You were not hacked.
There’s a really annoying trend going around at the moment, particularly around Twitter but nowhere seems immune, with people apologising that “they were hacked” explaining why they are promoting a weight loss scheme unbeknownst to them.
Let’s do some word definition;
Hacked (v.pt)(adj.)
1) Verb: to have employed a technique to circumvent security - in particular authentication mechanisms - to gain access to a computer system which would otherwise require a username/password or some other set of credentials. May involve using a part of the system which is normally reserved for maintenance, or leveraging an error in the system design.
2) Adjective: to be in the state of having been hacked, i.e. under the control of an unauthorised third party
3) (depreciated) to have explored a system recreationally, in particular to have constructed an inelegant but functional shortcut or tool for something using knowledge about the system.
These are what “hacked” mean, lets have a look at what it doesn’t mean.
Not hacked, just an intolerable douche. (compound phrase)
1) Compound Phrase: To have neglectfully ignored the importance of securing your username and password, or to have clicked “Sure whatever” in response to every damn question that pops up because you are too important and busy to read warning notices, and then to have the fucking barefaced temerity to play the whole thing like you’re a victim of some hopelessly clever Internet criminal and there’s nothing you could’ve done to avoid turning yourself into a Chinese spam cannon belching out adverts for protein shakes. To draw illusions to imaginary Internet villains (leading governments to contemplate shitty regulations and online service providers to waste valuable development time trying to stop you from damaging your stupid self and others) while sending private messages to all your friends with a link to the software that’s turned your account into a spam relay.
