A cracker is someone who breaks into someone else's computer system,
often on a network; bypasses passwords or licenses in computer programs;
or in other ways intentionally breaches computer security. A cracker
can be doing this for profit, maliciously, for some altruistic purpose
or cause, or because the challenge is there. Some breaking-and-entering
has been done ostensibly to point out weaknesses in a site's security
system.
The term "cracker" is not to be confused with "hacker". Hackers generally deplore cracking. However, as Eric Raymond, compiler of The New Hacker's Dictionary notes, some journalists ascribe break-ins to "hackers."
A classic story of the tracking down of a cracker on the Internet who
was breaking into U.S. military and other computers is told in Clifford
Stoll's The Cuckoo's Egg.
