Initially the term hacker was used approvingly to acknowledge prowess in programming skills. Now it is a derogatory term used to denote criminals who have gained access to other computers and stolen data or personal information. This information is then sold to third parties for a sum. The term hacker was more than often wrongly used by the press and the term has hence stuck to the derogatory connotation of a programming.

Computer hacking is now performed using a variety of software's. These softwares can be downloaded from a number of sites. Using these softwares it is become easy for even teenagers who do not have programming knowledge to gain access to a computer that is not secure enough. Most teenagers take to computer hacking just to make a publicity statement among their peer group. This has landed quite a few teenagers in trouble as they had gone from proving themselves to making a fast buck in the process.

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