Maybe you were once victimized by their kind before, or maybe you’ve heard about other people who had their lives destroyed because of the clever machinations that they have unleashed into those people’s digital existence.
Either way, you have most likely understood that hackers are those type of digital geniuses who are so good in making damage via digital means. They can steal your internet accounts, or pose to be you, or someone else, just for the sake of making some monetary gain, or sometimes, just for the sake of pure fun.
If you want to know about hackers in simple, yet comprehensive way, then just read on.
Identifying a hacker in the making
How can you spot an aspiring hacker? Or better yet, what are the common traits of the hacker-type of person? The following would be the most likely identifiers:
A young, intelligent male loner - Not to undermine the intellect of females, but cybercrime experts declare that the most proficient hackers are mostly males, within the ones that are labeled “with genius-level intellects.” In order to be great at hacking, one has to be above-average. How else could you crack open some digital systems if you don’t have the logical and analytical thinking needed for the task?
Another trait that hackers often possess is that they are loners. They barely have time to socialize and make friends in the real world. What they consider their friends are their array of computer equipment, most preferably the keyboard and the computer screen.
They often stare into the digital universe, and devote most of their time in learning techniques to break into digital systems, and conceptualize ways on how not to get caught doing it.
A technologically savvy person - The hacker’s main weapon is the computer, and without stating the obvious, this machine is really not a simple object to wield to its fullest potential. A hacker needs to be good with all sorts of computer equipment, and he can’t do it without being extremely technologically savvy.
Aside from being good with computer hardware, a hacker needs to be good with software too because apparently, no hardware will ever function without software – the soul that makes a computer do its work.
Hacking is not only about relentlessly typing keystrokes that lead nowhere, it is also an act that requires the creation of scripts and codes that can make a computer become a slave in doing something.
For that reason, a proficient hacker needs to also learn the complexities of programming, so that he can make custom-built software and apps that can serve as his gun and ammunition in wreaking havoc within the digital realm.
One that’s often labeled as a loser in real life - As stated above, a hacker is most likely a loner. Why? Because in real life, he is often neglected, rejected, and deprived of wonderful opportunities. In effect, he resorts into breaking into other systems which he thinks are not guarded well by their owners.
Sometimes, he thinks that the more highly secured a system is, the greater the emotional reward he can get from it. He doesn’t succeed in real-world endeavors.
So when he gets to be successful in breaking into someone else’s digital domain, he feels elated and overjoyed, because he is able to accomplish something that typical people didn’t achieve at all.
Why does a hacker hack?
Since hacking is not a very easy thing to do, there have to be some solid reasons why a hacker devotes a lot of his time on that wicked activity. That reason has to be worthwhile, at least from his perspective. Here are some reasons why he does it.
He believes that digital stealing is not real stealing - Our typical definition of thieves is this: those that destroy locks and break into doors and windows, so they can steal some valuables inside.
The same definition applies to hackers as well, but with a different twist: They believe that digital information should be freely accessible, and should be utilized for whatever purpose they may think of.
Be it personal data, digital music, videos, and reading materials, all of these are not physical in any way, so it should be alright for them to have it.
He wants to be in control - As a kid, or even as a full-grown adult, he must have been bullied a lot. If that’s the case, then people are often in control of his life in the real world. He must have been sick and tired of that, that’s why he resorted into acts that can make him “in control” in return.
His course of action would be to be proficient with the computer keyboard, with computer programming languages, and with computer software in general… so he can delivered his wicked payload into computer systems that he can just manipulate, play with, and push into destruction.
He wants to have a sense of power - In addition to the previous item, an aspiring hacker is also driven by the thirst for power. If you can own a skill that you can utilize to come up with results that can have a great impact on people’s digital lives, then you might have the emotional reward that you are a talented and powerful entity.
If you can’t fly, not bulletproof, and not able to project some superhero powers, but can use the computer to appear to be superheroic, wouldn’t you take advantage of such a skill? That’s what hackers feel most of the time, that’s why they spend a lot of their time crafting that skill to perfection.
Are all hackers really that bad?
Since a hacker is akin to a gatecrasher and a trespasser, although just in a digital sense, he has to be labeled as a “delinquent” and as “decadent” by default. But here’s something that you should know… not all hackers are bad and villainous.
You should know that there are actually 2 kinds of hackers:
Black hat hackers – those that hack only for personal gain: stealing username and passwords so they can use it for monetary gain, or for destroying the digital existence of people.
White hat hackers – those that are employed by companies and businesses to find holes and gaps in their systems that black hat hackers might find and exploit. Most white hat hackers are former black hat ones, who turned over a new leaf.
Now that you have some understanding about the nature of hacking and of hackers themselves, I hope I just gave you some tips on how to avoid becoming their victim.
For me hacker are the intelligent people