Hackers are highly skilled computer gurus who break into computer systems for a variety of reasons, from financial gain to just for the fun of a challenge. Despite these activities being illegal, the hacker community has maintained momentum for decades and shows no signs of slowing down.
Hacking is an activity that is engaged in by people who use their knowledge of the internet, computers, firewalls and security preferences to break into other people's computers, allowing them to view private information, alter data and steal files, information or programs. MySpace pages, software applications and email accounts are the most common programs that are hacked into. Hackers typically look for passwords or credit card information. Some will simply hack into these programs in order to change information, such as a screen name, password or other content that is written by the owner.
Hackers are sometimes motivated by greed and steal personal information in order to take on someone's identity for their own gain, or in politics, where they try to exploit, blackmail or otherwise expose someone in power, or even just for entertainment, where hackers simply want to see what they are capable of doing. These types of hackers usually brag about their conquests on message boards or instant messaging programs, competing with fellow hackers as to who is the best among them.
The first case of hacking occurred in the 1960s when a group of students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) tried to access the school's main computing systems. In the 1970s, "phone phreaks" hacked into telephone networks and made toll-free calls. Mainstream computer hacking as we know it today gained momentum in the 1980s when hackers broke into what would now be considered message boards. Congress passed the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in 1986, which made it illegal for anyone to break into anyone else's computer system. Despite the law, the 1990s saw the invention of the Trojan Horse, which allowed hackers to access any computer that downloaded the program. Many companies were hacked into as well, such as AOL, Yahoo!, Amazon and eBay.
