Hacking is using your knowledge to gain more knowledge. This is one of the best definitions I could find on the net. Hacking is state of mind. Curiosity is the main point; a hacker always wants to know everything. It is the curiosities that which makes them learn more and more quickly than other person at same age. Traditionally hackers were regarded as “geeks”, who knew everything about computers (hardware & software) & networks. They are very intelligent programmers.
The term hacker was popularized by Steven Levy in his famous book “Hackers: Heroes of Computer Revolution”. When he said hacker, he meant a brilliant, constructive programmer who led the way to the computer revolution. About's Net Security Portal announces the same verdict while explaining what a hacker is, "A person who is extremely proficient at programming and programming languages. A computer enthusiast. Someone who is obsessive about programming, programming languages or computer systems & networks."

Computer hacking can be traced back to the late 1950’ and early 1960’s. At that time companies and universities were using mainframe computers with dumb terminals. There was no such thing as the Internet. At this time a hack was “shortcuts that would modify and improve the performance of a computer’s operating system or applications and allow more tasks to be completed in a shorter time.” as stated by Michael Devitt in A Brief History of Computer Hacking. The hackers in this period were mainly skilled workers who were proud of their work and found joy in doing so. The “original hacker” at the beginning of computers was a person not looking to harm anyone or anything, but simply looking to apply his special skills to the improvement of the computer field. As they progressed into the 1970’s and 1980’s, the role and sense of computer technology began to change. Computer technology began to be viewed as a tool of power. Many people felt that this tool should be available to all people. In 1984, these individuals began to be referred to as “second wave hackers.” Second wave hackers (although they did not refer to themselves by this name) were characterized as wanting computers and their computer systems to be designed to be useful and accessible to citizens. In the process, they pioneered public access terminals, computer conference, and personal computers.” As they continued into the mid to late 1980’s, the so-called “computer underground” emerged. With the emergence of the underground, hacking once again took on another meaning. From that point in time to the present hacking means “to break into or sabotage a computer system, and a “hacker” is the perpetrator of such activities.” As time progressed, the definition and societal view of hacking changed from good to bad. The most recent societal view of hacking is very negative with no idea or thought as to how hacking evolved. Many people seem to have forgotten how it was created.
Another form of hacking that has contributed to the negative publicity that hackers receive is the formation and circulation of viruses. A virus is self-replicating programs that causes damage – generally hard disk erasure or file corruption – and infects other programs, floppy disks, or hard disks by copying itself onto them. The first form of virus was carried by disk from one computer to the other. The invention of electronic mail communication and the Internet transformed and increased the vulnerability of computer systems. Electronic mail made it easier for hackers to infect a wider population causing moderate to catastrophic issues. Viruses have been created to occupy bytes of disk space, causing little to no computer problems to the deletion or corruption of entire programs on a machine causing moderate to maximum problems for computer users. Through the evolution of the Internet, the volume of viruses has increased dramatically. Access to another individual’s machine can be obtained through various methods of hacking. A password hacker uses different kinds of software to obtain secure passwords in an attempt to deceive the individual or perform illegal acts. A network hacker is one who tries to learn about the computer network, to improve it or possibly to interfere. These hackers are not always the same person. Some network hackers already have access to the systems they are learning, or harming, whereas others have to gain their entry to a system by first obtaining a password from an existing user. Both forms of hacking are used to gain access to unauthorized data. Hacking can be as easy as erasing data off of a computer or as intense as causing various systems and/or networks to fail.
There are various ways to prevent hackers from entering your system. The key is to maintain access control, preserve strength of data and build a disaster recovery plan. Such as the installation and updating of virus software, firewalls to make external break-ins more difficult, data encryption for transmitting information, and the monitoring of all systems to ensure that access is gained only by authorized individuals and that data is protected. The continued emergence of the Internet and computer software will change the means by which hackers gain access to unauthorized data and systems.
Is hacking a crime and is it punishable by law? Yes. But to answer this question, the situation and circumstances must be taken into consideration. Essential to the minimization of hacking, the increase in security is measured by individuals and organizations. This leads me to believe that in some form or fashion there will continue to be hackers trying to harm others or to prove that they can gain access to systems. Hackers are guilty of breaking and entering because they intrude into computer systems that are the private property of others.
Can hacking be moral and ethical? Is there a good and bad hack? Yes, there can be good hacking. Those individuals that choose to put their talent to good use will be an added value. Those that point their talent toward committing crimes will be caught and punished. And so hacking brings us to the issue of ethics. Children are raised by their parents and taught what is right and wrong. Hacking should be one of those items that parents and school teachers educate children on. Awareness and education are the key in instructing our future generations of the benefits and catastrophes that can be caused if these tools are not used properly.

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