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Hacking is the act of exploiting vulnerabilities in computer systems or networks with malicious intent. This can include stealing personal information, defacing websites or services, or launching distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS). Hacking has many risks for businesses and individuals, including financial loss, regulatory non-compliance, reputational damage, and identity theft.

There are many different reasons why people hack, from pure curiosity to financial gain. Early depictions of hackers in popular culture were of precocious teens breaching major organizations for notoriety, but hacking can now be found across a wide range of demographics. Some hackers use their skills to create and improve software programs that perform tasks not originally designed for them. Others, known as white hat hackers, use their skills to find and mitigate system vulnerabilities before attackers can exploit them.

Those who hack for malicious purposes are called black hat hackers. They break into computers and devices without permission for unauthorized access to data, or for financial gain through pirating software or creating viruses. They can also harm others by stealing credit card or bank account numbers and using them to make fraudulent purchases. The line between ethical and malicious hacking is not always clear cut, and grey hat hackers operate in a moral gray area.

Hackers can access personal information on a variety of devices, including smartphones and tablets. Often these devices are connected to the internet through routers that ship with default usernames and passwords, which can make them easy targets for hackers. Keeping these devices on a private network and only downloading applications from first-party sources can help protect against these risks.