These individuals are referred to by the hacking community as crackers because their "unethical" and illegal conduct is actually cracking. As a rule hackers do not like crackers (53). True hackers are interested not in destruction but in technology, and they circumvent security only to help improve it (53). A hacker who goes by the name "mosthated" gives an account of specific hack he participated in: "We broke into a site the summer of last year, and I left my E-mail address, I helped the system administrator set up some mail servers." With the definition of a hacker as one who wants information to be free, and the easy accessibility of the internet it is easy for a group of people to have a massive impact upon a technologically dependent society. .
One of the major changes that has resulted from hackers and hacking activity is the way that electronic information is handled. Originally, all information on computers was considered to be secure. Also, all programming code on the internet was open, meaning anyone could alter it. Eventually, the internet became available to the public. As the internet's popularity increased, so did the average person's knowledge of the internet and how to tamper with it. As a result, implementation of internet security became necessary. It was not long before web sites switched to closed code. This prevented many people from tampering with sites. Networks began to implement firewalls to prevent unauthorized users from accessing their systems. Businesses began using encryption technology, which had previously been tightly controlled by the government. Despite efforts to secure the internet, holes still existed in even the most protected networks. One example is the weaknesses found !.
in the New York Times" network. A group of hackers who call themselves "Hacking for Girlies" took action against the New York Times because of reporter John Markoff's unfair coverage of hacker Kevin Mitnick's imprisonment.