The internet is one of the most important technological creations in the past half century. It broadened the horizon of users’ accessibility and reach of knowledge. Communication and information systems have been revolutionized by the inception and continuous development of the internet.
However, all sophisticated technology can be man’s enemy as much as his friend, if misused. Many is aware of the different ways in which the internet can be used by a hacker to create havoc in the lives of people as well as global corporations and governments. But what is a hacker actually?
What is a Hacker?
Speaking in a general manner, a hacker is someone who looks for and exploits soft spots and weaknesses in a computer network or system. A hacker tries to find vulnerabilities in a system and then exploit that vulnerability to gain access. The hacker’s goal may be based on making money, challenging the authorities, solely as a mode of enjoyment, or it can be done in order to test a company’s IT security.
One normally associates the term “hacker” with someone who is up to no good and snoops around computer systems simply because he or she is feeling malicious. There have been many debates as a result of this preconception about hackers. Hackers can also be necessary and perform important tasks. They can try to hack into systems and find their vulnerabilities in order to notify the system operators, thereby helping them to improve their defence against malicious attackers.
The term for those who hack into systems for personal gain or causing damage to others, as proposed by many, is crackers.
Types of Hackers
As discussed above, a hacker can be broadly classified as good or bad. We will see three different types of hackers in this article here, namely black hat (malicious), white hat (helping), and grey hat hackers.
Black Hat Hacker
A black hat hacker is the archetype hackers that people associate with all criminal activity done on computers. A black hat hacker is a cracker who find weaknesses in computer networks or systems and then use them to gain access. They find doorways and entry points in company networks to damage, steal or modify the sensitive data of the company.
On finding the vulnerability, they do not disclose it. This prevents the authorities from making amends to the system to block the hackers from gaining entry. Black Hat hackers might even disrupt the working of the system they infect, denying access to authorized users or causing drastic anomalies in the working of the system.
White Hat Hacker
A white hat hacker is the ethical hacker that find weaknesses in computer systems and notify the concerned company so that they may update their software and security protocols to fortify their defences against attackers. White hat hackers are software and penetration testers as well as malware analysts. They use the latest technology in the field of information technology to break into a company’s network in order to reveal any weak spots in their system framework.
Companies often hire white hat hackers to test their software or security mechanism for outstanding flaws that the creators might have overlooked.
Grey Hat Hacker
A grey hat hacker finds entry points in computer networks by exploiting vulnerabilities and weaknesses in their security systems. Their actions thereafter lie somewhere in between a black hat hacker and white hat hacker. Grey hat hackers might very well notify the company they attack about the shortcoming that they uncovered, but for a price. They might even make the news known to everyone, not just the concerned personnel.
End Note
The term hacker is used in a very biased way even today. The art of hacking has gone from a vocation or hobby to a fully professional business, with huge amounts of money involved in the war between security personnel and creators of chaos.
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