The Internet is now at a stage where it has become inherent in our lives. We are dependent on it for almost all our daily tasks and even entertainment and education. This has proved to be true even more in the wake of the global pandemic this year. Whether you are just someone who loves surfing the Internet or you work in a cybersecurity department somewhere, with the rapid increase in hacking cases, it is important to get to know the types of hackers.
Hackers can be classified according to their intention of hacking. Some hackers just do it for the sake of fun and thrill, while others have a huge motive behind their act of cybercrime. Not all hackers are criminals though. There are ethical hackers- those who are not the 'bad guys'. An example of ethical hacking can be a scenario in which you say, report a social media account that is posing as you when in reality it is not. This is where the job of an ethical hacker may come in as they hack the fake account and take it down.
According to the hacker's intent, we can give them a 'hat' by which they get to be known. Basically, there are four types of hackers: gray hats, black hats, white hats and blue hats. Out of all these, blue hats are officially hired by organisations to test the security of their unreleased software programs while gray hats do the same without any authorisation. White hat hackers are hired as well, but to check for loopholes in an organisation's system. Finally, black hats are the actual criminals, who want to hack for profit.
Also See: How to stay safe when using public Wi-Fi #infographic
So as the rate of cybercrime increases, necessary punishments are also being decreed and penned down for unethical hackers. These punishments include variations in prison-time and fines. to know more about these ethical and unethical hackers and how they work, have a look below.
Infographic by: KingUniversity
