There is and was multiple meanings to the word. I can count at least 3 (in chronological order): 1. Open source hackers/hardcore systems programmers that cultu

There is and was multiple meanings to the word. I can count at least 3 (in chronological order): 1. Open source hackers/hardcore systems programmers that culturally originated in MIT back in 60s (Tech Model Railroad Club, Free Software Foundation, Linux, Free/Open/Net BSD, GNU). 2. Security hackers. 2a. Blackhats: cyber criminals, radical take-no-prisoners hacktivists (90s Phrack, to some extent Defcon, LulzSec, hatefag faction of Anonymous). 2b. Whitehats: security engineers working in corporate settings (both on offensive and defensive sides of security), security consultants, bug bounty hunters (to some extents Defcon, Blackhat conference, NullCon, bug bounty platform communities (HackerOne, BugCrowd, Intigriti)). 2c. Grayhats: some combination/midpoint between the whitehats and blackhats. 3. Technical entrepreneurs (Y Combinator, Indie Hackers, Hacker News, MicroConf).