The lifecycle of Hackers

Hackers don't emerge from the womb exploiting emacs's backdoors. The road from law-abiding citizen to fugitive hacker is one that takes years of honing a very specific skill set. These skills are the very same ones that many legitimate IT professionals need to do their jobs. Because every IT professional is not a hacker, having the skills to hack does not entail that you are a hacker. The difference between your company's honest help desk guy and the fellow stealing your credit card information boils down to certain traits, curiosity, intelligence, and a lack of regard for authority, that make specific people more suited for hacking.

The pull of hacking can be overpowering. There is money to be made and a sense of power and accomplishment that accompanies a successful hack. For this reason, hackers, like Kevin Mitnick, describe themselves as being addicted to hacking and the almost narcotic rush it can create.  As with drugs, continued hacking can impair judgment and blur the lines of the law. This leads to more boldness on the part of the hacker until they find themselves in jail.
Some lucky hackers are able to turn their skills into legitimate careers. Sometimes, after getting caught, companies and corporations will hire “white hat” hackers to test their security. Giving a former hacker permission to break into your systems seems like a bad idea, but it is akin to a former counterfeiter helping the FBI to catch other counterfeiters. The potential implications and risks of such trust in a felon should be considered carefully. Even those hackers that have always been “white hat” still possess a dangerous skill set and often a matching personality type that can lead to serious temptation.