ARE ALL HACKERS CREATED EQUALLY?

The few hackers that no one really talks about

First, let’s explain what a hacker is; a hacker is anyone who exploits a weakness in order to gain unauthorized access. When people think of the word ‘hacker’ they may think of someone in dark clothing hiding from daylight behind a computer screen committing crimes. But did you know that there are many different types of hackers out there? Keep in mind that not all hackers are bad and many hackers hack for different reasons. 

So, what are the different types of hackers?

White Hat Hackers – are also known as the good guys. These are the hackers that companies hire within their organizations to help make sure that their network is secured.

Grey Hat Hackers – These types of hackers are a classic case of the occasional good guy gone bad. These hackers or security experts will sometimes violate the law or some ethical standards to complete a given task. In most cases, they do not have the same malicious intent as a black hat hacker.

Black Hat Hackers – Also known as the bad guy. These are the types of hackers who are looking to exploit your system for malicious reasons or financial gain. They are equipped with the tool needed to do the job and disappear quickly without detection.

Green Hat Hacker – These hackers are the rookies in the online world of hacking. They are kind of like script kiddies harnessing their skills. These rookies are striving to become the next big hacker and are working hard to make a name for themselves. You can spot one of these green hat hackers out on an online forum or at hacker trade shows asking several questions.

Red Hat Hacker – The vigilante in the cyber world. These hackers are like a blended cocktail of a white hat hackers and Batman. Their main goal is to put an end to the black hat hackers in cyberspace. They are ruthless and show no mercy to the black hat hacker. They eventually hack the hacker with a mixture of destructive and malicious attacks over and over till their entire device is corrupt beyond repair.

Blue Hat Hacker – The revenge seekers. These hackers are also like script kiddies as they are novice hackers as well. The difference between the two types of hackers is that these hackers are seeking to use cyberspace on anyone who has made them upset. They are looking to get even and will use a series of simple attacks to destroy your device. Guess you can say that they are script kiddies with a plan and will execute it no matter what.

Hacktivist – The political activists within the cyber world. A hacktivist is a hacker or a group of anonymous hackers who think they can bring about social changes and often hack government and organizations to gain attention or share their displeasure over opposing their line of thought.

Script Kiddies – amateur hackers. These amateur hackers use existing computer scripts or code to hack into computers and lack the knowledge to create their own. They generally do not have an agenda and are just trying to gain bragging rights or are trying to impress someone. The cyber-attacks executed by these script kiddies can be as simple as a denial of service to executing some well-known viruses such as Love Bug or Anna Kournikova.  Script kiddies get their derogatory name from the more senior hackers.

Malicious Insider or Whistleblower – The organizational revenge seeker. These hackers can be a malicious insider, whistleblower, an employee with a grudge, or a strategic employee compromised or hired by rivals to garner trade secrets of their opponents to stay on top of their game. These types of hackers are exceptionally dangerous as they could have the capability to gain a massive amount of information from the company without working hard for it.

Cynthia Lee

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