The popular definition of a hacker has a negative connotation in today's society, but computer hackers aren't criminals by their definition of the word. Their definition deals with how someone approaches an activity in life, not just when dealing with computers.
Hackers feel a certain depth of commitment and an enhanced level of excitement at hacking a system.
Hacking basically means learning all there is to know about a system, becoming immersed in the system to the point of distraction, and being able to fix the system if it breaks. Hackers basically want to know how a system they find interesting works. Most are not interested in making money or seeking revenge, although certain hackers do cross that line to become what the hacker community calls crackers. For the sake of this paper I am going to be focusing on crackers, as that was the group that I studied, and I will also be referring to them as hackers. Most of the time when a hacker gains access to a system they will just leave a little sign that they were there and leave things pretty much the same as before they were there.