In computer security, a hacker is someone who focuses on security mechanisms of computer and network systems. While including those who endeavor to strengthen such mechanisms, it is more often used by the mass media and popular culture to refer to those who seek access despite these security measures. That is, the media portrays the ‘hacker’ as a villain. Nevertheless, parts of the subculture see their aim in correcting security problems and use the word in a positive sense. White hat is the name given to ethical computer hackers, who utilize hacking in a helpful way. White hats are becoming a necessary part of the information security field. They operate under a code, which acknowledges that breaking into other people’s computers is bad, but that discovering and exploiting security mechanisms and breaking into computers is still an interesting activity that can be done ethically and legally. Accordingly, the term bears strong connotations that are favorable or pejorative, depending on the context.
White hats are hackers employed with the efforts of keeping data safe from other hackers by looking for loopholes and hackable areas. This type of hacker typically gets paid quite well and receives no jail time due to the consent of the company that hired them.
Gray hats are hackers who are neither good nor bad, and often include people who hack ‘for fun’ or to ‘troll’. They may both fix and exploit, though gray hats are usually associated with black hat hackers.
Black hats or crackers are hackers with malicious intentions and steal, exploit, and sell data. They are usually motivated by personal gain. A cracker is someone who knows the web similar to hackers and doesn’t use the internet for gaining any extensive knowledge and are professionals in what they do but they are not the white collar heroes as security hackers are. Crackers use their skills to earn themselves profits or to benefit from criminal gain. Crackers find exploits to systems securities and vulnerabilities but often use them to their advantage by either selling the fix to the company themselves or keeping the exploit and selling it to other black hat hackers to steal information or gain royalties.
Information Security 