Jabo

Context, ladie and gents. In the industry, hacker is a good term, in the media, it's not. The media hath not understanding. A hacker is somebody who, as mentioned by Jimbo, is somebody who provides or finds solutions to computer related problems. Historically, a hacker is an experienced somebody who can fix things, and works for the good. Crackers work for their own gains and have questionable morals. I read this on a hacking website some years ago.

Social engineering goes with crackering.