Although we do not see it clearly, hackers are part of our day to day. At present, we all constantly use new technologies, which is why we are linked to these computer experts, characterized by their function of carrying out modifications in software, either with benign or malignant objectives.
In fact, one of the controversies in this regard is the great typology of hackers that exist, because according to their ethical conduct on the network, they can be classified in one way or another. If you are interested in the world of computing and want to know the types of hackers according to their behavior as well as the difference between a hacker and a cracker and some characteristics and curiosities of each of them, keep reading this article. We tell you!
Hackers: definition and explanation of what a hack is
Although the word hacker may sound pejorative (as it is often associated with illegal behavior on the Internet), it is actually used to define any person who is an expert in the field of programming. Thus, a hacker is considered to be a person dedicated to improving software of any kind; carries out tasks similar to those that any programmer would perform, with the difference that the hacker’s activity is not necessarily linked to a formal job.
In fact, one of the most characteristic aspects of hackers is that they are people who are dedicated to looking for bugs in different software (with the intention of improving them), especially during their free time. In this way, we would be talking about people who, altruistically, monitor specific software to locate gaps in the program and communicate it to the developers in question so that they can implement the necessary measures to solve it.
Now, what is a hack? While it is true that hack refers to a large number of computer modifications, nowadays the term hack is often used to talk about a form of piracy that has illicit objectives.
What types of hackers exist
Although there are different possible classifications, the most common typology with which hackers are divided and defined is the one that refers to “hats”. This form of classification comes from the classic Western cinema, where the characters wore a hat of one color or another depending on whether they were heroes or villains. According to this classification, the cowboys with white hats were good, while those with black hats were bad.
This form of classification has been adapted to the computer world, where the different types of hackers are defined depending on the color of the hat that gives them.
White hat hacker
White hat hackers are considered the best. This type of hacker usually works in computer companies and their main objective is to find flaws in security systems in order to solve these gaps.
Black hat hacker
At the opposite extreme, we find black hat hackers, considered the most evil type of hacker that exists. Their activities are mainly based on violating the security of servers to damage them or to extract private information. In this sense, black hat hackers are capable of attacking web pages or entire servers, as well as introducing viruses into certain software.
Gray hat hacker
Gray hat hackers are considered a mix between the two previous types and usually act illegally but with more or less good intentions. The gray hat hackers are mainly dedicated to looking for flaws in software security systems to later request financial compensation in exchange for fixing it.
Golden hat hacker
These are hackers who penetrate the security of companies or software in order to notify their vulnerability or as a personal challenge; that is, to achieve what no one has done to date. They may also use the hack to send a message that is generally associated with a social or ethical cause that they consider defensible and morally justifiable.
What is a cracker: differences between hacker and cracker
To understand the difference between a hacker and a cracker, we must take into account that although a hacker is someone capable of modifying certain software, they can do this for good or bad reasons, as we have seen.
However, within this group of computer experts, we find the figure of the cracker, which would be defined as a type of hacker dedicated to damaging or taking advantage of breaches in the security of systems to damage them. In this way, we understand that the cracker is a hacker, that is a computer expert who uses his knowledge to illegally access certain spaces and computer systems.
In general, it is understood that it is the crackers who carry out computer attacks with the aim of damaging a certain software or server, which is why the crackers could be identified as black hat hackers. However, and as we have said at the beginning, a definition does not always adequately fit a type of hacker or cracker, since there are very varied motivations behind the acts of each of them.