[Shanea93]

"to circumvent security and break into (a network, computer, file, etc.), usually with malicious intent"

Just because they didn't impress you by finding a side channel timing attack for the password hashing algorithm used by Yahoo, doesn't make it any less of a hack.

Why spend millions investing in a network of computers to break encryption, when the key can be gained far more easily with a $20 tire wrench applied with sufficient force to the DBA's knee caps?