Good hackers, bad hackers – what’s the difference?

Generally known as those figures who are often shown in pictures wearing a balaclava or hoodie (and sometimes sunglasses) sitting in front of the PC in the dark and stealing data.

The word actually only describes the activity, namely the intrusion into other computer systems, but not what happens to the data. And this is where the good hackers differ from the bad hackers!

Since when has hacking existed?

Originally the word “hacker” even had a purely positive connotation. technically modified their models in the MIT model railway club to give them more functions.
These hackers later switched to the first computers, for example to add functions to existing programs and to exploit the technical possibilities.

When did the bad hackers separate from the good hackers?

In the 1980s, the first computers appeared that everyone could afford, which also led to a rapid increase in the hacking scene, and there were not only “good” ones there, but also many hackers who used their technical knowledge for their own purposes Good use, be it through intrusion into banking and company systems or through software piracy. The first viruses also emerged during this time.

[mk_ad]

The hacking ethics

This then got so out of hand that the good hackers wanted to distance themselves from the bad ones. In 1984, in the book " Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution " by Steven Levy, some basic rules were published, which the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) expanded and which are still valid for "ethical hackers" today:

1. Access to computers and anything that can show you how this world works should be unlimited and complete.
2. All information must be free.
3. Distrust authority – promote decentralization.
4. Judge a hacker by what he does, not by common criteria such as appearance, age, origin, species, gender, or social status.
5. You can create art and beauty with a computer.
6. Computers can change your life for the better.
7. Don't trash other people's data.
8. Use public data, protect private data.

[mk_ad]

Black hats, white hats, gray hats

Today we differentiate between three groups: the Black Hats (the “bad guys”), the White Hats (the “good guys”) and the Gray Hats (a mix of both).

The black hats are well known from the media and also from our articles: They are the type of hackers who are after companies and users' data in order to misuse it for criminal activities.

The white hats are the exact opposite: these “ethical hackers” use their skills, for example, to attack a company's computer systems in order to find vulnerabilities that the company can then repair.

The Gray Hats are a mixture: They act without a company's orders and penetrate systems illegally. However, they do not steal any data, but rather make companies aware of the gaps afterwards. They are mostly gray hats who, for example, discover and publicize security gaps in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other systems.

In an interview, internet security expert Tobias Schrödel explains a little more about what the different types of hackers are all about:

Especially on Facebook, people often talk about hackers who aren't hackers at all, here are some examples:

• “The new hackers” on Facebook are not hackers at all
• Fabrizio Brambilla, the wild hacker?
• That's behind Anouk Theiler's warning

Article image: Shutterstock / By Valery Brozhinsky