Being a hacker is just like being a scientist. You find yourself in front of an unknown device or mechanism, you study its inputs and outputs and try to take it

Being a hacker is just like being a scientist. You find yourself in front of an unknown device or mechanism, you study its inputs and outputs and try to take it apart as much as possible. Then you formulate a model and see how much it is able to predict, until you reach an accurate enough one that allows you to deduce the real inner workings of the machine. The fact that the system can get patched does not change anything, you just start again.