TYPES OF HACKERS: Explained
Hackers are individuals or even organizations who leverage their technical skills and relevant software tools to exploit vulnerabilities, neutralize security protocols, and gain access to systems, networks, and devices.
While the term hacking connotes adversarial actions, fear, and unwelcome results, not all hacking is done with nefarious intent. Some types of hacking are actually encouraged or done purposefully for security reasons, some of which include revealing weaknesses in codes or systems to help programmers and managers improve software or institute measures to thwart future hacking attempts.
Types of hackers
Hackers, or cybercriminals in general, come in many forms and varieties, but they generally fall into three distinct categories;
Black Hat Hackers
Black-hat hackers, also known as crackers or unethical hackers, seek to exploit a vulnerability and gain unauthorized access to a system, network, or device with malicious intent.
They’re usually after something valuable, such as information, or with the intent to commandeer a system and use it for purposes like financial extortion and blackmail. They often do this by planting Trojan horses, viruses, or ransomware.
White Hat hackers
White-hat hackers work to reveal and identify security vulnerabilities in a software system or network, which helps programmers and security managers understand areas of vulnerability and take appropriate measures aimed at mitigating the effects of such vulnerabilities if and when they’re taken advantage of.
Since White Hat hackers carry out their activities with the full knowledge and permission of system security shareholders, they’re referred to as ethical hackers. Working in teams, they can also be referred to as red teams or tiger teams, whose purpose is to test an organization’s ability to protect its digital assets.
Grey Hat Hackers
Gray Hat hackers, as the name implies, fall into a gray area between White Hat and Black Hat hackers. While they may not have malicious intent when they hack into an organization’s system or network, they do so without the knowledge or permission of the relevant personnel in the organization.
Their aim is to identify and report the vulnerabilities to the relevant authorities, rather than expose them to the public or sell the information. They sometimes do demand payment from the organization or individuals hacked for their ‘services’.
In a strict sense, they’re illegal as they’re gaining unauthorized access to a system or network, and the information they acquire can be used at their discretion, just like with Black Hat hackers.
Other types of hackers
Beyond the three main categories of hackers, there are other subtypes of hackers who might fall under one or more of the main categories.
Purple Hat hackers
These attackers are self-taught hackers who hack their own systems in a controlled environment to learn and improve their skills.
Their threat level is low as their activities do not involve anyone else other than themselves.
Blue Hat hackers
These are experts employed by individuals and organizations to test and improve their systems and cybersecurity.
Blue-hat hackers come in two forms: security experts and revenge seekers. Security experts are employed by an organization to carry out penetration testing in an effort to improve their cybersecurity, whereas revenge seekers are skilled hackers who use their expertise to carry out revenge against organizations or individuals, often anonymously, without seeking either recognition or financial gain.
Their threat level can be high or low, depending on which subcategory they fall under.
Red Hat hackers
These are hackers who target cybercriminals and Black Hat hackers, groups, communities, and forums with the aim of exposing them or taking them down.
They can get aggressive in their methods or tactics and can use measures that can cross legal lines, like destroying digital or even physical infrastructure.
They are also known as vigilante hackers, and their threat level can be high or low depending on the methods they employ.
Green Hat Hackers
These hackers are individuals or groups who lack technical hacking skills and are in the process of developing them, but can still do considerable damage when given the chance.
While their intention may not be to cause harm, they can inadvertently wreak havoc, e.g., by exposing a vulnerability that experienced hackers can gleefully take advantage of.
They usually rely on phishing and other social engineering tactics to penetrate and infiltrate systems, and their threat level is medium.
Hacktivists
Hacktivists use their skills to carry out ‘ethical’ hacking for social or political causes.
They aim to infiltrate and gain access to a government’s or an organization’s networks and expose secrets and what they deem to be unethical practices.
Their actions might inadvertently cause harm to innocent, unintended individuals and organizations, such as privacy and data breaches.
Whistle-blowers
These are employees or insiders of an organization who expose unethical or illegal activities. Their aim may be to expose such practices as workplace violations, financial fraud, or corruption.
Just like hacktivists, whistle-blowers’ actions might cause harm to innocent individuals or organizations in cases where the exposes’ lead to a breach of private data or information that other hackers with malicious intent can use to wreak havoc.
Script kiddies
These are hacking novices and learners who use pre-created or purchase off-the-shelf hacking programs and software because they haven’t yet acquired the skills to write code, carry out an independent attack, or develop their own methods.
Script kiddies, like Green Hat hackers, can inadvertently cause harm by unknowingly corrupting a system or exposing a vulnerability that an experienced hacker can take advantage of.
Cyberterrorists
Cyberterrorists spread fear or advance propaganda by disrupting or taking down digital infrastructure belonging to large organizations or government agencies.
They can achieve this by burdening critical systems such as transportation networks, finance, or electrical systems. They thus have a very high threat level to both the government, organizations, and individuals.
Cryptohackers
Cryptohackers manipulate crypto coin exchanges to steal cryptocurrency by using phishing and software tools to lure their victims into fraudulent coin exchanges.
Cryptojackers
Cryptojackers exploit or infect devices to mine cryptocurrency without paying the expensive and time-consuming overhead required for the complex mining of cryptocurrency.
Botnet hackers
The hackers use networks to remotely control scores of malware-infected devices, which they use to infect other devices and carry out large-scale spam, DDoS attacks, and malware campaigns.
They thus have a high threat level.
Elite hackers
These are highly skilled professional hackers who always strive to innovate and come up with novel cybersecurity threats as well as cybersecurity measures. They can oscillate between Black Hat and White Hat hacker categories, and they thus have a high or low threat level depending on what they do with their knowledge and expertise.
Malicious insiders
These are employees with the malicious intent of stealing or exposing the organization’s information or attacking and disrupting their network or digital assets, and their threat level is very high.
Their motivations are often personal. They might be seeking a vendetta due to what they deem an infraction or unfair treatment, and their threat level can be very high depending on their skills and the position they hold.
State-sponsored hackers
These are individuals or organizations contracted by government agencies to hack and infiltrate networks and systems belonging to adversarial individuals or agencies.
They can be considered digital warfare soldiers, and their jobs vary from monitoring incoming threats, spying, and stealing information to outright attacks and the destruction of infrastructure.
They have a very high threat level.
Protective measures against hackers
- Use of VPNs to hide IP addresses and encrypt traffic
- Creation of strong passwords and multi-factor authentication practices
- Carrying out regular software and system updates with security patches
- Avoidance of public and unsecured Wi-Fi networks
- Diligent use of anti-virus and anti-malware software
- Avoiding and shunning download links from untrusted sites which might introduce backdoors into a system or network
- Periodical data backup
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