#SEC CONFERENCE HAT SOFTWARE#

But they typically don’t try to cause any harm. For example, they may penetrate your website, application, or IT systems to look for vulnerabilities without your consent. Grey hat hackers’ intentions are often good, but they don’t always take the ethical route with their hacking technics. These hackers fall somewhere between white hat and black hat hackers. Next on our list of the different types of hackers is grey hats. And this point makes them different from red hat hackers, which we’ll talk about later in the article. Unlike other types of hackers, white hat hackers ensure their activities fall within the legal framework. White hat hackers also help companies adhere to the security guidelines outlined in security and privacy-focused regulations like HIPAA, PCI DSS, GDPR, etc. Companies and governments hire them as consultants and practitioners to prepare contingency plans to get ready for cyber attacks and other worst-case scenarios. White hat hackers are often academics and researchers who want to better understand various cyber threats and educate others about them.

#SEC CONFERENCE HAT SOFTWARE#

Build security software like antivirus, anti-malware, anti-spyware, honeypots, firewalls, etc.Strengthen the overall security posture of the software and hardware components.Develop tools that can detect cyberattacks and mitigate or block them.Find and fix vulnerabilities in the system before black hat hackers exploit them.White hat hackers employ the same hacking techniques as black hat hackers, but they do it with the system owner’s permission and their intentions are noble.īut what are their motivations? White hat hackers hack to: They work as independent consultants or freelancers as well. They use their technical skills to protect the world from bad hackers.Ĭompanies and government agencies hire white hats as information security analysts, cybersecurity researchers, security specialists, penetration testers, etc.

White hat hackers (also known as ethical hackers) are the polar opposite of their black hat counterparts. When it comes to understanding the different types of hackers, there can’t be a bigger difference than the gulf that exists between white and black hat hackers. They also blackmail victims, threatening to reveal their confidential data, business documents, personal photos, videos, etc., to the public if they don’t pay. Black hat hackers typically demand extortion money to give back access to the files, system, databases, or the entire device. Blackmailing the victims using ransomware and spyware to encrypt, lock, steal, modify, and delete your data.Deploying dangerous cyber threats like brute-force attacks, scareware, botnets, man-in-the-middle attacks, malvertizing campaigns, etc.Executing financial fraud and identity theft-related crimes.Selling financial and personally identifiable information on the Dark Web.Finding and exploiting leaky databases and software vulnerabilities.Earning money for doing political and corporate espionage.Deploying cyber attacks like distributed denial of service (DDoS) to slow down or crash the websites.Writing, distributing, and selling malware like viruses, worms, trojan horses, etc.Sending phishing emails and SMS messages.To make money, they are ready to do all illegal activities such as: They usually have the expertise and knowledge to break into computer networks without the owners’ permission, exploit security vulnerabilities, and bypass security protocols. 1) Black Hat Hackerīlack hat hackers are the evil guys who want to use their technical skills to defraud and blackmail others. So, what are the differences between these different types of hackers? Let’s check it out. Hackers’ hats come in a variety of colors: When it comes to cybersecurity, things aren’t all that black and white (excuse the pun).

Sec conference hat