Hackers - Who Are They?

No, we don’t just mean the 30 year-old guys sitting in their Grandmother’s basement, frantically typing out lines of code on a black screen… Hackers come in all shapes and sizes!

There are actually 3 types of hackers – and they’re identified by different coloured hats! This goes back to old Western-style films where you could identify the ‘good guy’ by his white hat and the ‘bad guy’ by his black hat.

White Hat

The Good Guys

White Hat

Also known as Ethical Hackers, these are the ones you want on your side. They only hack with permission, within the law, and they do it to test how secure an organisation's systems are.

Grey Hat

The Kinda-Good Guys

Grey Hat

These guys are on the fence - they do good (mostly) but without the ethics... What they do is illegal as it isn't done with permission, and it's usually for personal gain or for public interest.

Black Hat

The Bad Guys

Black Hat

On nobody's side but their own, this group of hackers find exploits in systems and use them for their own personal gain. They often use computer viruses and malicious tactics to get what they want!

White Hat Hackers

There is a whole profession for White Hat hackers – Ethical Hacking is a highly sought-after skill that companies will pay good money for! Some companies, like Apple, encourage people to try and find exploits in their systems and report them in return for rewards (this is known as a Bug Bounty).

They never work for their own gain – whether that’s fame, money or anything like that – and always act within the law. Some famous White Hat hackers include Tim Berners-Lee, Steve Wozniak and Jeff Moss (aka. Dark Tangent).

The two key points to remember are:

They have permission
They have good intentions

Grey Hat Hackers

Grey Hat hackers can be good and bad guys. While what they do isn’t legal (hacking into systems without permission from the owner), they don’t usually have bad intentions. There are a few different types of Grey Hats… You have those who are in it for what they can get out of it, and those who are in it for the interest of others.

Some Grey Hats will try to find exploits and vulnerabilities in a system without being invited to, and then give that information to the system’s owner for them to fix.

Others find the flaws and then offer to sell the system owner that information, or to fix it themselves for a fee. If they don’t get paid, they might use that exploit themselves, or they could sell it to the highest bidder to do as they wish with (and it’s usually a Black Hat buying that information!)

Another group hack systems to aid the public. This includes things like releasing documents that cover up things that have happened or causing disruptions to get a message out to people. You may have heard of a group called Anonymous – they’ve been around for a while and have been in the news recently over their Cyber War with Russia… Anonymous are a group of ‘hacktivists’ – activists that only have dealings over the internet, primarily by hacking for their cause. They hack organisations and governments to leak information that’s usually kept secret from the public.

The two key points to remember are:

They don’t have permission
They have good intentions

Black Hat Hackers

The Black Hats – these guys are the Cyber Criminals. They have no ethical code and work for their own, selfish gain. Black Hats exploit vulnerabilities in systems, prey on everyone and have many methods to do so.

They often use computer viruses (or malware) to gain access to your computer and files which they can download and sell to your competitors. Sometimes, they even encrypt your files so you can’t access them, and then want a huge sum of money to unlock them – and they don’t always hold up their end of the deal! This is known as a Ransomware Attack.

One of the best-known Black Hat hackers is Jonathan James – at just 16 year’s old, he hacked into NASA and the Department of Defence, intercepting over 3,000 secretive messages and stealing over £1.3 million worth of software!

The two key points to remember are:

They don’t have permission
They don’t have good intentions

What Can They Do?

Great question! Read about what hackers can do and how they try to steal your information in our next post!

Hackers - Who Are They?

White Hat

White Hat

Grey Hat

Grey Hat

Black Hat

Black Hat

White Hat Hackers

Grey Hat Hackers

Black Hat Hackers

What Can They Do?

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