Male with a cough — deadly hacker (8)
I believe the answer is:
tomahawk
'deadly hacker' is the definition.
(type of axe weapon - something which hacks)
'male with a cough' is the wordplay.
'male' becomes 'tom' (I've seen this in other clues).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'cough' becomes 'hawk' (hawking is a kind of coughing).
'tom'+'a'+'hawk'='TOMAHAWK'
(Other definitions for tomahawk that I've seen before include "Amerindian hatchet" , "intended to make a kill" , "Brave's arm" , "Scalping weapon" , "American Indian axe" .)