In 1961 MIT Researchers hacked a toy train set to change its functionality. This was the start of hacking! It was only later that they started hacking their very expensive mainframe computers.
In the 1970s, there wasn’t an internet to hack and computers were used only by large businesses and government organizations. Hackers targeted telephone systems to get free phone calls because telephone service was extremely expensive.
In the 1980s computers became more common. The internet was primarily used for research and defense purposes but as it expanded, so did cybercrime. Governments began to take action and laws like the U.S Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Laws prohibited unauthorized computer access and made hacking a serious crime.