How Many Types Of Hackers Are There?

White Hat Hackers

Good hackers. Any cyber security professional who helps companies in testing their server, network, software, etc. for security loopholes. All the people working in the industry as RED TEAM, SOC TEAM, VAPT guys are white hat hackers. White hat hackers are invited by companies / clients they work for to find faults in the systems so that companies can close those vulnerabilities.

Black Hat Hackers

Bad guys. Cyber Criminals engaged in stealing money, frauds, phishing, scams, spams, etc. The most notorious of them was Kevin Mitnick. Most of the black hat hackers become white hat hackers after they get caught & serve a jail term. Once you are under police radar, it makes sense to become a good guy and earn the same amount of money legally.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Mitnick

Script Kiddies

Kids who have learnt how to run hacking tools without having any clue how those tools work. Make the fatal mistake of running these tools on LIVE systems without permission and get warning from the system owners & police dept. They do not know how to erase their digital footprint. Most of the white hat and blackhat hackers start as script kiddies.

Hacktivists

The most deadly hacker groups who hack for a cause, be it good or bad. They are mostly against government & military websites and infrastructures. The most popular such group is Anonymous. On one side they went after military infrastructure to protest against war crimes and oppressions, and on the other side they took down several child porn sites, which the government otherwise failed to take actions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_(hacker_group)

Grey Hat Hackers

Can go good or evil, depends on their mood or who is paying.

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