WHITE HAT HACKER

  

Contributor(s): Madelyn Bacon

A White hat hacker is a computer security specialist who breaks into protected systems and network 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.

Ethical Hacker:

Ethical Hacking and Ethical hacker are terms used to describe hacking performed by a company or individual to help identify potential threats on a computer or network.

An Ethical hacker attempts to bypass system security and search for any weak points that could be exploited by malicious hackers.

this information is then used by the organization to improve the system security, to minimize or eleminate any potential attack.

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 hacker hackers. The terms come from old Western movies, where heroes often wore white hats and the bad guys wore black hats.

Ethical hackers— which are more popularly known as white hats, white hat hackers, sneakers, or even white knights—are information and cyber security specialists who are well-versed in system examination, penetration testing, and many other network analysis approaches that guarantee the safety and integrity of many a company's information system. The sneakers appellation in particular refers to white hats who are actually employed by companies or organizations as network security professionals of sorts.

In fact, the National Security Agency (NSA) offers certifications to these hackers such as the CNS 4011, which covers professional and principled hacking techniques and team management. On that note, an entire group of these experts are referred to by the CNS 4011 as red teams or tiger teams if they're acting as aggressors or invaders, and as blue teams if they're acting as defenders or patch makers.

The least malicious of the bunch, the white hat hacker breaks into protected systems to either test the security of the system, or conduct vulnerability assessments for a client. Most of the time, they work for a security company which makes the security software or product and wants to find weaknesses in the software before releasing it for open or commercial usage.

While they may use methods similar to “mal-intentioned” hackers, white hat hackers do not use the data that they’ve found for ill will. Simply put, the white hacker does what he or she does for ethical reasons, and there are even classes and certifications available to become a white hat hacker.

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