Which are the types of hackers that exist?

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Probably you have heard that term before, but do you know which type of hackers are around? I will explain to you who they are and the characteristics of hackers.

Movies have depicted them as loners, asocial, with dark lives, that they spend all day in the basements of their houses, seated in front of their computers. This is an exaggerated and dreamy representation of how they really are.

Some people expect to see a Smart boy with a black cape, and then they find out a person with an appearance not so much different than the rest and comes out to be a hacker! In fact, maybe a co-worker of yours could be one.

Why that bad reputation then? What do hackers do? The reason of their bad reputation is a little confusion of two concepts: Hacker and cracker.

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Hackers

Characteristics of hackers

To begin with, the Word hacker just make reference to a person with advanced computer knowledge, capable of to invade security systems.

Usually Enterprises hire one or more persons, because characteristics of hackers benefit them. But, did you see any add with a job offer requesting a hacker, don’t you? Probably not, that’s because although they hay the capabilities of find system’s vulnerabilities, they don’t invade them without a very good reason, as the system were “hijacked” before, or they are looking for weak spots in the system to improve their business.

Lot of people that are hackers, study careers like system engineering or they specialize in cybersecurity. It doesn’t sound like something illegal, isn’t it? Businesses use this people knowledge to create, restore or reinforce their security systems. Everything I said until now sound as they are people meant to protect a business and not meant to be a threat.

So then, how are they people that use computer networks to vicious acts called?

Cracker

A Cracker is a cybercriminal

The term for them is cracker, they are the creators of malware, which infects your computer or phones, responsible of banking account, social networks encrypted theft, phishing, etc.

Crackers are more accurate to Movies depiction, without the looks or dark life, probably some of them could have a similar life, but it is not a behavior protocol they must have to follow.

Hacker o Cracker

Although the characteristics of hackers and crackers are very different, lots of people still see a hacker as a sort of a cybercriminal. And a lot of times this concept is sacrificed for a determined topic’s sake.

As an example, when you read the Title “Types of hackers that exist” you associated the topic with those kind of cybercriminals. If we have written “Types of crackers…” probably the topic did not get your attention at all. Now you know the difference, I will show you the types of hackers and crackers that exist.

Types of hackers

White hat:

This hacker’s objective is to find any weak spots in systems so they can be fixed. Usually Security Enterprises are the ones to hire people with these skills, to bring solutions to businesses which require their systems improve their security.

Wizard:

Maybe this type of hacker generates a Little bit of confusion with the last one because both enter on systems to look for weak spots. But wizard one the most advanced type of hacker, because he is not limited to just use techniques to make a system vulnerable, he also understands how and why the vulnerability happened in the first place.

Types of crackers

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Spammers:

It’s not so difficult to make an idea of what do they do, they’re the responsible of tons of emails or spam adds you receive of some products. The same enterprises are the ones who hire them.

War drivers:

Those crackers are specialized in to make connections weak, like your Wi-Fi. The curious about this is the modus operandi is like its name, they can catch signals moving on a vehicle.

Carder:

They are focused on credit cards. Creating fake access codes or cloning cards. That way they are able to steal hundred and even thousands of dollars and if their victims don’t get used to keep an eye to their bank statements, it will be too late for them.

Pharmer:

The responsible of phishing, that uses techniques of social engineering to include persons to apparently official websites. They are who clone a site to make the scam more believable.

Grey hat:

Its difficult to describe the activities of this cracker/hacker. First, it’s true that they can get through security systems, but it’s also true that sometimes they do it to gather information for people’s sake. As an example, we know about cases when government officials’ information, like conversations or compromising documents were exposed by a Grey hat.

Famous Hackers and crackers

Cracka: He is a teenager with only 16 years old, he was able to get Access to the CIA director email account, also he revealed the identity of thousands of US Government agents in 2016.
Kevin Mitnick: Known as the most wanted cybercriminal of the history by the Justice Department of the United States. He was able to penetrate systems like Nokia’s and Motorola’s. He stole corporate secrets and also he cracked another hacker as well. After he got free in 2012, he dedicated to security assessments.
Albert Gonzales: Known as Soupnazi, expert in Phishing, he stole 170 million of bank accounts around the world and he is actually serving a sentence of 20 years in prison.
Julian Assange: Recently the Wikileaks founder was arrested, the characteristics of a hacker as Assange could enter into Grey Hat category. His page has revealed State secrets along with financial information of powerful nations like The United States.

That was the reason to be arrested and he was a refugee in the embassy of Ecuador in London, until his recent arrestment. His actions are considered right by public opinion, however, for international law he is a cyber-delinquent.
Anonymous: If we talk about hackers, Anonymous group probably is the one you have heard of a couple of times, it’s a hackers’ group and they dedicate to gather secret information individually or collectively, the characteristics of a hacker o Grey hat cracker can be attributed to this group. They keep their identity protected and they can make threats of cyberattacks to big companies. Like Assange, they have already infiltrated security systems revealing confidential information.

How can protect yourself from hacker/cracker?

Probably you are thinking of if they were able to breakdown systems like CIA, probably we would be an easy target, right? The truth is if we take action correctly, we are more safe than you think.

First is like me, you don’t have any information regarding a nuclear attack or any scandal regarding global economic interests. Having said that, it will be really convenient keep in mind if these people that dedicate to look that kind of information will take the time to hack you or me, the answer is NO, they are busy with more relevant issues for the Corporate world, political or global.

Does that mean that we are completely safe? No, in fact there are persons dedicated to infiltrate to banking accounts like yours or mine. These people use your internet connection, infect software or use phishing techniques to scam you.

A good antivirus can make the difference, That’s the reason why you have to take care of your devices, because they just can’t only Access to your computer, but they can Access to your cell phone as well., if this matter to you, here is this article: What is Phishing?… How to prevent it

In any case you should know about RED5G Antivirus, which is designed to protect your systems from potential threats like ransomware, malware, spyware, phishing. It analyzes permanently your computer and its Price is affordable. You can check this review and know all of their functions: RED5G Security

CONCLUSION

There is no doubt that the types of hackers or crackers have extraordinary abilities, the difference is some use these abilities for good on others for evil. The characteristics of hackers in one hand, are to improve the security of a Company, while the characteristics of crackers obeys to economic interests.

It’s on us to protect information from minor cyber-delinquents comparing to the early mentioned, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t a threat to us, because they are.

I share this link with an interesting topic: The difference between protection of information and cybersecurity