Hackers: Information WarefareThe popularity of the Internet has grown immeasurably in recent years. Along with it the so-called "hacker" community has grown and gotten to a level where it is less of a black market scenario and more of the "A Current Affair" scenario. Misconceptions about what a hacker is and is run rampant among anyone who thinks they understand what the Internet is after using it a couple of times. Over the next few pages I will do my best to demonstrate the true definition of what a hacker is, how it relates to global economic electronic warfare, background on the Internet, along with a plethora of scatological material purely for your reading enjoyment. I'll try to use the least technical IT terms possible, but to make my point I sometimes have no choice. There are many misconceptions regarding the definition of what a hacker really is, in all my research this is the best definition I have found: Pretend you are walking down the street, the same street you have always walked. One day you see a large wooden or metal box with wires coming out of it, sitting on the sidewalk where there was none before. Many people won't even notice. Others might say, “Oh, a box on the street.” Some may wonder what it does and then move on. The hacker, the real hacker, will see the box, stop, examine it, question it, and spend mental time trying to figure it out. Given the right circumstances, he might come back later to take a closer look at the wiring, or even be bold enough to open the box. Not maliciously, just out of curiosity. The hacker wants to know how things work. (8) Hackers are truly "America's most valuable asset," (4:264) as former CIA member Robert Steele put it. But if we don't stop screwing over our own countrymen, we will never be considered anything more than common rubbish. Hacking computers for the sole purpose of collecting systems like space-age baseball cards is stupid and pointless; and can only lead to a short trip down the river. Let's say everyone was given the opportunity to hack without any worry of being prosecuted with free access to a safe system to hack from, with the only problem being that you can't hack certain systems. The military, government, financial, business, and university systems would all still be fair game. Every operating system, every application, every type of network is open to your curious minds. Would this be a good alternative? You could follow some simple guidelines to