- Black Hat Hackers. White hat hackers employ the same methods of hacking as black hats, with one exception- they do it with permission from the owner of the system first, which makes the process completely legal. White hat hackers perform penetration testing, test in-place security systems and perform vulnerability assessments for companies.
- Ethical Hacking What is Ethical Hacking. An ethical hacker (“white hat hacker”) is an information security professional who has the same skills and uses the same technologies as a malicious hacker (“black hat hacker”) to discover vulnerabilities and weaknesses in an organization’s systems.
- Continue Reading This Article. 'White Hat' usually refers to hackers who don't break the law, commit any offense or engage in any malicious activity as part of their hacking. The term is now commonly used by security consultants who offer hacking/penetration testing as part of their services. 'Black Hat' is the term that white-hat hackers.
- White Hat Hacker provides you with an extensive opportunity to advance your hacking career by offering a progression of hacking/pentesting certifications.
- A white hat hacker is a computer security specialist who breaks into protected systems and networks to test and asses their security. White hat hackers use their skills to improve security by exposing vulnerabilities before malicious hackers (known as black hat hackers) can detect and exploit them.
How can the answer be improved? White hat hackers employ the same methods of hacking as black hats, with one exception- they do it with permission from the owner of the system first, which makes the process completely legal. White hat hackers perform penetration testing, test in-place security systems and perform vulnerability assessments for companies.
A white hat hacker is an individual who uses hacking skills to identify security vulnerabilities in hardware, software or networks. However, unlike black hat hackers, white hat hackers respect the rule of law as it applies to hacking.
White hat hackers, also called ethical hackers, only seek vulnerabilities or exploits when they are legally permitted to do so. White hats may do their research on open source software, as well as on software or systems that they own or that they have been authorized to investigate, including products and services that operate bug bounty programs.
Unlike black or gray hat hackers, white hats disclose all the vulnerabilities they find to the company or owner who is responsible for fixing the flaws so the issues can be fixed before they are exploited by malicious actors.
Often, white hat hackers are security researchers who work independently or with other researchers, but some white hats are full-time employees with the company for which they research vulnerabilities and exploits. Independent researchers or contractors may disclose vulnerabilities separately, but some companies also have bug bounty programs through which security flaws can be disclosed for reward money.
Penetration testers, whether they work as independent contractors or as employees, are generally considered to be white hat hackers.
Many white hat hackers are former black hat hackers. The terms come from old Western movies, where heroes often wore white hats and the bad guys wore black hats.
Difference between white, black and gray hat hackers
Besides white hat, there are two other types of hackers: black hat and gray hat.
Where white hat hackers disclose all the vulnerabilities they find to the party responsible for the system -- usually, the company or vendor that makes the affected product -- a black hat hacker has no qualms about selling vulnerabilities and exploits to the highest bidder, such as a criminal organization, usually for the purpose of exploiting them. Black hat hackers are willing to break the law to discover, create and use security flaws maliciously for personal gain or to make a political statement.
From hyper-realistic, control-laden sims to arcadey, point-and-explode shoot-’em-ups, here are the best tank games on PC. The agony of reloading, the snail pace, and the fact that you’re the enemy’s priority target make tank games as nerve-wracking as they are empowering. 
There have been countless greats to pick over the years; the genre has been knocking about since the Apple II days. A leviathan of free-to-play tank games, War Thunder favours hardcore tacticians, genius statisticians, and obsessive attention to detail.
Gray hat hackers fall between white and black hats on the moral spectrum. Gray hats generally consider themselves good guys who are more flexible about the rules under which they operate. For example, a gray hat hacker may be more likely than a white hat hacker to access systems without getting permission or authorization from the owners, but would be less likely than a black hat hacker to cause damage to those systems. While not typically motivated by financial gain, gray hat hackers may try to get the owners of a system they've hacked to pay them to patch or fix those systems.
The ethical practices of a gray hat hacker may also vary depending on their perception of the values of the individuals or organizations they are hacking. A gray hat might coordinate disclosure of a vulnerability with a company or government agency whose actions they support, while they might share the vulnerability with other hackers when the flaw affects organizations they don't support.
For example, when the FBI was investigating the suspect involved in the 2015 San Bernardino shooting, it was unable to unlock his iPhone. In a highly publicized back-and-forth, Apple refused to unlock the phone for the FBI, which sparked the going dark debate over encryption backdoors for law enforcement.
