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Hackers fall into three general categories: black hat hackers, white hat hackers, and gray hat hackers. Although hackers are often associated with exploiting vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access to computers, systems, or networks, not all hacking is malicious or illegal.
An ethical hacker (“white hat hacker”) is an information security professional who has the same skills and uses the same technologies as a malicious hacker (“black hat hacker”) to discover vulnerabilities and weaknesses in an organization's systems.
Yellow hat hackers focus on social media. They often have malicious intent and attempt to hack or steal Facebook, Twitter or other social media accounts. These actions are illegal.
Not to neither associate with malicious hackers nor engage in any malicious activities. Not to purposefully compromise or allow the client organization's systems to be compromised in the course of your professional dealings. Ensure all penetration testing activities are authorized and within legal limits.
Is ethical hacking legal? Yes. An ethical hacker is trusted to penetrate an organisation's networks and computer systems. They have the same knowledge and tools as a criminal hacker, but their work is conducted lawfully.
Another key difference is that ethical hackers typically have permission to hack into systems, while malicious hackers do not. This permission is often in the form of a contract or agreement between the ethical hacker and the organization they are working with.
A sub-group of white hat hackers who are hired externally by companies to perform penetration testing and sniff out bugs and vulnerabilities before a big launch.
A hacker who acts as a digital activist or a vigilante and uses their hacking knowledge to convey a message. Their reasons for hacking might be political, social, religious, or ideological.
A white hat hacker -- or ethical hacker -- is an individual who uses hacking skills to identify security vulnerabilities in hardware, software or networks. However, unlike black hat hackers -- or malicious hackers -- white hat hackers respect the rule of law as it applies to hacking.
A gray hat hacker (also spelled grey hat hacker) is someone who may violate ethical standards or principles, but without the malicious intent ascribed to black hat hackers. Gray hat hackers may engage in practices that seem less than completely above board, but are often operating for the common good.
Hackers generally come in three forms: Black hat, white hat & gray hat hackers.
A black hat (black hat hacker or blackhat) is a computer hacker who usually violates laws or typical ethical standards. The term originates from 1950s westerns, when bad guys typically wore black hats and good guys white hats. Black hat hackers aim to hack into any system for their own profit or out of malice.
An attacker spots a web application with outdated password hashing techniques and poor overall security. The attacker steals the password hashes and, using a rainbow table, the attacker is able to decrypt the passwords of every user of the application.
Purple Hat Hacking
Last on this list is the purple hat hacker, who practices their hacking skills on their PCs. This can mean buying a PC or using an old one to hack another one they own to see how effective their techniques are.
Green hat hackers are types of hackers who learn the ropes of hacking. They are slightly different from the Script Kiddies due to their intention. The intent is to strive and learn to become full-fledged hackers. They are looking for opportunities to learn from experienced hackers.
Although red hat hackers are usually not criminals, the methods they employ may be illegal and frowned upon by the IT security community.
Some (in)famous examples of grey hat hackers are: Anonymous (World famous hacktivist group) HD Moore (Creator of Metasploit) Adrian Lamo (aka the homeless hacker)
Blue hat hackers, also known as ethical hackers or good hackers, are the antithesis of black hats. They use their skills for good rather than malicious purposes and are often employed by businesses or governments to uncover potential security vulnerabilities in computer systems and networks.
Gray hat hacker definition
Gray hat hackers enact a blend of both black hat and white hat activities. Gray hat hackers often look for vulnerabilities in a system without the owner's permission or knowledge. If issues are found, they report them to the owner, sometimes requesting a small fee to fix the problem.
Green Hat Hacker
They may be malicious or trying to defend against attacks, but they can cause damage either way. New hackers have little understanding of what they're doing, so they might try out various techniques and use all kinds of malware without realising the consequences of their actions.
A career in ethical hacking can be very rewarding and profitable, as hackers are usually paid a lot of money. However, before you can become an ethical hacker, you must have the necessary experience, knowledge and skills in networking and programming.
Ethical hacking is a great career option if: You're looking for a rewarding and ever-changing work environment. You want a job that has a positive impact.
Ethical hackers are one of the happiest careers in the United States. At CareerExplorer, we conduct an ongoing survey with millions of people and ask them how satisfied they are with their careers. As it turns out, ethical hackers rate their career happiness 4.0 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 8% of careers.
RedTeam Hacker Academy mandates the Minor candidates under 18 years of age to provide written consent of their parent/legal guardian and a supporting letter from their higher education institution.