It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into black hat. (Discuss)
In the context of computer networking, cracking (also called black-hat hacking, although this is not considered correct usage of the term hacker) is the act of compromising the security of a system without permission from an authorized party, usually with the intent of accessing computers connected to the network (the somewhat similar activity of defeating copy prevention devices in software - which may or may not be illegal depending on the laws of the given country - is actually software cracking). The term 'cracker' was coined by Richard Stallman to provide an alternative to abusing the existing word hacker for this meaning. Hackers are not the same as crackers, as hackers do not participate in illegal activities and only modify software (typically of the Open Source variety). Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... In the computer security community, a black hat is a skilled hacker who uses his or her ability to pursue their interest illegally. ... A computer network is a system for communication among two or more computers. ... Hacker is a term used to describe people proficient in computers. ... Computer security is a field of computer science concerned with the control of risks related to computer use. ... Copy prevention, also known as copy protection, is any technical measure designed to prevent duplication of information. ... Computer software (or simply software) refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of a computer for some purpose. ... Definition: Software cracking is the modification of software to remove encoded copy prevention. ... An image of Richard Stallman from the cover of the OReilly book Free as in Freedom: Richard Stallmans Crusade for Free Software by Sam Williams (2002). ... Hacker is a term used to describe people proficient in computers. ... The term Hackers can refer to several things: Hacker - a type of person interested in exploration, usually of a computer or electrical engineering background. ... Cracker could refer to: Cracker, a type of biscuit Christmas cracker Computer cracker, sometimes incorrectly called a hacker Cracker, a British television series Cracker an American television series also known as Fitz. ... The term Hackers can refer to several things: Hacker - a type of person interested in exploration, usually of a computer or electrical engineering background. ... Open source refers to projects that are open to the public and which draw on other projects that are freely available to the general public. ...
Cracking techniques can vary from using advanced programming skills and social engineering to using semi-automatic cracking software developed by others without understanding how it works. The latter type of cracker is often referred to as a script kiddie (unskilled crackers are far more common than highly skilled ones). Common software weaknesses exploited by crackers include buffer overflows. In the field of computer security, social engineering is the practice of obtaining confidential information by manipulation of legitimate users. ... In computing, a script kiddie (occasionally script bunny, script kitty or skiddie) is a derogatory term for inexperienced crackers who use scripts and programs developed by others for the purpose of compromising computer accounts and files, and for launching attacks on whole computer systems (see DoS). ... In computer programming, a buffer overflow is an anomalous condition where a program somehow writes data beyond the allocated end of a buffer in memory. ...
The Jargon File's Entry on Crackers
Categories: Articles to be merged | Computer hacking
The time it takes to crack password-protected Microsoft Office files has tumbled from a 25-day average to a matter of seconds, thanks to a decades-old code-cracking technique that until recently was not viable.
In the past, passwords were cracked by randomly guessing at the correct string of characters in what's known as a "brute force" attack.
It was used to crack Windows passwords with ease, something he hoped would change the way organisations managed their passwords.
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