Welcome To The World Of Hacking
Hacking Terminology
White
Hat
- Hackers who work entirely within the law they are also motivated to explore
systems for intellectual curiosity, rather than for malicious or criminal
intent. White hat hackers oppose doing damage to systems, stealing data, or
interrupting service to a Web site. But their activities may be illegal if they
explore systems they aren't authorized to enter. White hats can also
unintentionally damage or delete data. Many white hat hackers work as well-paid
security consultants, programmers, and network administrators.
Black
Hat
- Is
the other way around , they are malicious. Well hmm lets see If you think of
www as the wild, wild west, then you can guess on which side of the law the
black hat hacker operates. Black hat hackers (aka "crackers") steal
data or damage systems. The most dangerous black hats are able to remain
undetected for years, secretly monitoring a victim's PC for whatever nefarious
purpose they have in mind
Grey
Hat - Is just in between white hat and black hat
Gray hat describes a cracker (or, if you prefer, hacker) who exploits a
security weakness in a computer system or product in order to bring the
weakness to the attention of the owners. Unlike a black hat, a gray hat acts
without malicious intent. The goal of a gray hat is to improve system and
network security. However, by publicizing a vulnerability, the gray hat may
give other crackers the opportunity to exploit it. This differs from the white
hat who alerts system owners and vendors of a vulnerability without actually exploiting
it in public.
Vulnerability - A flaw or weakness in a system's design.
Exploit - An exploit is the means by which an attacker, or pen tester for that matter, takes
advantage of a flaw within a system, an application, or a service.