I would call it more detective work than hacking. The fact that you sift through electronic databases as well as papers one doesn't make much of a difference nowadays. Often the term hacking refers to an illegal breach of a system: reading trashed documents is not illegal (just unethical), modifying executables is often against the EULA (but not necessarily the law of your state), but breaking a firewall or smashing a door definitely gets you to the other side of the fence.
That's not uncommon; if it was the ego that led you to go for such a goal, it would most probably push you into telling someone else about it. However, these days viruses are often written by criminal organizations, and that's another field of investigation altogether.
unless they are stupid enough to have told their mates about it then you pretty much do.
That's not uncommon; if it was the ego that led you to go for such a goal, it would most probably push you into telling someone else about it. However, these days viruses are often written by criminal organizations, and that's another field of investigation altogether.