Published on July 19th, 2021 | by Sunit Nandi0
White Hat Hackers vs Black Hat Hackers
Whenever we hear black and white, the first thing that comes to mind is good and evil. While this basic principle applies to hacking, there is more to it than meets the eye.
As far as hacking is concerned, many would say that it is a bad idea. What people do not know is that there is a legitimate hacking profession. Today, we will take a look at the differences between the two.
Who is a Black Hat Hacker?
A black hat hacker is a criminal whose intention is to gain access to a network or system. For example, he/she would hack a grocery store’s system, like Walmart, and use that access to an illegal advantage. He would either stop the operations until a ransom is paid or use the information of the users to his advantage.
There is no limit to the intentions of a black hat hacker. Some hack systems simply because they feel a sort of power. Some do it for vengeance, and some do it for political reasons. They can hack you to destroy your files, ask for money, steal your passwords—the reasons are limitless.
Here are some common examples of black hat hacking:
- Malware – hackers infiltrate a computer with a virus and steal passwords.
- Phishing attacks – they send emails, asking you to log in to your account (be it your bank or Vulkan Bet Casino account, etc.) . If you do this, then they would have gotten access to your password.
Here are some of the most common reasons they do this:
- To make money;
- To steal your identity and make money;
- For political reasons;
- To get revenge;
- To destroy a person’s reputation like exposing private videos and conversations.
The worst thing that can happen to you or a company is when a hacker, or a group of them, uses ransomware. Ransomware is a program that infiltrates yours. If successful, it will shut down your entire operations. You cannot use your computers, and this is really bad for business.
A good example of this is the attack on the Colonial Oil Pipeline. The oil company was forced to shut down for several days because the hackers took control of the systems. They would only “fix” the system if the company paid them the ransom of $20 million.
This can happen to anyone, including individuals. As such, you must always be careful and do what you can to protect yourself.
Who is a White Hat Hacker?
A white hat hacker, on the other hand, is also a hacker, but he/she does this for a good reason. Sometimes, they are also called ethical hackers. Their job is to find vulnerabilities in a computer system. If they manage to hack a system, then they just took to light the worst fears of a computer-based company—that it is hackable. Once they manage to do this, they can work with the company about ways to improve the security system.
Here are some of the things that a white hat hacker does:
- Social engineering – the hacker will put employees to the test to find out if they fall for a scam.
- Penetration testing – a process where the hacker will subject the system to brute force attacks and see if the system’s security fails.
- Programming – the hacker will try to infiltrate the system with malware and see if the system can detect it.
A good example of this is when a casino hires a hacking expert. If the casino launches a promo like Vulkan Bet 50 free spins no deposit, the executives certainly want to know if there are ways that abusers can exploit it. If the system or the people fail, the hacker will submit a written report to the company. Along with this report comes a recommendation to remedy the problem. The company executives will now decide what next steps to take.
The main difference between white and black hat hackers is legitimacy. A white hat hacker does this for a living because a software company asked him to do it. His purpose is to find vulnerabilities in the system, so the company could fix them. A black hat hacker, on the other hand, does this for malicious intentions. The goal of a black hat hacker is to gain access to a system so he could hold the program owners hostage—he could ask for ransom.
In essence, this is a battle between good and evil. White hat hackers do what they do to prevent black hat hackers from infiltrating their client’s programs.