The maximum common visible is the faded nerd in his mother's basement who is getting into his college server to exchange his opponents grades to failing ones. Then there are the diverse Hollywood depictions which show "master criminals" manipulating traffic alerts and monetary markets. that is a fairly latest use of the word "hacker" and for years earlier than it had a completely special meaning.   in the early ninety's when Linux (a popular unfastened pc operating machine) changed into brought, the word hacker did no longer even exist. users of these operating structures stated themselves as "hackers", handiest due to their ability to govern and reuse programming code for their very own functions, outside of its initially meant reason. if you think of them as cooks, anyone has that one simple recipe for lobster bisque, however each chef will placed their personal spin at the recipe to make it their very own. They were / are very in a position programmers that had a ardour for writing their personal applications.   the general public of those "hackers" used their abilities for excellent. as an instance, supporting a friend who wished new software program to assist keep music of inventory at a grocery shop. Vulnerability Assessments Then there are some extra famous hackers, along with Steve Jobs and invoice Gates who made a whole lot of money growing a purchaser laptop for the house. A small percent used their talents for much less than honorable purposes, along with Kevin Poulsen and Adrian Lamo. those dishonorable hackers are what gave the noble hobby of computer manipulation its terrible name.   because of the large amount of media interest at the subject, in current years, the time period "hacker" has turn out to be synonymous with crime and people the usage of their abilities to thieve and create worry. at the same time as this could be proper in some instances, it isn't always most people. Now we distinguish properly from evil with (figurative) hats:   "White hat hacker" or "ethical Hacker" is individual who hacks for properly to find their very own or different corporation's vulnerabilities and document them for improvement.   while the term "Black" is useed in conjunction with "Hacker" they're considered to be a person who hacks for evil maliciousness or private benefit.   "gray hat hackers" are in that limbo repute between the 2 who may offer to repair a vulnerability for a rate.   "Blue hat hacker" are commonly outside pc security consulting firms who take a look at software or structures for bugs looking for exploits so they may be closed prior to software or system release.