{"id":569137,"date":"2021-06-21T10:21:36","date_gmt":"2021-06-21T14:21:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=569137"},"modified":"2021-06-21T10:21:42","modified_gmt":"2021-06-21T14:21:42","slug":"what-are-computer-hackers-and-where-did-that-name-come-from","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/what-are-computer-hackers-and-where-did-that-name-come-from\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are \u2018Computer Hackers,\u2019 And Where Did That Name Come From?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhat-are-computer-hackers-and-where-did-that-name-come-from%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=569137&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1010568448-1200x800-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p><span>With corporations across the world falling victim to cyber-attacks as hackers hold critical infrastructure for ransom, the subject of technological security is arguably more urgent than ever before.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>While the term \u201ccomputer hacker\u201d becomes increasingly common in our news-related vocabulary, it seems important to understand what this term actually means, and where it comes from.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The word \u201chack\u201d has <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/word\/hack\"><span>roots<\/span><\/a><span> in Old English, with \u201chaccian\u201d meaning \u201ccut in pieces.\u201d The word is of West Germanic origin, relating to Dutch \u201chakken\u201d and German \u201chacken.\u201d In English, it is a verb dating back to 1200 C.E.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>However, the word \u201chack\u201d was first given a technological connotation in the 1950s, in the halls of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). As <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/tech\/annals-of-technology\/a-short-history-of-hack\">The New Yorker<\/a> explained, \u201cThe minutes of an April, 1955, meeting of the Tech Model Railroad Club state that \u2018Mr. Eccles requests that anyone working or hacking on the electrical system turn the power off to avoid fuse blowing.\u2019 The lexicographer Jesse Sheidlower, the president of the American Dialect Society, who has been tracking the recent iterations of \u2018hack\u2019 and \u2018hacker\u2019 for years, told me that the earliest examples share a relatively benign sense of \u2018working on\u2019 a tech problem in a different, presumably more creative way than what\u2019s outlined in an instruction manual.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In the decades that followed, the term moved into general use. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.catb.org\/~esr\/jargon\/html\/H\/hacker.html\">The Jargon File<\/a>, a \u201cglossary for computer programmers that was launched in 1975,\u201d details eight definitions of the word, \u201chacker.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><em><span> A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. RFC1392, the Internet Users\u2019 Glossary, usefully amplifies this as: A person who delights in having an intimate understanding of the internal workings of a system, computers and computer networks in particular.<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><span> One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming.<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><span> A person capable of appreciating <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.catb.org\/~esr\/jargon\/html\/H\/hack-value.html\"><span>hack value<\/span><\/a><span>.<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><span> A person who is good at programming quickly.<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><span> An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does work using it or on it; as in \u2018a Unix hacker\u2019. (Definitions 1 through 5 are correlated, and people who fit them congregate.)<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><span> An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example.<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><span> One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations.<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><span> [deprecated] A malicious meddler who tries to discover sensitive information by poking around. Hence password hacker, network hacker. The correct term for this sense is <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.catb.org\/~esr\/jargon\/html\/C\/cracker.html\"><span>cracker<\/span><\/a><span>.<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span>In the years that followed, the concept of \u201chackers\u201d has been featured heavily throughout pop culture. Hackers have appeared in some form in numerous blockbuster moves \u2014 including Die Hard, GoldenEye, and the Fast &#038; Furious series \u2014 television shows \u2014 including 24, Doctor Who, and The X-Files, and video games \u2014 including Metal Gear Solid, Overwatch, and Assassin\u2019s Creed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In reality, the impact of \u201chackers\u201d exists across a similarly broad spectrum of technological outcomes, from altering road signs to warn of an impending Godzilla attack, to the destruction of nuclear power facilities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>What remains certain, though, is that hackers are here to stay, and their influence over the world via cyber-security only continues to grow.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span>Ian Haworth is an Editor and Writer for The Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter at <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ighaworth\"><i><span>@ighaworth<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><i><span>member<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With corporations across the world falling victim to cyber-attacks as hackers hold critical infrastructure for ransom, the subject of technological security is arguably more urgent than ever before.While the term &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2280830,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1010568448-1200x800-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"What Are \u2018Computer Hackers,\u2019 And Where Did That Name Come From?","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-569137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1010568448-1200x800-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"What Are \u2018Computer Hackers,\u2019 And Where Did That Name Come From?","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2280830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}