(SAM.uh.rye)
n.
A computer hacker hired to legally infiltrate corporate computer systems for legitimate reasons. — adj.
Example Citation:
Samurai: ethical hacker for hire; unlike criminal or vandalism-oriented hackers and crackers, true silicon samurai adhere to rigorous and self-imposed standards of loyalty to employers; often hired to seek out rogue employees within a corporation's technical staff.
— Keith Ferrel, "Tomorrow,net," Chief Executive, January 1, 1999
Earliest Citation:
The press has associated the word "hacker" in people's mind with the nasty troublemaker who tries to steal secret information from others' computer systems. Certainly there are "dark-side hackers", those who crack into confidential files for criminal or malicious ends. Others — the "samurai" — break into files to steal information for more lawful reasons, perhaps for a lawyer pursuing a privacy-rights case.
But mostly the term "hacker" just means an enthusiastic programmer, who plays with a computer for fun rather than to fulfil a specific task.
— David Rowan, "Lingua Franca," The Guardian, November 20, 1992
Also:
— Lynda Edwards, "Samurai Hackers," Rolling Stone, September 19, 1991
Related Words:
Categories:
New words. 2013.