Hi guys, I am curious of what peoples opinions are in this? With the level of knowledge lots of people have on this forum, in relation to computers. At what point do you consider someone a hacker? Is it when someone is learning the techniques to hack? Is an ethical penetration tester, a hacker? Is someone who knows how, but does not practice it, one? I genuinely want to know what people think about this? e.g. I just followed some instructions and walked into a simulated virtual machine, to learn how this can be achieved? Does this make me one, by trying to prepare myself so I can have a more defensive system?
To me, a "hacker" in the computer world is someone who can break through a certain level of security and gain access to a computer or network. You can be an ethical/legal hacker or an unethical/illegal hacker. And the higher a level of security that you can get through (or "hack"), the better a hacker you are.
I'd say you are a hacker the moment you access a server with the intent of accessing information not made available through "normal" channels. You may fail, but if you tried then, in that moment, you are a hacker. If you practice hacking techniques on a server that has been set up for the purpose of testing security then no, you aren't a hacker.