Until and unless you have been living under a rock, it is almost impossible that you have never heard about hacking. My guess is most of you have already experienced some kind of hacking, but just so you know, not all hacking is done with malice. Some are done ethical a.k.a ethical hacking.
Hacking, like every single thing in the tech world, has evolved, and in the process, there are different types of hackers practicing different types of hacking- gray hat hackers, white hat hackers, and black hat hackers. Yes, there are different types of hacking, and today, I’ll help you find out a little about the three forms, but perhaps a little more about gray hat forms of hacking!
Keep reading for more information on the same.
I Am A Hacker With Ethics…Um, How Does That Work Out?
When a hacker comes and starts talking about ethics, confusion is only normal. Remember those old American movies of the Western genre? These movies often featured protagonists dressed in hats of light shades and antagonists dressed in hats of darker shades. Similarly, hacking has evolved and, based on the hacker’s motives, has been named accordingly.
So by that logic, gray hat hackers are neither here nor there, which is kinda true. Without wasting any further time, let’s find out a little more about the three types of hacking.
Black Hat Hacking:
As the name suggests, black hat hacking has everything to do with malicious intent and breaking the law. You know the kind of hacking you must worry about. These hackers break into digital and computer networks for various self-serving purposes like,
- Stealing credit card details, passwords, and other personal data.
- Holding computers hostages
- Destroying files
These hackers operate solely for making financial gains, to exact revenge, or simply for spreading chaos.
White Hat Hacking:
Remember I was talking about how ethics and hacking go side by side? Yes, this is where white hat hackers come in as ethical hackers. Basically, hacking that doesn’t involve breaking the law or any malicious self-serving reasons is known as ethical hacking or, more specifically, white-hat hacking.
The work of these hackers is to find out if the security of their networks can be breached in any way or not and what can be done to increase security.
Gray Hat Hacking:
As I mentioned a little while ago, gray hat hackers are literally standing in no man’s land. You can understand it’s a mixture of good old ethical hacking and a bit of black hat hacking techniques. Simply put, these hackers might choose to violate ethical hacking practices, but at the same without any malicious intent.
Let’s explore gray hat methods of hacking in some detail. Keep reading to find out more on the same.
Gray Hat Hacking: What Does It Entail?
Whenever some security issue crops up, any white-hat hacker will simply solve it with permission and, at the same time, keeps the information about the breach in security to themselves and concerned parties. However, in the same scenario, a black hat hacker will use the situation to their advantage rather than fixing it, they will exploit the same.
This is exactly where gray hat hackers come in, armed with their revolutionary hacking principles and beliefs.
The gray hat hackers strongly believe that the world wide web is not a safe place for business. And not just that, they also believe that it is solely their responsibility to make the internet a safer space for everyone using the same for business purposes. But their methods are a little more revolutionary than the world is perhaps prepared for.
Simply put, gray hat hacking entails hacking websites without any explicit permission of the owner. This is technically how gray hat hackers show the world the vulnerabilities of the internet, claiming that they have no malicious intent behind doing the same. These hackers have no regard whatsoever for privacy or even laws – sometimes, they just hack high-profile systems because they can.
Although these hackers do provide plenty of valuable data and related information to companies, their methods are not viewed as ethical by a majority of the world.
How Do Gray Hat Hackers Work?
Any grey hat hacker out there is just like those artists who take pride in sending messages to the world through their Flash mobs. Just like flash mobs are always not a bad idea, grey hat hacking is also not entirely a bad idea despised by all. So how do these gray hat hackers work? Scroll down to find out!
- Whenever gray hat hackers somehow gain access to high-profile systems without the owner’s permission, it is often seen that these hackers communicate to the owner about hiring them to solve the security issues in their systems.
- But the above method has been observed to be declining gradually, specifically because of the constantly increasing need for companies to begin prosecution.
- There are several cases where the owner chose not to respond to the demands of the gray hackers, and in turn, the hackers went over to the dark side. Literally. In such cases, gray hackers turned into black hackers exploiting the situation to their advantage.
- There are several companies that have begun using programs known as bounty bug programs, which encourage gray hat hackers to report their findings. This makes it easier for the companies to protect themselves from the bigger risk of having a hacker exploiting their vulnerabilities in case they fail to comply with the demands of the same.
Frequently Asked Questions:
A gray hat hacker enjoys the best of both worlds, which in this case involved a blend of both ethical and unlawful hacking. Although these hackers hack high-profile systems without the permission of the owners, at the same time, they do so without any malicious intent.
The 7 types of hackers are as follows,
• Black Hat Hackers,
• Gray Hat Hackers,
• White Hat Hackers,
• Script Kiddies,
• Blue Hat Hackers,
• Green Hat Hackers, and
• Red Hat Hackers
The two most famous white hat hackers in the world at present are,
• Steve Wozniak, and
• Jeff Moss
And It’s An Ethical Wrap!
It’s a little difficult and, honestly, a lot more controversial to find out whether gray-hat hackers are not doing anything illegal. But at the same time, it is not right to breach the security system without the consent of the owner. You won’t like it if someone walks inside your room and points out all the flaws, but if they do with your permission, things can be so much better for all involved parties – what do you think?
Don’t forget to let us know your thoughts on the same in the comments section below.
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