Today's perception of the hacker is often informed by the
latest action thriller coming out of Hollywood. But in truth this
couldn't be further from the case. Hackers are neither nerds
nor gun slinging action heroes; despite what the Matrix trilogy
would have you believe.
The term 'hacker' was first coined in the 1980s to
describe a person who lived and breathed computing and programming
culture; who then put this knowledge to work by applying it to
different computing technologies to solve problems. Thirty years
on, the same term is still being wrongly applied to describe cyber
criminals that are using the same skills to cause untold
damage.
Why does this matter? Because cyber criminals, not hackers,
threaten nearly every aspect of our day to day life, from personal
data to bank accounts and even critical infrastructure. Hence, the
threat posed by such an individual today warrants much more than
the 'hacker' namesake.
