Sorcha: This is a hotly disputed term in computer-land. "Hack" is a verb, and in its original sense means "to do something clever or unsuspected." MIT's big pranks (i.e. cows/telephone booths/police cars on the big dome, disruptions of Harvard/Yale football games with weather balloons and marching bands) are called hacks. Jargon File: Hack

Malicious attacks compromising the security of systems are called "cracks," and their perpetrators "crackers" or "script kiddies" (the latter is used in the case of those (usually early-teenaged boys) who find and use automated scripts where all they have to do is type go. Jargon File: cracker and script kiddies.



Chocolate Pi