Hacker Types : Cyber Security
Hacking professionals can be categorized based on their motives and objectives, resulting in three main types of hackers: white hat, black hat, and gray hat. The terminology of white and black hat originates from the Western genre, where the protagonist, often portrayed as a "good guy," would wear a white hat, while the antagonist, the "bad guy," would wear a black hat.
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Classification of Hackers :
White Hat Hackers
Definition: Ethical hackers who find faults in computer or network systems as part of penetration testing and vulnerability assessments.
Characteristics: Do not intend to harm a system, legal and in demand in the IT industry.
Black Hat Hackers
Definition: Hackers who gain unauthorized access to a system and damage its operations or steal sensitive information.
Characteristics: Illegal, harmful intent, stealing corporate data, violating privacy, damaging the system, etc.
Grey Hat Hackers
Definition: Hackers who exploit a security fault in a computer system or network for fun without the owner's permission or knowledge.
Characteristics: Not malicious, exploit weaknesses for appreciation or bounty.
Red Hat Hackers
Definition: Hackers who combine aspects of black hat and white hat hacking, focusing on sensitive information.
Characteristics: Hack government agencies, top-secret information hubs, etc.
Blue Hat Hackers
Definition: Beyond computer security consulting firms, used to bug test a system before launch.
Characteristics: Look for and close loopholes in a system.
Elite Hackers
Definition: Social position among hackers to describe the most skilled.
Characteristics: Have access to newly discovered exploits.
Hacktivist
Definition: A hacker who uses technology to announce a social, ideological, religious, or political message.
Characteristics: Involves website defacement or denial-of-service attacks (DDOS).
Script Kiddie
Definition: Non-expert who uses pre-packaged automated tools written by others to break into computer systems.
Characteristics: Little understanding of the underlying concepts.