Contrary to the usage by most news media, within the computer industry the term hacker refers to an expert
programmer—one who enjoyslearning about the intricacies of code or an operating system. In general, hackers
are not malicious. When most hackers find security vulnerabilities in code, they inform the company or
organization that’s responsible for the code so that they can fix the problem. Some hackers—especially if they
feel their warnings are being ignored—publish the vulnerabilities or even devise and publish exploits (code
that takes advantage of the vulnerability).