h4xx0r..

[BioPulse]

People blame it on lack of security, I blame it on valve being so popular that alot of hackers know alot about them ;P

***cough and the cs 1.6 hax0rZ cough*** :P:P

[Waldo]

I was really suprised how long this story stayed out of the "mainstream" web.

[MJ]

when will valve learn..

[Spellbinder]

People blame it on lack of security, I blame it on valve being so popular that alot of hackers know alot about them ;P

***cough and the cs 1.6 hax0rZ cough*** :P:P

CRACKERS!

[Zacker]

First of all I highly doubt that Valve or any other online payment providers store any kind of CC information in unencrypted way. Generally such systems are built to rarely if ever have the CC information transferred or stored in an exposed way.

when will valve learn..

Why does people keep blaming Valve for not having high enough security? If you know the least about online security then you will know that _nothing_ is 100% secure. Considering how popular Valve's services are, then security breaches are bound to happen.

[BioPulse]

True Zacker, I think you can't blame Valve for being attacked by 'skilled hackers' since Valve is so high profile these days, there's always one or two hackers bound to find a way in there, they have probarbly had alot more people try to hack them than just these 2 guys.

[Spellbinder]

CRACKERS!

What Is a Hacker?

The Jargon File contains a bunch of definitions of the term ‘hacker’, most having to do with technical adeptness and a delight in solving problems and overcoming limits. If you want to know how to become a hacker, though, only two are really relevant.

There is a community, a shared culture, of expert programmers and networking wizards that traces its history back through decades to the first time-sharing minicomputers and the earliest ARPAnet experiments. The members of this culture originated the term ‘hacker’. Hackers built the Internet. Hackers made the Unix operating system what it is today. Hackers run Usenet. Hackers make the World Wide Web work. If you are part of this culture, if you have contributed to it and other people in it know who you are and call you a hacker, you're a hacker.

The hacker mind-set is not confined to this software-hacker culture. There are people who apply the hacker attitude to other things, like electronics or music — actually, you can find it at the highest levels of any science or art. Software hackers recognize these kindred spirits elsewhere and may call them ‘hackers’ too — and some claim that the hacker nature is really independent of the particular medium the hacker works in. But in the rest of this document we will focus on the skills and attitudes of software hackers, and the traditions of the shared culture that originated the term ‘hacker’.

There is another group of people who loudly call themselves hackers, but aren't. These are people (mainly adolescent males) who get a kick out of breaking into computers and phreaking the phone system. Real hackers call these people ‘crackers’ and want nothing to do with them. Real hackers mostly think crackers are lazy, irresponsible, and not very bright, and object that being able to break security doesn't make you a hacker any more than being able to hotwire cars makes you an automotive engineer. Unfortunately, many journalists and writers have been fooled into using the word ‘hacker’ to describe crackers; this irritates real hackers no end.

The basic difference is this: hackers build things, crackers break them.

If you want to be a hacker, keep reading. If you want to be a cracker, go read the alt.2600 newsgroup and get ready to do five to ten in the slammer after finding out you aren't as smart as you think you are. And that's all I'm going to say about crackers.

Source: http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html#what_is

[Thrik]

I'd rather just use the term that most people will understand rather than go into pedantic-o-rama and use the one that's preferred by the hacking community. To most people, a hacker is a dickhead who gets into secure systems -- as simple as that.

[Spellbinder]

Yeah it has been that way for to many years. Everywhere (media etc). Thats why i am angry at it. People all over should learn to seperate the two. I´m really neither but at least i know whats what. But i know i am on a one mans mission with this and i will probably fail. Still i cant help myself but correct ppl

[JamesL]

Look out here come the pedant police

[twiz]

Problem with "cracker" is its a racial slur.

But its against whites, so no one cares.. if it was the N word there'd be hell...

[Spellbinder]

1.There is black crackers/hackers.

2. There is black hats and there is white hats. (black hats is kind of crackers)

[twiz]

I'm just messing with you spelly.

"hacker" has nice mental imagery. I imagine someone chopping through the rainforest with a machete, a nice metaphor for hacking/cracking whatever.

[Gorion]

sorry spellbinder, but cR4cKZ0r5 doesn't sound that good, does it?

[Meotwister]

man theres a cR@x0r on the server...

nah not feelin it.