Hacker v1.0 by @RomelSan
Knowledge
Know Computers, Networks, and programming
Grey Hat
Both
Are you good, evil or both?
Evil
Black Hat / Malicious Hacker
Know Computers, Networks, programming and develop exploits
Know Computers and Networks
You are learning or willing to learn
You don´t want to learn, just hack
Elite Hacker
Are you learning to program?
Neophyte / Newbie / Noob
You are a Lammer
No, I just use the tools
Yes
Script Kiddie
Hacker in progress
Good
No
Solve / Patch bugs?
White Hat / Ethical Hacker
Yes
Do you crack software?
Blue Hat
No
Yes
Pirate / Sofware Cracker
Do you work for government?
Against it, for a good cause
Hacktivist This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Yes
Against it
No, I am private
I don t care / just to have fun
I just want free calls
State Sponsored Hacker
Cyber Terrorist
Spy Hacker
Suicide Hacker
Phreaker
Hacker "Hacker" is a loose term and has different meanings. Generally, the term "Hacker" is someone who breaks into computer networks for the happiness he gets from the challenge of doing it or with some other intentions like stealing data for money or with political motivations. Hackers are classified to different types. 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 computers and computer networks, and that cracker is the more appropriate term for those who break into computers, whether computer criminal (black hats) or computer security expert (white hats). A 2014 article concluded that "... the black-hat meaning still prevails among the general public" Hacker Classifications White Hat / Ethical Hacker: A White Hat hacker is a computer network security professional and has non-malicious intent whenever he breaks into security systems. A White Hat hacker has deep knowledge in Computer Networking, Network Protocols and System Administration (at least three or four Operating Systems and very good skills in Scripting and Programming). White Hat hacker has also good knowledge in hacking tools and know how to program hacking tools. A White Hat hacker has the skills to break into networks but he uses his skills to protect organizations. A White Hat hacker can conduct vulnerability assessments and penetration tests are also known as an Ethical Hacker. Often White Hat hackers are employed by companies and organizations to check the vulnerabilities of their network and make sure that no hole is available in their network for an intruder. Black Hat / Malicious Hacker: A Black Hat hacker, also known as a cracker, is a computer professional with deep knowledge in Computer Networking, Network Protocols and System Administration (at least three or four Operating Systems and very good skills in Scripting and Programming). Black Hat hacker has also good knowledge in many hacking tools and know how to program hacking tools. A Black Hat hacker uses his skills for unethical reasons. A Black Hat hacker always has malicious intention for intruding a network. Example: To steal research data from a company, to steal money from credit cards, Hack Email Accounts etc.
Grey Hat: A Grey Hat hacker is someone who is between White Hat hacker and Black Hat hacker. Grey Hat normally do the hacking without the permissions from the administrators of the network he is hacking. But he will expose the network vulnerabilities to the network admins and offer a fix for the vulnerability for money. Blue Hat: A blue hat hacker is someone outside computer security consulting firms who is used to bug-test a system prior to its launch, looking for exploits so they can be closed. Microsoft also uses the term Blue Hat to represent a series of security briefing events. Script Kiddie: A Script Kiddie is basically a hacker amateur who doesn’t has much knowledge to program tools to breaks into computer networks. He often uses downloaded hacking tools from internet written by other hackers or security experts. Hacktivist: A Hacktivist is a hacker with political intentions. The hacktivist has the same skills as that of a hacker and uses the same tools as the hacker. The primary intention of a hacktivist is to bring public attention to a political matter. Phreaker: Phreaker is a telecom network hacker who hacks a telephone system illegally to make calls without paying for them. Spy hacker: Spy hackers are individuals who are employed by an organization to penetrate and gain trade secrets of the competitor. These insiders can take advantage of the privileges they have to hack a system or network. Suicide hackers: Suicide hackers are those who hack for some purpose and even don’t bother to suffer long term jail due to their activities. They can be bad as well as good. Cyber Terrorist: A programmer who breaks into computer systems in order to steal or change or destroy information as a form of cyber-terrorism State sponsored hackers: State sponsored hackers are individuals employed by the government to penetrate and gain top-secret information and to damage information systems of the governments. Elite hacker: A social status among hackers, elite is used to describe the most skilled. Newly discovered exploits circulate among these hackers. Elite groups such as Masters of Deception conferred a kind of credibility on their members. Neophyte: A neophyte ("newbie", or "noob") is someone who is new to hacking or phreaking and has almost no knowledge or experience of the workings of technology and hacking. Organized criminal gangs: Groups of hackers that carry out organized criminal activities for profit.
Lamer: Lamer is a jargon or slang name originally applied in cracker and phreaker culture to someone who did not really understand what they were doing. Today it is also loosely applied by IRC, BBS, and online gaming users to anyone perceived to be contemptible. In general, the term has come to describe someone who is willfully ignorant of how things work. It is derived from the word "lame". A lamer is sometimes understood to be the antithesis of a hacker. While a hacker strives to understand the mechanisms behind what they use, even when such extended knowledge would have no practical value, a lamer only cares to learn the bare minimum necessary to operate the device in the way originally intended. Luser: In Internet slang, a luser (sometimes expanded to local user; also luzer or luzzer) is a painfully annoying, stupid, or irritating computer user. The word is a blend of "loser" and "user". Among hackers, the word luser takes on a broad meaning, referring to any normal user (in other words, not a "guru"), with the implication the person is also a loser. The term is interchangeable with the hacker term lamer. Software Pirate / Software Cracker: Software cracking (known as "breaking" in the 1980s) is the modification of software to remove or disable features which are considered undesirable by the person cracking the software, especially copy protection features (including protection against the manipulation of software, serial number, hardware key, date checks and disc check) or software annoyances like nag screens and adware. Types of Hackers by levels of knowledge Coder/Programmer: These guys only code and program, test it, and then release it for the script kiddies. Admins: Admins are far more common than Coders and may have experience with several operating systems, understand TCP/IP, and know how to exploit several vulnerabilities. They generally have less depth of knowledge but possibly greater breadth than Coders. This level of hacker would be part of a security team in a large organization. Some level of programming or scripting ability is required. For example, they should be able to port a tool form on flavor of Unix to another Script kiddie: Script kiddie is a non-expert who breaks into computer systems by using prepackaged automated tools written by others, usually with little understanding of the underlying concept—hence the term script (i.e. a prearranged plan or set of activities) kiddie (i.e. kid, child—an individual lacking knowledge and experience, immature)