations.

A malicious intruder who tries to discover important information. The correct term for this sense is cracker.

So as we can see after reading this text to some professional computer programmers, the word "hacker" refers to a skilled programmer and is neither pejorative nor it refers to criminal activity. However, to most users of English, the word "hacker" refers to computer criminals.