All You Should Know about Hackers and Their Types

Who is a hacker?

Although the word “hacker” generally has a negative connotation, a hacker is not always a bad guy. A hacker is only an individual who uses computer programming or special methods to get over a challenge or problem. Hackers may be driven by many reasons, including profit, grievance, information collection, or to evaluate system defects to help develop defenses against potential hackers. 

Types of hackers and what they do

Usually executed by one or more hackers, hacking is all about the unlawful intrusion into a network or computer. Nevertheless, a hacker can be any individual, and they either work alone or are hired by an organization that has the object to upset something or inflict damage––gratuitously. Often, they look to change security systems to attain their objective, which is different from the real purpose of the system.

A number of businesses also hire hackers as their full-time employees. These hackers push their capabilities to find defects, vulnerable areas, and weak spots in the organization’s security system. This is done to explore and rectify the flaws and stop malicious hackers from getting into the security system.

Types of Hackers around the Globe

‘Black Hat’ Hackers

Initiated from Western films, the term “black hat” refers to the despicable persons who used to put on black hats, while the upright men would wear white hats.

A black-hat hacker is a person who seeks to gain unlawful entry into a system or network to exploit them for malevolent reasons. The black-hat hacker does not have any consent or authority to impact their targets, and seeks to inflict damage by compromising security systems, changing functions of websites and networks, or closing systems altogether. They often do so to steal or gain access to passwords, financial information, and other personal data.

‘White Hat’ Hackers

On the contrary, white-hat hackers are believed to be the good guys, working with organizations to reinforce the security of a system. A white hat is allowed to involve the targets and to affect them within the set rules of engagement. Often referred to white-hat hackers, these people are expert at ethical hacking tools, methods, and practices to defend a company’s information systems.

As opposed to black-hat hackers, white-hat hackers exploit security networks and look for backdoors when they are legitimately allowed to do so. Ethical hackers always reveal every vulnerability they find in the company’s security system so that it can be repaired before they are get abused by malicious actors. Some Fortune 50 companies like Facebook, Microsoft, and Google also use ethical hackers.

‘Grey Hat’ Hackers

These hackers exploit networks and computer systems in the way that black hats do, but do so without any mal-intent, disclosing all gaps and flaws to law enforcement agencies or intelligence agencies. Typically, these hackers browse the internet and break into computer systems to alert the administrator or the owner that their system or network contains one or more flaws that must be patched swiftly. Grey-hat hackers may also swindle the hacked, offering to fix the fault for a nominal fee.