If that demand is not meet they might leak the information online or exploit it, becoming a Black Hat.įamous: Adrian Lamo, Gary McKinnon, Kevin Poulsen They look for vulnerabilities without permission but often report them to the owner, sometimes for free and sometimes with demand for compensation.
Infamous: Kevin Mitnick, Jonathan James, Albert GonzalezĪs the name suggests the Grey Hat hacker is a mix of both White and Black hats.
They break into systems, steal login credentials and private data which they use for extortion or put up for sale online. On the opposite side of the spectrum, the Black Hats operate outside any moral and legal framework, motivated by personal or financial gain. White hat hackers always operate within the confines of the law.įamous: Charlie Miller, Tsutomu Shimomura, Greg Hoglund Usually they are employed or contracted by companies and governmental entities to find vulnerabilities before other hackers will. First of all, we have the good guys these are the ethical hackers that use their power for good.
