9 Different Types of Hackers
Black Hat
Black hats aim for monetary gain. Black hat hackers use illegal activities to get corporate data, money, or other sensitive data to sell in the black market. A black hat hacker uses various techniques and malware to identify weaknesses and security vulnerabilities in computer networks.
A black hat hacker aims to destroy or steal data, conduct cyber espionage, disrupt systems, or gain access. Black hat hackers also often threaten their victims to reveal confidential data, personal videos, photos, and documents to the public if they don’t pay.
Grey Hat
The grey hat hacker is the next on our list of the different types of hacker. Grey hats exploit vulnerabilities in security without malicious intent. These types of hacker work without the owner’s permission and knowledge. The grey hat hacker, similar to black hat hacking, may break the law with their hacking activities
They are more ethical hackers that leak the vulnerabilities to the public. Generally experienced hackers, Grey hat hackers are skilled professionals who use hacking strategies to enhance an organization’s security and fix vulnerabilities and bugs. Usually, they aim to check computer resources and systems to offer tools, solutions, and recommendations to patch vulnerabilities. Grey hat hackers reach out first to the affected companies for their vulnerabilities. These people tend to gain popularity in the cyber security industry and hacking community.
White Hat
A White hat hacker is also known as ethical hackers. Some of their ethical hacking strategies include vulnerability assessments and penetration testing. White hats are security specialists who help identify weaknesses in hardware, software, and computer systems that a black hat may target. These hackers are the polar opposite of their black hat counterparts.
Unlike black hat hackers and other types of hackers, white hat hackers only perform ethical hacking if permitted legally. With this, a white hat hacker is generally a qualified certified ethical hacker. Government agencies and companies hire white-hat hackers to protect their valuable data against malicious hackers. They don’t have bad intentions since they aim to help companies improve their cybersecurity. White hat hackers also help companies to establish security software such as anti-malware, antivirus, honeypots, anti-spyware, firewalls, and more. They will sometimes give guidance to help you fix system vulnerabilities before being exploited by black hat hackers.
Blue Hat
A Blue hat hacker is a generally from a large corporate consulting firm in the IT Industry. Blue Hat Hackers are generally brought in during the development phase of building software, products and services to see if they can gain access to the code and find vulnerabilities.
Blue hat hackers are also security professionals that work outside a company. A blue hat hacker can conduct penetration testing and other cyberattacks without causing harm. Microsoft hired this type of security hacker to test their Windows programs.
Green Hat
A Green hat hacker doesn’t have complete knowledge of hacking. However, they are willing to learn skills and education in the trade. They want to increase their position in the community of hackers. Even though they don’t necessarily have a bad intention, they may play different attack techniques and malware. With that, it can also be harmful since they don’t know how to fix the problems that they may cause. Green hats focus on learning. They lack skills in coding, scripting, and hacking. These hackers are serious about enhancing their skills.
Red Hat
Red hats can be referred to as hackers who target Linux systems. Like white hat hackers, red hat hackers aim to disarm black hat hackers and disrupt their cyber crimes. They conduct aggressive attacks to bring down the black hat hackers’ resources and computers.
A red hat hacker uses hacking strategies like infecting the system of bad hackers with malware, DDoS attacks, and using tools to get access to the hacker’s computer to demolish it. Red hat hackers attack for stolen resources and damage the bad guy’s systems.
Script Kiddie
Script kiddie hackers are types of hackers that can be similar to green hat hackers. They don’t learn hacking but only buy or download tools, malware, and scripts online. Script kiddies perform their hacking through codes and existing scripts.
Usually, the attack of script kiddie hackers is Distributed Denial of Service or Denial of Service. Unlike green hat hackers, Script kiddies find shortcuts to learn about hacking. They watch videos to know more about hacking.
Hacktivist
These hackers use hacking techniques to advocate social change or make a political statement through corporate espionage. They try to steal sensitive information about a company to bring attention to the cause of hacktivists.
State-Sponsored Hacker
State-Sponsored Hackers aim to get information from other countries. They are also called Nation Sponsored hackers. They have the knowledge to access confidential information about different countries to prepare for potential danger to their country.
Now that you have learned about the various types of hackers, let us proceed with protecting your business against hackers.
How to protect your business from hackers?
Your data is essential for your business’ success. Unfortunately, some hackers may try to steal your company’s confidential data. This theft can cause problems such as data loss and damage your reputation. With this, you should know how to protect your business against the sinister motives of a hacker. You can consider the following tips to protect your company from hacking activities.
Regularly change your passwords.
Make sure to change your passwords regularly. Cracking a short password or one that’s been reused is among the hacker’s easiest ways to get access. It is also a good idea to change your usernames so that they don’t give away who they are or what their roles are. A bad example of this is when you set up a WordPress site and the main user is called Admin
Encrypt the data of your customers
Encryption of customer data is essential to protect confidential data from malicious acts and cyber threats. Aside from protecting customer data, it can also help protect your business’s good reputation. It will convince them that you value the security of your customers. You can use various methods, we recommend using a Virtual Private Network or VPN.
Block unnecessary sites and reduce access
You can reduce the risk of a cyber security breach by blocking unnecessary sites and facilitating access to your data. Ensure that only authorized users can access your business data. It is also helpful to update your antivirus software to increase data security in your business.
Maintain communication with your team
Communication with your team about malicious attacks is essential. It is beneficial for not just your cyber security team in preparation to avoid a data breach. You can encourage your team to be aware of potential hacking issues.
By following these tips, you can increase the safety of your business from hacking activities.
Conclusion
To sum it up, different types of hackers can use hacking techniques to commit cybercrimes. These bad guys have malicious intent for their gains. Meanwhile, a hacker also conducts vulnerability assessments to enhance the cybersecurity world. Those who have good intentions are ethical hackers that will not harm your company.
Most hackers are negatively portrayed as cyber-criminals. However, some elite hackers perform ethical hacking to help companies. These include white hat hackers, red hat hackers, and grey hat hackers.
Hackers have different intentions. While there are bad hackers who hack for financial gain, revenge, or personal gain, there are also good hackers that use ethical hacking to improve the security of the cyber world.
