Hackers

These are unethical criminals who violate computer and network security for personal gain, or for malicious reasons, such as attacking networks. Black hat hackers exploit vulnerabilities to compromise computer and network systems.

Black Hat Hacker

These are ethical hackers who use their programming skills for good, ethical, and legal purposes. White hat hackers may perform network penetration tests in an attempt to compromise networks and systems by using their knowledge of computer security systems to discover network vulnerabilities. Security vulnerabilities are reported to developers for them to fix before the vulnerabilities can be exploited. Some organizations award prizes or bounties to white hat hackers when they inform them of vulnerability.

White Hat Hacker

These are individuals who commit crimes and do arguably unethical things, but not for personal gain or to cause damage. An example would be someone who compromises a network without permission and then discloses the vulnerability publicly. Grey hat hackers may disclose a vulnerability to the affected organization after having compromised their network. This allows the organization to fix the problem.

Gray Hat Hacker