While Apple was still refusing to unlock the iPhone, The Washington Post reported that at least one gray hat hacker helped to disclose at least one security vulnerability in iPhones to the FBI, and the agency was then able to access the shooter's phone. In this example, a white hat hacker would have disclosed the vulnerability to Apple so the vendor could fix the issue.
White hat hacking tools and techniques
White hat hackers, especially those doing penetration testing, use the same hacking techniques as black hat hackers to uncover security vulnerabilities. Penetration testing involves gathering information about the target of the testing -- such as a network or web application, for instance -- identifying the possible entry points, trying to break in through those points, and then reporting the findings of the test.
An ethical hacker may also use strategies like emailing the staff at a company and attempting to phish for sensitive information, or even physically trying to break and enter into the systems. In these extreme cases, only the top-level employees at the company would know what was happening.
White hats may also perform a denial-of-service attack on a cloned version of a company's system, or on the system itself when the critical usage is at a minimum.
Social engineering is another hacking technique that white hat hackers use to test how secure a company really is. Social engineering attacks take advantage of human behavior to trick people into breaking security procedures or giving away sensitive information.
Some white hat hackers also use security scanners and frameworks to find known vulnerabilities.
Becoming a white hat
Some white hat hackers used to be black hat hackers who became more ethically attuned as they matured; others were caught, and then decided to take the ethical hacker path to pursue their interests without the threat of prosecution.
Undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science, information security or mathematics are good backgrounds for white hat hackers to have, though having a genuine interest in and passion for security is the biggest asset.
People looking to become white hat hackers may also find good use for certifications like the Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) from the EC-Council or GIAC's Security Administrator certifications, including GIAC Security Essentials Certification, GIAC Penetration Tester, the GIAC Exploit Researcher and the GIAC Advanced Penetration Tester.
A background or certifications in computer forensics can also be useful for ethical hackers.
Famous white hat hackers
There are a number of well-known white hat hackers in the industry.
Marc Maiffret is known for exposing vulnerabilities in Microsoft products, such as the Code Red worm, starting when he was a teenager. He later went on to co-found a software security company and eventually become the chief technology officer of the security company BeyondTrust.
Kevin Mitnick is another well-known white hat hacker. Formerly known as the most wanted cybercriminal in America, Mitnick was arrested in 1995 and served five years in jail for his hacking. After that brush with the law, Mitnick became a white hat hacker and now runs a security consulting firm.
Tsutomu Shimomura is the white hat hacker responsible for finally catching Mitnick. A computer scientist and physicist, Shimomura has worked for the NSA, and he assisted the FBI in the highly publicized takedown of Mitnick.
Robert 'RSnake' Hansen discusses the concerning trends in hacking.
Robert 'RSnake' Hansen is also a well-known white hat hacker who co-coined the term clickjacking. He is now the CISO at OutsideIntel.
In the same vein, Dan Kaminsky became famous when he discovered a critical DNS design flaw, and he went on to become the chief scientist of the security firm White Ops.
Other big names in white hat hacking include Jeff Moss, who founded the Black Hat and DEFCON security conferences; Dr. Charlie Miller, who hacked for the NSA for five years; and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.
Legal issues with white hat hacking
The differences between a white hat and a black hat come down to permission and intent. A white hat doesn't hack systems without permission from the company to test its defenses, and he discloses vulnerabilities responsibly. A black hat has neither permission nor good intentions, and he generally won't disclose vulnerabilities responsibly unless there is financial or legal incentive.
However, the white hat and the black hat generally use the same tools and techniques. This can lead to complicated legal situations for ethical hackers.
For instance, in order to thoroughly test a company's security, an ethical hacker will have to try to gain access to the company's systems not just directly, but through its business partners, as well. If the company that requested penetration testing does not also get consent from its business partners, the white hat could end up illegally penetrating the business partners' systems.
Additionally, if an ethical hacker is able to access sensitive data -- such as customer data -- their duty is to report it to the company responsible for that data. This, however, does not necessarily mean the customer will be notified that their information was exposed. It also means the ethical hacker has seen personal customer data.
The legality of white hat hacking is often discussed among security professionals, and it is generally described as a gray area.
Recent events in the news have shown that network security is more of a concern for both private and government entities than in has ever been. Those who are serious about their network vulnerabilities take a proactive approach and try to find them before hackers and other ill-intentioned individuals can exploit them.
However, to find these vulnerabilities you need to be able to think like the people who are seeking them out. This is where ethical hackers, also known as white hat hackers, appears.
