BotNet News

We all know hacking is about gaining access to a computer system in a way the original designers didn’t intend. That could mean malicious – stealing data or deploying malware – or it could be ethical such as penetration testing designed to find vulnerabilities. Hacking is a highly skilled and dangerous field that spans a wide range of tactics, tools and targets. It can be incredibly disruptive and, when done properly, can hide behind stealthy methods that go unnoticed by cybersecurity software and teams.

The term ‘hacking’ originated in the 1950s when members of MIT’s Tech Model Railroad Club would “hack” their high-tech train sets to modify their functions and expand what they could do. These early hackers were fascinated by what was possible and how they could manipulate systems to do things the designers didn’t intend. The hackers of today are much more sophisticated – using stealthy methods to go undetected by cybersecurity software and teams to twist systems to their advantage.

Some hackers are merely interested in the money and notoriety associated with hacking, known as black hats. Others use their skills for the good of society and boost an organization’s security posture rather than harming it, known as white hats. Ethical hackers are trained to identify and report these types of vulnerabilities and can often obtain certifications, such as a Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH).

A grey hat hacker is somewhere in between the black-hat world of malevolent hackers and the white-hat world of professionals who seek to improve cybersecurity defences. Grey hat hackers often operate within a set of parameters and have explicit permission from the company they’re working for, but their motivations can vary, including financial gain or bug bounty rewards.