How does the word "Hacking" appear?

Recently, I was asked by my close friend who had just started to learn computer and some basic programming. His question is "what is a hacker? What does hacking mean?" I think for long, but I do not have clear idea about it. I try to search all available information on internet. And i hope this could be an interesting for you. I am sorry that it is a bit wordy.

The word "HACKING", different people have different views on the hacking scene. There is no official definition of a hacker, rather a vague idea among the masses. The media loves to add false information to draw more attention for the sake of their revenue.

It began in 1960s at MIT, origin of the term "hacker", where extremely skilled individuals practiced hardcore programming in ColdFusion and other older languages. They are, by far, the most intelligent, individual and intellectually advanced people who happen to be the pioneers and forefathers of the talented individuals that are today the true hackers. In 1969, Bell Labs employee Ken Thompson invented UNIX and it permanently changed the future of computer industry. In 1970s, Dennis Ritchie invented programming language "C", which was invented specially for UNIX. Eventually, "C" creased the usage of assembler due to its portability.

The term HACKER was accepted as a positive label slapped onto computer guru who can push computer systems beyond their limits. A network known as ARPANET was found by Department of Defense in United State as a means to link government offices. In time, ARPANET evolved into something today known as the Internet.

In 1990s, Kevin Mitnick is arrested after being tracked down by Tsutomu Shimomura. Kevin is a computer security consultant and he committed computer and communicated-related crimes using social engineering. The trials of Kevin Mitnick were the most publicized hacker trials in hacker history.

Hackers have developed methods to exploit security holes in various computer systems. When hacking first originated, the motivation was based purely on "curiosity". They are curious what the system did, how the system could be used, how the system did, and why the system did that way.

Recently, the way and intention of hacking has been changed. They overload email servers by sending massive amount of email to one address causing to drain system memory resources. It also used as a tool as to hack into websites to send political message. In 1999, for example, NATO conflict in Yugoslavia, hackers attacked websites in NATO countries, including the United States, using virus-infected email and other techniques. It becomes weapons the times of war, where enemy country has highly depending on computer systems.

Hackers today are just like everyone, it might be black, white, asian, european, tall, short, socially active, cool, nerdy. Although there are people running around saying, "Look, I took down this website or this email address, I did it, and therefore I'm a hacker" doesn't mean they're a hacker. They are fakes and wannabes.

And finally, I would like to remind that if you naively believe that you have right to access information even harmless computer intrusions, it can trigger criminal sanctions. Simple advice is "do it for your innocent digital thrill seeking, but don't forget the law".