What is the appeal of hacking?

It’s a challenge. Like with any skill, you learn it and want to apply it and use it, then you feel you’re pretty good at it, so you want to hone it more and try to take it to the next level. One of the most famous hackers said he hacked into things just to see if he could do it.

It sounds like such a rush.

It’s a ‘computer geeks’ version of breaking-and-entering.

These people lead a boring life and have nothing better to do. It’s like a puzzle to see if they can locate all the pieces to accomplish an end.

Who knows?

Human curiosity and the challenge. People like solving puzzles, and people don’t like feeling restricted or having things hidden from them. So the desire is pretty natural.

The original definition for hacker was someone who liked to tinker and play with things, pick them apart and figure out how they worked. If something was broke into is was more often than not just to look around, and not with the malicious intention that it is now and has been seen as today.

Ego boner.

They do it because they can! With the intention of proving that their system is weak and vulnerable, makes it more fun for them. How do i know this? I’ve been involved in some shizzle like that and it’s more of like a challenge. Harming other people by hacking is just pathetic in my opinion but they still do it. Right word – psycho/maniac!

People have watched the movie “Hackers” one too many times.

Not everybody could do it. They feel like they are part of an elite above intelligent nerdy practical jokers. What they should do really is form two groups. One group would design a system more sophisticated than that of any government agency while the other try to hack it. That will give them a more difficult challenge, much more than feeling superior knowing they infiltrated Facebook.

I think it’s a power trip.

‘Hactivists’ are not behind the facebook threat. I watched that story unfold on twitter, and anon/wikileaks denied all involvement saying, “We do not kill the messenger.” Other tweets mentioned it could be yet another false flag operation – which would be useful to undermine the message of said groups. (on Twitter – follow @wikileaks)

As for your question, hacking is probably appealing for some people because it allows them to do mischief from the safety of their home.

I think it’s the cyber version of ‘being a ninja’. Getting past all the obstacles to access the final prize…...entry itself. Most just leave a message of nyah nyah nyah…and go.

Then there’s the criminal element that are into getting information for whatever purposes, political or ID theft, etc. They are the ones that concern me.

In most cases, a good hacker is just a waste of talent that could be used for good.

I think hackers are the same people that, in an earlier age, would go through your underwear drawer.

@bags @pezz @Ron_C Politically motivated hactivism can be a good thing, and the biggest threat to it’s cause is misinformation.

@rOs I’ll agree with that but I suspect that the majority of hackers fall in the the catagory I have described.

@Ron_C It’s a good thing I installed a firewall around my bureau then, huh?

@rOs that’s o.k., I don’t want to check out your underwear.

It like British climber George Mallory said in 1924 of Mount Everest “Because it’s there.”
[He did not come back].

And, just like the phone phreaks, who did a very similar thing, the best got hired by the phone company/computer security companies.

Call it an “in your face” interview, maybe.

Also don’ forget there’s all kinds of hackers. . . black hats [bad guys] , . white hats [good guys] . . .grey [undecided] hats—- and script kiddies and wannabees of all sizes and shapes who want to be like “war Games” the movie that romanticized hacking for every teen.

@mazingerz88 that’s exsctly what they ARE doing—the ones who go to work in the industry try to outfox the ones who stay outside and vice versa.

I agree with @Mariah. It’s a power showoff thing. Look at me! I can hack this site! Or it’s just cruel.

It’s all the thrill of danger, at home. And it’s much more extreme than just watching porn with your parents in the next room.

It is a mix of “because we can” and “lets see what this baby can really do!”. Hackers want to explore the limits of their skills and of their hardware. There is also a strong, “All information should be free!” element to it. The easiest way to gain a true hacker’s interest is to lock something up.

However, as @anartist points out, there are those that the mainstream calls hackers who at least in my opinion aren’t. The most common are Crackers. They are the ones that want access to a bank so they can transfer funds to their account, or seek to just cause damage, possibly for a reason or maybe just for kicks. These are the “Black Hats” spoken of above, and they are assholes. Skript Kiddiez are like Black Hats, only without any real skill of their own. They generally just like to one-up each other with petty vandalism for the sake of being a nuisance.

Then there are the ones who like breaking the copy protection/registration on software because they feel it is overpriced. In a sense, they are not wrong; Windows only costs a few cents, but the license to run it legally costs a few hundred dollars. Or maybe it’s just because they feel that, once you buy a movie or album, it should be yours to do with as you please, including making a backup copy in case your original disc gets damaged/lost. These people can be white, grey, or black hats, depending. They also often have little/no interest in the systems of others, so they don’t “hack” in the way that most people think of.

Somewhat related are the people who see a commercial product and seek to replicate and possibly enhance it’s functionality, often for free. These are the people who brought us Linux, OpenOffice, GIMP, and many other cool bits of software.

Then there are “hardware hackers” trying to eke out the last bit of performance from their rigs, or possibly get it to do things it was never originally designed to do. These are the guys who overclock their CPUs or write applications that no commercial entity felt was ever necessary.

There are other types as well, but I think you get the gist. And be careful when you say “hacker” and that is kind of a loaded term thanks to decades of misrepresentation ;)

@Ron_C No. However, if you lock your underwear drawer, they will likely try to pick the lock and then lose interest once the drawer opens. For example…

@pezz There is more to it than being good with computers. Hacking is a mindset, and often incompatible with what most employers want from their IT staff. Free will and curiosity are actively discouraged in many places, and that sort of stifling environment is a fate worse than death for many hackers.

@Tbag @Blackberry You guys got it right!

@WillWorkForChocolate All of the hackers I know see that as a comedy. Thing is, how much of the geek humor do you get? For instance, why did Eugene “The Plague” Belford use the psuedonym “Mr. Babbage” near the end? That is a simple one… for a hacker.

@john65pennington There is a difference between “nothing better to do” and “likes to do stuff that is enjoyable”. To some, solving puzzles is as good as (if not better than) sex; it trips the same pleasure centers in the brain. If you have ever taken pride in a job well done, I am sure you can understand that.

@jerv I admit I don’t get much of the techy humor, but I assumed that he called himself Mr. Babbage in reference to Charles Babbage.

@WillWorkForChocolate You get a cookie!

Yay, I lurves cookies! Wait… this computer doesn’t accept most cookies. Shit. Can you mail it?

All is about money. If they do not cost you anything right now, they could benefit from anything you buy from now on.