Breeds of Hackers and Ethical Hacking

Introduction

Ethical Hacking is regarded as an art of breaking into computer systems or networks with an intent to analyze it, study it and eventually protecting it. I regard it as an art because not everyone can hack. A hacker, generally, is a person with a wide array of expertise in different computer subjects and terminologies which takes lot of time, energy and brains.

He is a uncanny person who is used to thinking things out-of-the-box. In today's digital age we can find three different breeds of hackers namely :

• White Hat Hackers
• Black Hat Hackers
• Grey Hat Hackers

White Hat Hackers

White Hate Hackers are the ones who are termed as ethical hackers. These are the ones who follows morality, ethics, abides by the laws and still hack! It seems weird, but yes, thats how it is! This is how it happens – an ethical hacker is permitted to hack computer systems or networks and he tries his best to hack it. Now the question arises – why? An obvious answer to this is that unless there is an understanding of whats insecure in our system or network, we wont be able to protect it. An ethical hacker provides with vulnerabilities or loop holes in the system or network through extensive use of various hacking techniques. These vulnerabilities and flaws are then generally corrected through corrective and preventive measures.

Black Hat Hackers

Black Hat Hackers who are also called as Crackers are people who break into computer systems and networks without any prior permission. They are the people who break for various reasons such as robbery, revenge, showing-off their skills, causing damage or just any random reason. Black Hat Hackers can be regarded as the new criminals of this digital age. Several federal laws have been enacted to curb Black Hat Hacking. The IT Act 2000 which is followed by a number of countries have listed out several ways to deal and punish Black Hat Hackers. A lot of network security agencies have been formed after several hacking cases being reported. These agencies work for designing security policies and measures to protect organizations and individuals alike from getting hacked.

Grey Hat Hackers

Grey Hat Hackers are hackers who have designed their own reasons to hack computer systems and networks. They are like Robin Hoods of today's age. They can be seen as a mix of White Hat and Black Hat Hackers. Grey Hat Hackers can do good for some people and can even cause damage depending on their approach. For example, Grey Hat Hackers typically hack sites which they feel is socially bad like adult and gambling sites. Some from these breed of hackers hack systems and networks, find out the vulnerabilities and loop holes and report them to the respective organizations or owners. They do this just for getting popularity, showing-off or some of their own reasons and visions.