Who is a hacker? What are computer hackers?

Who is a hacker?

It is not necessary that to become a hacker you need extreme computer skills! There is a BIG misconception that "A hacker is a person who sits in front of his box [computer] hacking webistes / programming viruses all day!" NO! its completely wrong!

 Before understanding the term "hacker", try to understand the meaning of the word "Hack".

Hack means to find solutions to problems or to study a particular thing/object and modify it according to our needs to make it work efficiently and faster..! Alternately, A Hack can be any act by which we can recreate an object to make it work our way!

A Hacker is a person who knows "How to Hack" i.e. how to make efficient use of things according to one's need.

Computer Hackers are the ones which study computers, understand how things work around inside the box and try to make full use of it with the help of programming skills. There are two types of Computer Hackers :

i] Hardware Hackers

ii] Software Hackers

1] Hardware Hackers:

This type of hackers work with the hardware [it may be cellphone, cpu, gps etc] and modify/build gadgets for their own purpose. Not much people are interested in working with the hardware.

2] Software Hackers:

This type of hackers are the ones which work with any type of computer/mobile software and find bugs or create viruses to gain access to other systems legally or illegally. This hackers are expert computer programmers. They are further classified into three types :

a] White Hat

b] Black Hat

c] Gray Hat

a] White Hat Hackers : 

A White Hat hacker is not a person who wears a White Hat! He/She is a person who hacks any system or software in a legal way by reporting the bug to the creator/programmer/security personal of the software/system. Some companies have their own "Bug Bounty" Programs i.e. They may list your name with a "Thanks" message for helping them find bugs in their system. In some cases the company might give some amount of money based on the severity of the bug. The White Hat hackers who find and report bugs in such softwares are termed as "Bounty Hunters".

b] Black Hat Hackers :

A Black Hat hacker is opposite of a White Hat hacker. Instead of reporting the bug to the respective authority he tries to make use of the bug for his own malicious purpose. Such hackers create viruses and key-loggers to steal login information of the victims and earn money through it. These hackers also hack into websites and steal credit card information from the website.

c] Gray Hat Hackers :

The work of this type of hackers depends on the situation i.e. sometimes they may need to act like a White Hat hackers and sometimes like Black Hat hackers hence they are known as "Gray Hat Hackers"