Although hackers are often portrayed as lonely geniuses, Murphy and the others contend that breaking into private data systems is child's play. For equipment, you need a computer, a modem which connects two computers by telephone and a program which will make successive phone calls. Now what the hacker sees as the challenge of it all begins. He calls the computer discovered through the search and begins to guess passwords. But passwords are the exception.
People are completely emotional about it.
They use their wives' or childrens' names, something very personal. Or they are very obvious about it like someone at a hospital using the word 'nurse'. Of course, it is also always helpful to have friends on the inside of a company who can tell you a bit about the person who conjured up a password giving access to high-level files. The trash can has been known to help. There is more information in trash cans.