Let us not forget "social engineering" which is itself a form of hacking. The difference is that you are hacking people instead of computers.
It is very common for hackers to call in and pretend to be someone else or play mind games in order to attempt to trick someone such as an employee of a company into revealing their login or password.
That login is later used to enter the system and do whatever it is you wish to do with the information.
The same technique has recently been used with both Paypal and eBay customers recently where hackers send out letters pretending to be from those companies and requesting that the customers "verify their login information". Actually the message is from hackers trying to get the customers to disclose their login information.
I received four of those e-mails from Ebay and I laughed all the way to the delete button. Anyone that ignorant to fill the form they sent me I feel very sorry for. "mothers maiden name" is a bell ringer to have your credit screwed for life. I had my credit card number stolen last year and it sucks. www.cashmove.com was the company that it was used on totaling 300 bucks.....tower
reply to Cybertoad no you are not a hacker if given the info or if you social engineering someone... A hacker is some one who will take something apart and see how it works. looks at its + and -. understands why it works that way, and applies what he learned to creating a better thing or what ever it may be. the person who did this using social engineering or not is a everyday 2bit criminal and anyone could of done that if they have the criminal mentality. my mother is not a hacker and she can get information from people that are internal information only. and some people can give that type of information unknowingly to someone. I have heard many times people at stores giving out sensitive information to other co-workers. but the difference between what my mother and i do with that information and what they did with that information makes them a criminal it does not make my mother a hacker or me a criminal. plane and simple... before you start throwing around the word hacker to every criminal first know what a hacker is and does.
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said by stomas3:no you are not a hacker if given the info or if you social engineering someone... A hacker is some one who will take something apart and see how it works. ... before you start throwing around the word hacker to every criminal first know what a hacker is and does.
You're fighting a losing battle (hacker vs cracker). The term "hacker" has been re-defined, at least for the general public, and we can't change it back. I do know the difference that you're alluding to though. Yes, in geek-speek, these guys are crackers, not hackers. -- -= Mindspring MaxDSL via Covad 1536/384 TeleSurfer Pro =-
I do know the difference that you're alluding to though. Yes, in geek-speek, these guys are crackers, not hackers.