What is a black hat hacker?
A black hat hacker is a computer expert who finds vulnerabilities in internet security and exploits them for their own malicious gain.
These hackers often give all hackers the negative connotation so often associated with this field of expertise.
Hackers are often divided into three metaphorical categories: white hat, gray hat, or black hat.
These names, according to Norton, have their origins in spaghetti westerns, which often featured a “good guy” who wore white hats, and a “bad guy” who wore black hats.
When it comes to labeling a hacker by a metaphorical hat color, security experts often take into account whether they are breaking a law, and whether they have good, bad or questionable intentions with their actions.
What do black hat hackers do?
These hackers are typically criminals with no regard for ethics.
They hack into a computer network for their own gain.
When they find your personal information, they don’t think twice about stealing it for their own use or to sell to others who will use it fraudulently.
Black hat hackers look for security vulnerabilities and aim to cause damage
They sell their findings to criminal organizations or even on the so-called “black market” to others who will use the security holes for illegal activity.
Black hat hackers may be looking for credit card numbers, passwords, emails, bank account data, or any number of other private information that might garner them some money.
They might also break into a computer network not to steal, but rather to destroy.
Some black hat hackers target websites or companies they don’t like and break into their systems to shut down the website or disrupt the company’s service.
To do this, black hat hackers might create malware – the same malware that could infect and compromise your computer.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
