Nowadays, the word “hacker” usually has a negative connotation as it refers to a person who willingly breaks the law and invades people’s privacy for their benefit. However, what many people don’t know is that not all hackers are equal. Hackers are categorized into three groups based on their intentions and motives for hacking. The two main groups are white hat hackers and black hat hackers.
The Crucial Difference Between the Two
A hacker is any person who uses their computer knowledge to break into security systems for any reason. Both white hat and black hat hackers use their expertise to find holes in security systems of businesses, individual devices, or large enterprises. However, the difference between these two hides in their intentions and motivation. Black hat hackers are the type of hackers who use their skills to break the law and gain material or personal advantage. They are the ones responsible for creating malware, spreading it, and forming large-scale security attacks. White hat hackers, on the other hand, are the good guys who use their computer skills for positive reasons. The terms white hat and black hat hackers originate from old western movies where the good guy would usually wear a white hat while the bad one would wear a black hat.
It might be strange to think of a hacker as a positive figure. However, white hat hackers are often employed by companies to help them build and improve security systems. The key difference is in the fact that white hat hackers have the owner’s permission to invade their network, while black hat hackers do it without authorization, which makes it illegal. White hat hackers usually perform security network testing and vulnerability assessments to provide businesses with insight regarding their security systems.
Gray Hat Hackers
Another category of hackers that we must mention are the gray hat hackers. Their intentions are somewhere between those of white and black hat hackers. Namely, gray hat hackers usually breach networks to look for vulnerabilities so that they can inform the owner of potential issues. These hackers often ask for a small fee to fix the issue and thus help the owner of the network prevent a security threat. Even though gray hat hackers don’t exploit the vulnerabilities they find, these activities are still considered illegal since they don’t have the permission to invade the network.
Conclusion
Overall, black hat hackers are the ones we should be aware of, since they can cause serious security issues for businesses and individual internet users. Most gray hackers keep their intentions pure so they don’t pose a threat for companies when it comes to online security. It is highly recommended for businesses and individuals to implement crucial safety measures to prevent dealing with black hat hackers and the malware they create. If you need help and guidance though this process, follow the NIST cybersecurity framework to learn how to properly secure your data and devices.
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