As he groggily tries to comprehend what's happened, his company's caller abruptly hangs up, leaving him to drown his confusion in cappuccino. Hacking is more for a 'gotcha,' done for the thrill and challenge while crackers are people who are trying to destroy something. Hackers often end up going legit, setting up thriving security consultancies and catching their old hacker pals.
Crackers often end up building one-room cabins in Montana near power and telephone lines.
For one thing, computer security is greatly enhanced. As a matter of fact, some of the more celebrated hacks are purely mischievous pranks. In October 1996, President Clinton signed the Economic Espionage Act, which made prosecution of computer crimes easier, spurred at least in part by hacking in August and September that covered the Justice Department's site with swastikas and pornographic pictures, and replaced the Central Intelligence Agency's Web site files with spoofs. Yet it's getting much more serious. Few security breaches are reported, since to admit one's security had been compromised would scare off potential customers.