1. OVERVIEW
Hacking is a type of cybercrime which
can be used in various different ways.
Each hackingact is used differently and
contains differentmotives. There are
three types of hackers:
1. Black Hat Hackers
Malicious hackers,purposely causing
chaos for their own personal gain. They
are also known as ‘crackers’ who violate
computer securityfor personal
purposes; this involves acts such as
identify theft and money fraud.
 ILLEGAL
2. White Hat Hackers
Ethical Hackers, paid professionals hired
by companies and businesses to protect
and run securitytests on their systems.
Sometimes ethical hackers can be
hackers who do not get paid or hired by
a company, but believe they are
contributingto security, protecting
systems from malicious attacks
They are hackingfor the greater good.
 Paid Professionals: LEGAL
 Unpaid Un-professional: ILLEGAL
3. Grey Hat Hackers
The In-between Hackers, falls between
both hacking groups, they do not hack
for personal gain but may arguably
commit crimes and do unethical things.
 ILLEGAL
All of the above are illegal criminal
acts apart from one, ethical white
hat hackers who are hiredand
paid for legit companies and
Through the means of the internet Cybercrime has had
profound effects on the world. Cybercrime such as hacking
has developed through the use of technology and will
advance continually.
There are three types of ‘hackers’, the malicious kinds
known as Black Hat hackers, the ethical hackers known as
White Hat hackers and those in-between known as Grey
Hat hackers.
This poster presentation is investigating the legalisation of
White Hat hacking, examining whether the use of ethical
hackers are reliable and trustworthy.
LITERATURE
There has been risingconcerns on the high
growth of malicious hacking, which explains
why legit businesses and companies are in
fear and feel the need to hire trained
professional hackers.
What we know:
 ‘Hackers cause damage and generally
they are perceivedto be one shapeless
group’.
 ‘They are consideredto have fantastic
computing skills and an abilityto break
into any computer system’, no matter
how powerful.
 ‘They understandthe workings of the
internetand the internet protocols
themselves’.
(Barber, 2001)
 Black hat hackers are ‘associated with
underhanddealings,dodgy motives and
criminal minds’.
 ‘Ethical hackers believe they are working
for the common good by detecting
dangerous loop holes in major software
packages, which could be exploited by
their less moral peers’.
 Unprofessional White hat hackers, ‘work
publicly, yet anonymously, uncovering
holes in currentsystems.
(Duke, 2002)
 Ethical hackers,‘are employed to test
organizations computer security
systems, the organizationauthorises the
white hacker to compromise their
systems. The white hacker will use their
knowledge to compromise the system,
just as a black hat hacker would.
 Grey hat hackers,work in-between black
and white hat hackers. They discover
security flaws in software and ‘they may
disclose the flaw publicallyinsteadof
privatelydisclosingthe flaw to the
organisation andgiving them time to fix
Good Hacker, Bad Hacker: Critically Analysing the Legalisation of White Hat Hacking and
Examining the Reliability of Ethical Hackers.
Figure one: Visual displayof Black, and
White hackers,
EXAMPLE
WHITE HAT HACKING
GROUP.
(HackRead,
2016)
Founded in Berlin in 1980,
one of the largest European
Hacking Groups, It is one of
the good hackinggroups
that has taught the world
about technology. They’re
known for uncovering
securityflaws in major
government and non-
government services.Chaos
Computers had to consult a
lot of legal advisors before
ascertainingwhatis illegal
hackingand what the grey
area of legality in hackingis.
Case: they stole 134,000
mark (money) from a bank
in Hamburg using a web
page, but returned all the
money after exposingthe
securityflaw in the website.
DISCUSSION AND
CONCLUSION
White Hat hackers are mostly professionals
that are hiredby companies and businesses
to help test their systems, in the same way
that black hat hackers would. This type of
hackingis legal, but what makes is different
from other hackers?
ADVANTAGES:
 White hat hackers have great
understandings of the hackingworld,
hackingtools and the internet- which
allows them to work in the same way,
using the same techniques that Black
Hat hackers would.
 Motives are good, preventing
companies and businesses from getting
hacked. Helping to protect their files
and data.
 None of their actions are malicious.
 They run network breach securitytests,
which tests the strength of systems.
 Gives the impression that not all
hackers and hacking groups are bad.
 Ethical hat hackers are industry-trained
professionals andare more likely to be
trustworthy.
 Reformed Hackers are more likely to
have more skills and information
needed for security duties.
DISADVANTAGES:
 Could be a reformed hacker, who has
‘spent significantamounts of time on
specific low-level investigations,
exploitingcommon software or
operatingsystems’.
 Reformed white hat hackers are ‘less
likely to be trustworthy, who’s to say
that he/she will not revert to the old
ways’.
 A white hat hacker could be ‘tempted
back to the ‘dark side’.
 Being a white hat hacker could be a
place to hide, whilstdoing nefarious
activities.
(Duke, 2002)
Concludingall the points together, ethical
white hat hackers shouldstay legal, due to
technologies future development, being able
to fight againstand help protect systems
from illegal malicious acts contributedby
black hat hackers. It is a great idea to have
good hackers who have the same knowledge
as bad hackers, who understandthe hacking
By CourtneyCole
References:
Barber, R. (2001). Hackers Profiled: Who
are they and what are their motivations?
Computer & Fraud Security. (2), pp.14-
17.
Caldwell, T. (2011). Ethical hackers:
putting on the white hat. Network
Security. (7), pp, 10-13.
Conrad, J. (2012). Seeking help: the
important role of ethical hackers.
Network Security. (8), pp, 5-8.
Ethical hackers- Can we trust them?
(2002). Network Security. (3), p3.
HackRead. (2016). 10 Most Notorious
Hacking Groups. [Online] Available at:
http://www.hackread.com/10-most-
notorious-hacking-groups/ [Accessed 7
Apr. 2016].
Howtogeek.com. (2016). Hacker Hat
Colours Explained: Black Hats, White
Hats, and Grey Hats. [Online] Available
at: