cracker

cracker n.  One who breaks security on a system.  Coined
   ca. 1985 by hackers in defense against journalistic misuse of
   {hacker} (q.v., sense 8).  An earlier attempt to establish
   `worm' in this sense around 1981--82 on Usenet was largely a
   failure.

   Use of both these neologisms reflects a strong revulsion against
   the theft and vandalism perpetrated by cracking rings.  While it is
   expected that any real hacker will have done some playful cracking
   and knows many of the basic techniques, anyone past {larval
   stage} is expected to have outgrown the desire to do so except for
   immediate, benign, practical reasons (for example, if it's
   necessary to get around some security in order to get some work
   done).

   Thus, there is far less overlap between hackerdom and crackerdom
   than the {mundane} reader misled by sensationalistic journalism
   might expect.  Crackers tend to gather in small, tight-knit, very
   secretive groups that have little overlap with the huge, open
   poly-culture this lexicon describes; though crackers often like to
   describe *themselves* as hackers, most true hackers consider
   them a separate and lower form of life.

   Ethical considerations aside, hackers figure that anyone who can't
   imagine a more interesting way to play with their computers than
   breaking into someone else's has to be pretty {losing}.  Some
   other reasons crackers are looked down on are discussed in the
   entries on {cracking} and {phreaking}.  See also
   {samurai}, {dark-side hacker}, and {hacker ethic,
   the}.  For a portrait of the typical teenage cracker, see
   {warez}.