Description:

To date, studies on those in the Computer Underground have tended to focus not on aspects of hackers’ life experiences but on the skills needed to hack, the differences and similarities between insider and outsider crackers, and the differences in motivation for hacking. Little is known about the personality traits of the White Hat hackers, as compared to the Black Hat hackers. This chapter focuses on hacker conference attendees’ self-reported Autism-spectrum Quotient (AQ) predispositions. It also focuses on their self-reports about whether they believe their somewhat odd thinking and behaving patterns—at least as others in the mainstream society view them—help them to be successful in their chosen field of endeavor.