"White Hat Hackers: Heroes of the Dark Web"

 "What is a White Hat Hacker? Understanding Ethical Hacking and Its Role in Cybersecurity"

W

hite Hat Hacker

A white hat is a security hacker who employs ethical hacks. Ethical hacking implies a broader category than penetration tests. With the owner's express permission, white-hat hackers aim to find any flaws or security issues that the current system may still harbour. The white hat stands opposite the black hat-a malevolent hacker. This definition was drawn from the old Westerns, in which good guys wore white hats and bad guys wore black ones. There is a third kind of hacker called a grey hat, who hacks with good intentions but has sometimes been known to operate without permission.

White-hat hackers may also at times work in teams called "sneaker and/or hacker clubs", red teams, or tiger teams.

 The term "white hat hacker," is used to refer to an ethical hacker. An ethical hacker is one who uses the hacking skills to find out security vulnerabilities in hardware or software or networks. In other words, white hat hackers are not like black-hat hackers, or the malicious hackers. Instead, white hat hackers respect the rules of law governing hacking. It is thought that a number of white hat hackers were once black hat hackers. They were nameless in the days of old western films by which good guys wore white hats and bad guys wore black hats.

The white hat hacker institute in delhi, rohtak, sonipat, and should work within the law and obtain lawful consent to pursuit of the vulnerabilities or exploits noted. White hat hackers are to conduct research into open-source software or on software or on systems owned by them or where they have been given permission to study, such as products and services that run bug bounty programs. Through these programs, the people participate by disclosing the security flaws, thereby being rewarded for their efforts in monetary values.

The major difference that white hackers will disclose based on their understandable terms with the entity or product owner responsible for patching those incidents is that such disclosures will ensure that the flaws found will be repaired before they are exploited by malicious hackers. 

There are two other kinds of hackers, besides the white hat: black hat and grey hat.

White hat hackers have agreed to report all the bugs and vulnerabilities they find to the party responsible for the system, generally the company or vendor whose product has been affected. On the other hand, black hat hackers have no qualms about selling vulnerabilities and exploits to the highest bidder.

Grey hat hackers refer to themselves as the ones situated in-between black and white hats. They usually see themselves as good guys operating with more leeway with respect to the

rules. A grey hat is less likely than a black hat to cause damage to a system but is more inclined than a white hat to break in without permission or authorization from those who own the system.

In late 2018, a grey hacker in Russia automated the entry into Microtrap manufactured routers across the Internet. He executed the patch for an exploit that black hat hackers were converting these sets of hardware into a crypto mining bot. Although unauthorized entry had taken place, it seemed that the grey hat, with the known similitude of having good intent, broke into, and patched, more than 100,000 vulnerable devices. 

White hat-Grey hat, Black hat comparison:-

WHITE HAT

• Good guy; tend to follow the rules when hacking into systems without permission and obey responsible-disclosure law.

BLACK HAT

• Cybercriminals by nature; don't lose sleep over whether something is illegal or wrong.
• Exploit vulnerabilities for personal, financial, political gain-or just out of fun

GREY HAT

• May have good intentions, but may not disclose flaws for immediate fixing.
• Self-appeal more than anything else on the right or wrong to them rather than how the law calls it.

White hat hacking tools and techniques

In order to help security posture of an organization, white hat hackers especially those conducting external penetration tests employ identical hacking techniques and tools as black hat hackers. Such examples include the followings.

• Pen testing. Ethical hackers will use their skills to identify potential entry points and system vulnerabilities before attempting to penetrate the organization's network or exposed system.

• Email phishing. A white hat hacker conducts accurate anti phishing campaigns to identify and fix the probable issues within the network of an organization before any occurrence of an attack to happen. Email phishing is where the recipient of the email falls prey to either exposing sensitive information or is invited to click on a malicious file or link.

• Denial-of-service attack. This attack aims to temporarily disrupt or degrade the level of performance of a machine to a resource on a network such that it becomes unavailable to users. The white hat hacker can recreate this type of attack to aid in the organization's denial of service response plan.

• Social engineering. White hat hackers use behavioural techniques to test the security level of a company's systems so it can prevent an attack. Social engineering attacks take advantage of human nature and trust to trick employees into breaking security protocols or divulging sensitive information.

• Security scanning. Ethical hackers will use different tools to automate to some degree the discovery of known vulnerabilities, ranging from tools that detect web application vulnerabilities such as Nets parker to open-source pen testing tools, such as Metasploit Framework or Niko. 

How to become a white hat hacker??

In order to become a white hat hacker, it's very important that you develop a strong foundation in the aspects of cybersecurity and information assurance through education and training. A good way to look for local resources in Sonipat is to try courses or workshops organized by agencies such as A7 Security Hunters and consider acquiring certifications in ethical hacking, which will help you sharpen your skills and credibility in the field. Practical experience is essential; about App participation in CTF competitions and bug bounty programs, more so since they would enable you to apply your skills to real-world problems. Networking with people in the cybersecurity industry will give you insights and mentorship that will help you break into the business. An emphasis on ethical behaviour is of utmost importance, as the white hats prioritize the security and privacy of both individuals and organizations. By committing to continuous learning and adhering to the principles of ethical practices, you could make a difference in the stretching enterprise of cybersecurity while making life easier for its users. 

Famous white hat hackers

There are several icons and legends in the field of white hat hackers:

           Marc Maiffret

After the exposure of several Windows-based vulnerabilities, including the Code Red worm, Manfred co-founded a software security company and finally became Chief Technology Officer for security company Beyond Trust.

            Kevin Mitnick

Once declared the most wanted cybercriminal in America, up until his arrest in 1995, the boy served five years in jail for his hacking. After cleaning up his act, he has transmogrified into a white hat hacker and now runs a security consulting firm.

    

     Robert "RSnake" Hansen

This famous white hat hacker co-coined the term clickjacking. He is the chairman and founder of Outside Intel, a company focused on corporate discovery and business intelligence.

Other famous personalities are Jeff Moss, founder of the Black Hat and DEFCON security conferences; Dr. Charlie Miller, who hacked for five years at the National Security Agency; and Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple.

 

What legal issues are there with white hat hacking?

Though born out of ethical practices, this makes white hat hacking quite law-sensitive. The basic difference which lies between a white hat and black hat hacker is, of course, of the permission and aim: while white hat hackers hold an explicit, written consent of the organization trying, additionally working with responsible disclosure of vulnerabilities they uncover, both likewise often employ like tool sets and tactics that may lead to legally complex situations for the ethical ones.

For instance, to further test network security, the ethical hacker will have to interact with not just networks inside an organization, but those of its business partners too. So, if the organization hiring a penetration test, say A7 Security of Sonipat, does not clear all necessary consents with its partners, a white hat hacker could inadvertently connect to a system without authorization thereby facing a possible legal issue.

Further, should the ethical hacker discover sensitive information during the course of their work; they are bound to disclose, as per organizational requirements, that information to the organization which owns it. But that will not set forth an obligation for the organization to inform all affected customers about their data being compromised. It also means that the ethical hacker may unwittingly have come across sensitive data, and then yet again mounting on a whole bunch of ethical and legal questions as well.

Taking stock of such complexities requires a sound knowledge of legal frameworks and dedication to practicing ethics to provide assurance that white hat hackers remain within the confines of the law and effectively contribute to cybersecurity. 

 

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