By manipulating the weakness in the computer system or a network and getting illegitimate access is termed as hacking. Connotation to this definition here is negative, this also comes in light of number of privacy risks users face and dire state of the cybersecurity.
The proportion of internet users has flown over 64% globally. And the total cost of cybercrime worldwide has also gone above $10 trillion so far. When the users are increasing, this makes cybercrimes like hacking alarming.
The question now arises, is hacking always wrongful?
Well, the way today’s organizations and their security experts are strategizing for the organization’s cybersecurity has brought to light a term called “Ethical Hacking”. Because of its gain in popularity, there are three categories that have emerged from it – White-Hat, Gray-Hat, and Black-Hat.
Let’s check out this piece examining the differences between White-Hat, Gray-Hat, and Black-Hat Hackers.
What is Black Hat Hacking?
The exact opposite of ethical hacking is where illicit entrance into a computer system or a network is gained by unlawful way with malicious intent. Black hat hacking breaks laws, security, and often comes with suffering to the organizations or individuals.
How does it cause the harm?
- It can gain entry into user’s online credentials or data which can be misused.
- Theft of personal information like credit cards or banking details.
- State-sponsored cybercrime rackets that manufacture cyberattacks on organizations for political gains or strategic military edges.
They use a different range of activities like phishing to tempt the individuals – as they are the weakest and the easiest to attack, especially when it is just an individual.
Black hat hackers generally systemize the activities they are engaged in. It is noticed most of their attacks are aimed at groups of users who may be using old vulnerable technology. Their reliance is more on low effort to hack into the system.
More sophisticated tools are used by state-sponsored hacktivists as they also have enormous amounts of resources in their arsenal.
Motives Behind Black Hat Hacking
Behind anything that’s been done to harm people or a system there’s always some motive.
The predominant and the most common motive is monetary benefits. Black hat hackers can hack to gain the credentials or any sensitive information to use or sell it to an interested party or third party could hire them to do the deed.
One of the prominent reasons why black hat hackers hack is to propagandize their own ideologies; this kind of group is then known as “hacktivists”. These attacks are done to elevate their beliefs or take down entities who are against their ideologies. Revenge is something movies have always shown us; this can also be a motive to carry out black hat activities. They launch these attacks in retaliation when they feel that a system or someone has wronged them.
Example of Black Hat Hacking
Probably the most famous instance of black hat hacking was done by Kevin Mitnick. There was a point in time in the world where he was the most wanted cyber-criminal in the world. He hacked into several organizations like IBM, Motorola and the US National Defense Warning System. He was arrested and jailed for the same and after his release he is a consultant in cybersecurity helping white hat hackers.
Understanding Gray Hat Hacking
At the middle of the hacking spectrum is gray hat hacking. In addition to not being hired or permitted to hack, these hackers have no desire to hurt anyone. They can identify vulnerabilities which have the ability to cause damage. They are also known to make contact with the affected individuals and caution them.
Motives Behind Gray Hat Hacking
Interest – These hackers are curious. There can be times when they come across some weaknesses in security or something else that irks their curiosity, then they try to go deep into it. Their curiosity gets the better of them to hack into things.
A typical trait of being a human is that they like being appreciated. Hackers, if they hack into something triumphantly, develop their reputation and appreciation within the hacking commune. This becomes a way for gray hat hackers to promote themselves.
They also hack to find fragilities in security systems of organizations and get the results to them for them to fix it before anyone misuses those fragilities.
Example of Gray Hat Hacking
It is often quoted about Khalil Shreateh because he hacked Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook page. At the time he was an unemployed researcher of computer security. He reported a bug where he could post on any user’s page without their permission, but this was ignored by Facebook. As a point to prove, he hacked Mark Zuckerberg’s page and posted on it. After this, Facebook amended the bug but Khalil was not compensated for proving the bug as Facebook informed, he had violated their policies.
What is White Hat Hacking?
Opposite to that of black hat hacking is white hat hacking, of course. It is also termed ethical hacking. White hat hackers, within legal obligations, are licensed to identify and hack the frailness inside the systems. They can be employed by tech companies, businesses or even the government too. They do this to figure out susceptibilities in their security. These hackers are certified and professionals that are hired into the security team.
The goal here is to fix the vulnerabilities that are found as a result of white hat hacking and then work towards fixing the issues with the white hat hackers.
Motives Behind White Hat Hacking
Identification of fragilities in the system, fixing them, saving the organizations millions of dollars due to prevention of cybercrime.
Protection of personal and corporate datasets. Compliance with the applicable regulations is necessary and they help the organizations build up their defenses. White hat hackers are nicely paid as well. Their base salaries are well over $100,000 according to salary.com.
Example of White Hat Hacking
Best known for his work in detection of malware and research is Greg Hoglund. He worked for the US government and the intelligence community. Along with him was Charlie Miller, who famously found Apple vulnerabilities and won a Pwn2Own contest for computer hacking in 2008.
Comparing Key Elements of White-Hat, Gray-Hat and Black-Hat Hacking
| White- Hat | Gray-Hat | Black-Hat | |
| Ethical Principles | Before black or gray hat hackers could misuse the vulnerabilities, white-hat hackers find and correct the issues. | They tend to hack for their own gain or just to test out the systems. | They always hack for malicious and with the intent of self-gain or harming the user. |
| Methods to Hack | Testing by penetration through the system | Ransomware | Malware |
| Targets | Employers or governments | Businesses or governments | Individual user, organizations, governments |
Final Thoughts to Consider!
Different types of hackers exist along a spectrum of ethical conduct where white-hats aim to protect from threats and gray-hats maintain an unclear role while black-hats use their skills for criminal objectives. Humans must fully understand the diverse ethical perspectives within cybersecurity to navigate effectively through these complex systems.
For more insightful content on cybersecurity, check out SecureITWorld.
