The Hacker Mythos

What comes to mind when you think of the word “hacker”? Do you picture a young brat at a keyboard, frantically typing and smiling maniacally? Do you picture a lonely guy living in his parent’s basement? Or do you picture a person well-versed in the arcane and cryptic arts of computer and network manipulation? The hacker is, by nature, and elusive character, a mystery. His works are often carried out under dark skies, in anonymity. He is feared, scorned, and mocked. He is the universal scapegoat of cyber-crime. But why? Why is he feared and even hated? Why is he blamed? It’s all part of the mythos. Our primary concern is why has the hacker has become this mythological creature?

In order to understand the causes and origins of the hacker mythos, we must first look at the hacker.

Most people have trouble defining exactly what a hacker is, and most definitions conflict (or support) one another. For our purposes, I’ll use a few definitions which, I think, capture the spirit of the hacker.

From Dictionary.com:

A hacker is…

- a person who has a high level of skill in computer technology or programming; a computer expert or enthusiast

- a person who circumvents security and breaks into a network, computer, file, etc., usually with malicious intent

Whoa, would you look at that second definition. No wonder people tend to fear and hate hackers. The hacker is, by definition, a person who subverts security applications and technologies, an electronic invader.  Okay, so now that we have some definitions to work with, let’s explore more deeply the implication of these definitions.

The Portrait of a Hacker

The Hacker’s World

The hacker, being a person who is comfortable and proficient with technology, lives in a world that is filled with technological goodness. But aren’t most people surrounded by electronic technology? That doesn’t necessarily make them hackers, not according to our definitions. In order for a person to be a hacker, he must be adept in his use of technology. The hacker is an interesting personality. Necessarily, he’s an outsider due to his technological interests and proficiency. There aren’t too many people who can match the hacker’s abilities and they are detached from the mainstream populace.

The Hacker’s Mind

The hacker’s mind can be best described as analytical, calculating, and inventive. Computer’s, by nature, are logic machines. Therefore, if a person is going to understand a computer, the person needs to be logical himself. He needs to become like a computer. Programming is the language of computers and it relies heavily on logic and logical sequence.

The Hacker’s Work

The hacker is fond of technology. It could almost be said that he loves it. Therefore, he spends a good deal of time working with it, testing its limits, modifying and altering, and exploring it. He is a skilled programmer and creates many complex programs which perform whatever function he requires or desires. He may even work to break into foreign networks or manipulate applications which aren’t his own.  

Okay, it’s easy to see how the hacker mythos got started. But a mythos in itself needs something to spread it, if it is to become anything more than a belief held by a few people.

 

Spreading the Mythos

The hacker mythos originates within the hacker: his world, mind, and work. The mythos is spread and shaped by the entertainment industry, news outlets, Internet content (this post included), and word-of-mouth.

Entertainment Industry

With our ever-advancing technology, the world has become the plaything of the hacker. The entertainment industry has taken notice and is doing its own thing to advance and shape the mythos of the hacker. Let’s face it, the hacker is an attractive, elusive rebel that the entertainment industry just loves to celebrate. Even though most people shy away from hackers, we are enamored with them. We just can’t get enough of that computer geek who can topple corporations just for fun and kicks. In short, the hacker is cool and the entertainment industry knows it.

The entertainment industry, namely movie industry, borrows from the existing hacker mythos when creating a hacker movie-character. He’ll have to be a blazing fast typist who reads code like he’s reading the newspaper (otherwise, how would the movie-goer know he’s a hacker?). Hollywood may even throw in some of its own charm and, thus, add to the hacker mythos. In this way, the entertainment industry both reinforces and shapes the existing hacker mythos.

So, what does Hollywood’s hacker look like? Well, he’s a highly intelligent teen/young adult male who has a knack for bringing down corporations’ security systems with a few minutes of frantic typing at a keyboard. Now, this is only the general idea given to us by the industry. It isn’t inclusive of all the Hollywood hackers, it’s just a generalization. And, thus, the mythos grows.

News Outlets

About a year ago, I was watching my local news. The anchorwoman was giving her report of the 359 raids conducted by the FBI. The FBI was targeting the developers of Blackshades (a remote administration tool). In these raids, a around 100 people were arrested 1,100 devices were seized. Though the anchorwoman was professional in giving her report, the scorn and contempt in her voice was obvious.  Both the arrests of the hacker and the anchorwoman’s attitude about the arrests reinforce the public’s fear, and perhaps admiration, of hackers in general. And, thus, the mythos grows.

Additionally, it is largely due to news like this that hackers are often the default scapegoats in any cybercrime event. The criminal stigma is deeply ingrained within the word “hacker”. So much so that most hackers shy away from the word altogether.

Internet Content and Word-of-Mouth

The Internet is a massive beast and it plays a large part in propagating and shaping the hacker mythos. When you think about it, the Internet is also the hacker’s playground. The hacker may perform some of his greatest feats on the Internet. Therefore, the Internet itself is given a kind of stigma by the hacker. Why is any of this important? It’s all part of the hacker mythos. Most people use the Internet at least a few hours a week. We are all aware of the Internet. We’re also aware of a subversive force of mystical power and ability lurking somewhere on the web, the hacker. The hacker’s force and power may be felt just by accessing the Internet. Why is any of this important, again? Think about the content on the web: the blogs, articles, posts, videos, .txts, etc. How much do you reckon references the hacker or hacking? I’m willing to wager at least 20% of all content on the web references hacking and exploitation. That’s quite a large number when you think about how big the Internet is. That 20% constantly works to shape and spread the hacker mythos. 

Here’s the Kicker

Do you want to know the strangest and, perhaps, most interesting thing about the hacker mythos and mythos in general? The mythos creates and shapes itself. Is this a contradiction? How can something create itself if it didn’t already exist? Well, I’ll put it to you this way. The hacker mythos began with the hacker. The lone individual cyber-geek who, often, decided to form a group of hackers and hack his way to fame and fortune, or at least to more knowledge. This started the mythos. The mythos then went on to define the hacker. The hacker and his definitions became a legend on the web (see Internet Content). The hacker, his definitions, and his mythos went on to define what Hollywood would put into their movies. And, finally, the hacker, his definitions, his legends and exploits, and his Hollywood portrayals will all go on in shaping the hacker mythos ad infinitum and it will all go backwards until the hacker is redefined by the various mythos that the original hacker’s created. The hacker formed the beliefs and the beliefs went on to form the hacker, and just about everything else.

The order of influences in the above paragraph is just my guess as to how the hacker mythos started. Too be perfectly honest, I can’t say how much of my The Portrait of the Hacker originated from real life hackers and how much is Hollywood dramatization. Such is life in the hacker mythos.

The Hacker

Does this mean we will never have an accurate view of the original hacker? No, in fact I personally possess an accurate account of the original hacker, who may or may not have qualities described in The Portrait of the Hacker. Here’s the accurate account of the original hacker, when we strip away the mythos and legend.

The original hacker was simply a person who had a fondness of technology. He was committed to observing, learning, modifying, implementing, and taking action. He was an explorer and, sometimes, a guide. His actions and intentions may have been for good or for evil, depending on the person. In a word, the hacker is an adept at technological manipulation. 

                                     Summary

The hacker mythos was created in a collaborative effort between the hacker, his definitions, his actions, his lifestyle, the entertainment industry, news outlets, and electronic word-of-mouth. The hacker mythos is a constantly shifting and changing set of beliefs that routinely influences the entertainment industry, news media, Internet content, people’s opinions, and even the hacker himself. Case closed? For now.