Black hat Black hat A black hat hacker (or black-hat hacker) is a hacker who "violates computer security for little reason beyond maliciousness or for personal gain". The term's origin is often attributed to hacker culture theorist Richard Stallman (though he denies coining it) to contrast the exploitative hacker with the white hat hacker who hacks protectively by drawing attention to vulnerabilities in computer systems that require repair. The black hat/white hat terminology originates in the Western genre of popular American culture, in which black and white hats denote villainous and heroic cowboys respectively. Black hat hackers are the stereotypical illegal hacking
Security hacker Security hacker A security hacker is someone who seeks to breach defenses and exploit weaknesses in a computer system or network. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, such as profit, protest, information gathering, challenge, recreation, or to evaluate system weaknesses to assist in formulating defenses against potential hackers. The subculture that has evolved around hackers is often referred to as the computer underground. There is a longstanding controversy about the term's true meaning. In this controversy, the term "hacker" is reclaimed by computer programmers who argue that it refers simply to someone with an advanced understanding of