The good, the bad and the ugly: Understanding hackers after a year of cyber attacks

Nat 2 “a massive cyberattack with global reach”

Nat 1  “hackers got the personal information of tens of millions”

Nat 3 “a cybersecurity attack crippling the country’s largest fuel pipeline” 

IT WAS THE YEAR OF THE HACK ATTACK…

BUT BEFORE YOU THINK ALL HACKING IS EVIL

LET ME EXPLAIN….  

Anonymous video: “Greetings citizens of the United States. This is a message from Anonymous.”

THE WORLD OF HACKING IS NOT ALL BLACK AND WHITE…THOUGH THAT’S A BIG PART OF IT.

THERE ARE 3 MAIN TYPES OF HACKERS…WITH VARYING SHADES OF ILLEGAL ACTIVITY.

LET’S START WITH BLACK HAT HACKERS. THESE ARE DEFINITELY THE BAD GUYS…CAUSING BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN DAMAGE EACH YEAR. THEY BREACH PRIVATE NETWORKS WITH THE INTENT OF STEALING MONEY, DATA, AND SENSITIVE INFORMATION. SOMETIMES IT’S A LONE WOLF, BUT MORE OFTEN THESE LARGE-SCALE BREACHES (show pics of colonial pipeline/JBS) ARE THE WORK OF HACKING SYNDICATES. MOST OFTEN FROM RUSSIA…WITH NAMES LIKE DARK SIDE AND EVIL CORP.

THE MOST NOTORIOUS BLACK HAT IS PROBABLY THIS GUY. WIKILEAKS FOUNDER JULIAN ASSANGE. WHILE HE’S CREDITED WITH BEING A GOVERNMENT WHISTLEBLOWER, WHEN YOU HACK THE PENTAGON, YOU GET PUT ON THE BLACKLIST.

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NEXT UP- GREY HATS. THEY HAVE THE SKILLS TO  DO SOME SERIOUS DAMAGE BUT LACK THE MALICIOUS INTENT. INSTEAD, GREY HATS PUBLICLY SHOWCASE VULNERABILITIES ON OTHER PEOPLE’S SITES OR APPS. IT’S KIND OF HELPFUL, BUT ALSO UNSOLICITED AND STILL ILLEGAL.

DAVID LEVIN EARNED HIS GRAY HAT BY HACKING A FLORIDA ELECTIONS WEBSITE IN 2016. WHILE HIS BREACH REVEALED GOVERNMENT CYBERSECURITY FLAWS, HE ALSO SPENT A FEW WEEKS IN JAIL BECAUSE OF IT.  SO WHILE GREY HATS WONT STEAL YOUR MONEY OR PASSWORDS, THEY MIGHT HIJACK YOUR HOMEPAGE.        

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AND LASTLY WHITE HAT HACKERS- KNOWN AS ETHICAL HACKERS. THEY USE THEIR SKILLS FOR GOOD AND ARE THE STRONGEST LINE OF DEFENSE AGAINST BLACK HATS.

WHITE HATS ARE HIRED BY COMPANIES AND GOVERNMENTS TO IDENTIFY CYBERTHREATS AND HELP FIX THEM. UNLIKE GRAY HATS, THEY ACTUALLY HAVE PERMISSION, SO IT’S NOT ILLEGAL.

IN THEIR ANNUAL REPORT, MICROSOFT DESCRIBES CYBER CRIMES AS ‘A GROWING PLAGUE’, MAKING WHITE HAT HACKERS ONE OF THE MOST IN-DEMAND JOBS IN THE U.S.

THERE YOU HAVE IT, THE CODE FOR HACKERS. THEY MAY ALL WEAR HATS, BUT NOT ALL HACKERS ARE ALIKE.