"Hackers": Know the adversary

C onfusion appears to continue among many of those concerned about computer security about who hackers are, what they do and why they are doing it. Inaccurate accounts of some hacker activities in both the general and data processing trade press confuse many people about what these activities really involve. Elements of academia and the civil liberties movement add to this confusion when they perceive and portray some segments of the hacker community as a persecuted minority needing protection from State oppression’.