Commonly known as a "
script kiddie", the work 'h4x0r' implies 'hacker'. People lame enough to use this word are generally not serious hackers, and are most likely using ready-made and easily-found tools on the internet. They generally have little knowledge of the tools that they use or how they work. Usually of little harm, they will probably trojan your computer, steal all of your CD-keys, mess with your email, and steal any online-gaming accounts that you have. They do have some use, as they are commonly found sending AOL pedofiles
trojaned software, and then deleting all of their images.
The more serious of this group will spend hours and hours a day scanning the internet for computers that are vulnerable to a
security hole. They will then exploit that hole (using some pre-made tool) and use what is known as a 'rootkit' to give them 'root' (or total control) over a computer. This most commonly happens to Linux and Unix computers, although there was a flurry when the Microsoft
RPC vulnerability was announced (see
slammer worm).
Commonly-used tools include:
Sub7, BioNet, Net-Devil, NetBus, RAT,
Optix, Optix Pro.