Possessed of the same skill-set as the kinds of hackers who exploit vulnerabilities for personal gain, white hat professionals help organizations assess and strengthen their network security against these bad actors. Let’s take a look at what it takes to become a white hat hacker and what education you’ll need to get there.
The Job Market For White Hat Hackers
White hat hackers are likely to work primarily as tech consultants or information systems analysts. Professionals in this category are seeing much faster than average job growth. Estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics state that this position will grow around 18%, or must faster than average, between 2014 and 2024.
What Is White Hat Hacking
With the meteoric growth of the tech sector, this trend is projected to continue for years to come. Information Technology continues to be considered a high growth industry by the US Department Of Labor and as the industry continues to grow the demand for cyber and network security is certain to follow.
How To Become A White Hat Hacker
If you want to be a white hat hacker, you need to know the tools of the trade. Experience and knowledge of information technology is a prerequisite. Most positions require a bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity is a similar field. Experience and certifications are also important in the the world of cybersecurity.
White Hat Hacking Tutorial
Once you’ve worked in cybersecurity for a few years and have both the skills and education to feel comfortable in your position, you might want to go further. The good news is that there are master’s degrees and even PhDs in cybersecurity, which can help you climb even higher in your career. If you want a career with lots of upward mobility, you have found one in the world of cybersecurity.
What Is the Government Career Path Like?
An ethical hacker is likely to go into either a government or private sector career path. The military is a great proving ground for many IT jobs in their cyber warfare divisions, which is open even to reservists and National Guard members. This is also perhaps the easiest way to attain a government security clearance that will translate to civil service positions. There as thousands of government organizations that are moving to update and upgrade their systems after several incidents and increasingly sophisticated enemies.
With its silent Booster automatically loads the drivers when you look at the background with no stress. The driver installation process is straightforward and fully supported by. The program downloads drivers unpack them, and then installs them in the background, thereby minimizing the number of pop-ups with support and requests for approval. You additionally have the alternative of automatically launching Driver Booster PRO Crack & Windows starts, making the upgrade only one click out. Magic 2 0 series. Other driver update software supply a list of compatible drivers but help the user don’t to which driver is perfect for his or her system.
Ethical Hacking Jobs In The Private Sector
Beginning in the private sector can be challenging. Unlike government jobs, the private sector is adverse to the costs associated with training their entry-level candidates. A true talent for systems and databases such as Unix/Linux and SQL might catch the eye of recruiters and programming/coding skills can be demonstrated in entry level coding positions. This may be a bumpy road and there can be some dead ends, so always be using free time to attain higher education and additional certifications to separate yourself from the competition.
What Does A White Hat Hacker Do?
While many information systems security personnel work to set up countermeasures against hacking, ethical hackers work backward against them my finding vulnerabilities using the same methods that black hat hackers do. These methods may include:
- Trojans
- Viruses
- Social Engineering
- Worms
- Network Enumeration
- SQL Injection
- Denial of Service (DoS)
- Brute Force Hacking
A white hat hacker will try to get into a system using any means necessary, whether using well-known cyber-attack tools or creating their own. While it might sound a little shady, these troubleshooting steps are essential to a network security analyst's ability to do their job.
Challenges Of A Unique Career Field
If you are the kind of person who is looking for a challenge, this career field could be perfect for you. Ethical hacking is a challenging career and tends to attract individuals who love the challenge of proving and disproving security measures in encrypted network systems. It is a test of intellect, patience, creativity, and persistence. One of the biggest challenges is 'staying legal' by always accessing only systems and information of entities that you have contracted with. This is growing ever more difficult in an electronically interconnected world, and a successful ethical hacker knows how to toe this line.
Are you interested in working in cybersecurity? If you want to become a white hat hacker you will need to earn a degree in the field, such as a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer and Information Science with a Major in Cyber and Network Security - Cybersecurity Track. ECPI University offers this degree program at an accelerated rate, helping students to graduate sooner and start looking for work faster. For more information about this exciting degree program, connect with a friendly admissions representative today.
It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!
DISCLAIMER – ECPI University makes no claim, warranty, or guarantee as to actual employability or earning potential to current, past or future students or graduates of any educational program we offer. The ECPI University website is published for informational purposes only. Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information contained on the ECPI.edu domain; however, no warranty of accuracy is made. No contractual rights, either expressed or implied, are created by its content.
Gainful Employment Information – Cyber and Network Security - Bachelor’s
For more information about ECPI University or any of our programs click here: http://www.ecpi.edu/ or http://ow.ly/Ca1ya.
What Is White Grey And Black Hat Hacking
View the discussion thread.