Hacking, legitimate or criminal?

Who according to you is a hacker? let me begin this by asserting a small myth,



"A 15-year-old boy who sits behind a glowing black monitor, typing furiously. The green text streams across his screen like a waterfall. His nervousness escalates dramatically as he sends rapid-fire commands to the strained computer. Suddenly, he lets out a triumphant laugh and proceeds to steal money."

well if that is what you could create then let me tell you, that's just a stereotypical view of a hacker and that's not entirely it. There is much more to this fine art other than the mythical Hollywood definition that the term has acquired over the period of time.

Hackers are of varied culture and depending on their activities and intentions they are classified into 7 categories which are:

Script Kiddie

A script kiddie is a person who uses the existing scripts or program codes to break into other systems, these people lack the expertise to write their own scripts and they don't intend to make a profit for themselves.They copy the existing code that can be of threat and use it for a virus or SQLi(SQL Injection refers to an injection attack wherein an attacker can execute malicious SQL statements that control a web application's database server).They just download the overused software and watch a video trying to learn more about the subject to execute their plan.This kind of an attack made by the Script Kiddie doesn't really harm anyone's reputation.

White Hat

The term "White Hat" comes from old Western movies where the cliché was the "good guy" to wear a white cowboy hat and the "bad guys" always seemed to wear a black hat.

Also know as the ethical hackers, White Hat hackers are the good guys in the hacker community who try to benefit the society with their skill either by helping in elimination of a virus from an objective or just PenTest a company's software to find any existing loopholes to implement best practices that make them less vulnerable to spiteful hacking attempts in the future.This is directed by employing them against the organization that has hired them.

Most White Hat hackers hold a degree in IT security or computer science and must be certainly certified to pursue a profession in hacking.

Black Hat

Also known as the crackers, these men/women are the people who we hear about in the news for performing unauthorized exercises.These individuals have extensive computer knowledge and their only aim is to breach or bypass internet security for personal financial gain or other malicious reasons.

Black Hat hackers are capable of inflicting damage on both individual computer users and large organizations by stealing valuable information, shutting down a website or even by dropping an entire security system.They are electronic thugs in every sense of the word, and they share the same personality traits as emotionally stunted teens who smash bus stop windows for personal satisfaction or to release any frustration for revenge.This category of hackers is mythical and is widely known to people for their radical and mysterious behavior.

For simple conclusion, we can claim that while White Hats make things, Black Hats break things.

Gray Hat

Nothing in this world is completely biased on one side nor is everything just black or white, similarly, in the hacker community there exist Gray Hats. These individuals don't steal any money or information (but may sometimes just deface one or two websites for a distinct purpose), yet they don't help anybody for good but they can if they are longing to for their own interest.For example, when they discover a vulnerability, instead of telling the vendor how the exploit works, he or she may offer to repair it for a small fee.

These hackers cannot be predicted and cannot be claimed ethical or critical as they remain dicey changing their ideologies and work accordingly. Most of the hacker world comprises of these hackers but the Black Hats still garner most of the media's attention remaining a hot topic of discussion.

Green Hat

Every field of activities comprise of newbies and in this field, Green Hats are the hackers who don't know what they are doing but unlike Script Kiddies, they strive to be full-fledged hackers but are most of the times flamed by the other hackers in the community for asking too many questions for the self-explanatory reasons, everybody desires to hack but nobody wishes to teach but even when they are answered to the insignificant they listen with the intent and curiosity of a child listening to family stories. Guided properly they are capable of advancing in the field but the question remains, under which hat would they like to fit in once they have carved a path for themselves? black, white or gray?`

Red Hat

These people are the vigilantes of the hacker world. They’re like White Hats in that they halt Black Hats, but these can seem downright threatening to those who have ever tried so much as PenTest. Instead of reporting the malicious hacker, they shut him/her down by uploading viruses, Invading and accessing his/her computer to destroy it from the inside out. They impose multiple competitive methods that might force a cracker (Black Hat hacker) to literally invest on a new computer.

Blue Hat

Blue Hats are hackers who work to claim their revenge, this category comprises of unprofessional individuals who, with a sturdy reply, crave to get back to those who offended them. Usually offended by the Script Kiddie a battle of hacking and destruction ascends between these with only one similarity, that is, neither one of the two desire to learn the professional means of the art they are already using for flaming other.



Now that we are wide-eyed on this topic its time to get the cliche myths out of the trail for a more sensible approach to this. Keeping this simple, one must know:

Hacking is not a two-three-minute process.

Hacking is not entirely an unauthorized activity.

Hacking does not Require all Sorts of Exotic Software, it's commonly controlled over the web and is called web-

application hacking.

Hacking does not require lightning reflexes, it's a smart work, not a fast work.

Hacking doesn't come through hard work, it requires an obsession.

A lot more complicated than what people assume it to be, nevertheless not everyone can become a hacker but they sure can learn more about it and keep themselves updated to catch up with this rapidly advancing noxious world.