10 Types of Hackers You Need to Know About

When you hear the term “hacker,” what do you imagine? Based on the popular images out there, you might imagine a lone user (in a hoodie or ski mask?) hunched over a computer, creating chaos for chaos’ sake. However, this is a dangerously narrow view of “hackers.”

Not all hackers are the same. Each has motivations and different targets they generally don’t deviate from. Let’s review 10 classifications of hackers that are out there.

The Good Guys

• White Hat Hackers: As the sole member of the "good guys" list, white hat hackers follow a strict code of ethics as they use their skills to benefit average users everywhere. The goal of a white hat hacker is to track and eliminate threats to other users. Most white hat hackers are sanctioned security researchers, but there are those, known as “grey hats,” who operate outside of the law’s jurisdiction.

The Politically Motivated

• Hacktivists: These are groups of hackers who unite to achieve a common cause, generally crusading for a particular ideology or political stance. Their modus operandi is more often than not to expose their target through a DDoS attack, or embarrass them by defacing websites.
• Nation State Actors: A nation state actor is directly connected to the government they hack for, often as a part of the military or intelligence gathering branches. Despite their long-term goals and considerable budgets, they will often resort to common hacking tools to avoid expending their high-end methods wastefully.
• Nationalist Hackers: A step down from the nation state hacker, nationalist hackers are given a blind eye by the legal system of their country because their activities are beneficial to the goals of their country.

The Amateurs

• Script Kiddies: These actors are the delinquents of the hacking spectrum, accomplishing little, for little-to-no financial gain. Typically in possession of limited skills, script kiddies will often attempt to write basic malware or take part in a larger group’s attack.

The Criminally Motivated

• Cyber Mercenaries: Cyber mercenaries are hackers-for-hire, often brought on to assist another attacker for a stake in the bounty.
• Organized Criminals: These hackers have a firmly defined web of responsibilities within an equally firmly established supply chain. This discipline enables the organized criminal to profit from their crimes with relative ease.
• Repeat Offenders: Similar to the organized criminal, these hackers are not without some skill, but they lack the underworld network of the organized criminal. As a result, the repeat offender is not able to profit as much from their crimes.
• Malicious Insider: These are the cybercriminals who sit next to you in the workplace, actively working to undermine the company or organization. Whether they are motivated by a grudge or money, they leverage their position to commit their crimes.

Of all of these threats, which would you guess causes the greatest problems for small businesses? If you guessed the malicious insider, you’d be right. However, that doesn’t mean you are immune from negative influence from the other hacker types. You’re going to need a solid security solution in place to keep your business safe.

SMART Services can help with that. Give our secuirty experts a call at 586 258-0650 before one of these groups successfully targets you.