A simple search reveals a plethora of resources, tools, and personal homepages, most claiming to "hack" for legitimate reasons, within the law.

But there is also an entire underground network of hackers honing their tools and skills with malicious damage in mind.

"Ten years ago, 'hackers' used to mean people who tinker with computers.

"Nowadays hacking means malicious hacking. The definition has changed, so get over it," Peter Tippett, founder and chief technical officer at TruSecure told BBC News Online.

The underground network is vast, with thousands of individuals and groups, ranging from lurkers who are intrigued by hacker chat to "script kiddies" who try out hacker tools for a laugh.

[ Read more ]