Someone who derives the purpose of hardware and software from its intended use through reverse-engineering or exploiting digital ignorance. There are three types.
White-hats: Hacking for the good. (Goverments, FBI, etc.)
Grey-Hats: Hacking against the law, but for the people. (Think Anonymous.)
Black-Hats: Hacking against the law, for financial or intellectual gain.
Average: Dude, did you hear about the hackers?
Hacker: The Sony security was shit.