Hacker

[Sarah]

One who, or that which, hacks. Specifically: A cuttinginstrument for making notches; esp., one used for notching pine treesin collecting turpentine; a hack.

[Sarah]

A person skilled with the use of computers that uses his talents to gain knowledge. Tere are three classifications of hackers:

White-hat (hacking for the enjoyment of exploration)

Black-hat (hacking to find exploits and system weaknesses, see [cracker])

and Grey-hat (someone who is a little of both)

[Sarah]

An individual capable of solving complex non-intuitive problems in a seemingly intuitive manner. The processes and techniques used are not necessarily methodical to the observer, but yet achieve results significantly and consistently faster than known experience would predict. A hacker is not defined in terms of intention or purpose, but rather by the talented single-mindedness of method. A hacker is not a hack.
Hackers are not limited to computer hacking.
Commentary: The movies Tron (1982) and War

[Zipporah Schumaker]

While this term originally referred to a clever or expert programmer, it is now more commonly used to refer to someone who can gain unauthorized access to other computers. A hacker can hack his or her way through the security levels of a computer system or network. This can be as simple as figuring out somebody elses password or as complex as writing a custom program to break another computers security software. Hackers are the reason software manufacturers release periodic security updates to their programs. While it is unlikely that the average person will get hacked, some large businesses and organizations receive multiple hacking attempts a day.