Black Hat Hacking, practiced by Black Hat Hackers, is the domain of the bad guys, the antithesis of the Engineers and specialists in security and protection against computer vulnerabilities… They are the “yin” of the White Hat Hackers, in an atmosphere where the end user is the target to attack or exploit. In this installment we respectfully address the subject of those who are branded as pirates for hire on the seas of the Internet.
Black Hat Hacking, or simply Hacking
In most cases when the word hacking is used, the media and people in general are referring to Black Hat Hacking, overlooking the existence of its antithesis, which is White Hat Hacking, and of Gray Hat Hacking, which we have addressed in the past, causing the use of “hacking” to usually encapsulate everything in a totally demonized and negative concept.
Black Hat Hackers are continually looking for ways to break into or breach the security of whatever they are after, whether motivated by the goal of measuring their professional abilities, or by the multimillion-dollar market that operating entirely outside the Law represents, making life harder for White Hat Hackers and for the specialists and Engineers dedicated to securing, protecting and guaranteeing the availability of systems.
Black Hat Hackers often seek the path of least resistance, whether through some vulnerability, human error, laziness or some new attack method; however, this is not the case for all of them, since the highest-level ones use their intelligence, often more developed than normal, to break the unbreakable, and to prove to themselves and to the industry that what was done was not “so well done” in the first place.
The number one motivation of a Black Hat Hacker is money, followed by recognition, and the release of endorphins secreted during an exciting hacking session.
The Black Hat of Black Hacking
The Black Hat classification, or Black Hat Hacker, comes from the identification of villains in old Western movies who typically wore Black Hats, and also from the bandanas commonly used to identify Pirates for hire.
A black hat hacker is a hacker who violates computer security for malicious reasons, for personal gain and/or for financial motives. Black hat hackers are the embodiment of everything the public fears about a computer pirate for hire. Black hat hackers break into secure networks to delete data or render it unusable for those who rightfully own it.
How do the “Bad Hackers” operate?
Within Black Hat Hacking, the methodology to apply when breaching a system is basically to learn it, and to know as much about the system as possible with the help of reverse engineering tools, security reports, the experiences of other hackers, and of course, the main security hole of all: the human being.
Hackers use different techniques to obtain the information they are interested in, and this, in addition to being a challenge, becomes a game of chess where the user and the administrator are often the weakest point in the entire security chain, being deceived with pages, viruses, applications and even interactions that lead them to reveal important data, which makes it easier to escalate privileges and eventually gain total and absolute control of a system, a group of systems, or even entire networks and databases.
Within Black Hat Hacking there is a very interesting economic policy, which seeks to pay for nothing and charge for everything, making it a truly immense market that generates incalculable dividends for those who practice it, who throughout history have many times indeed been taken to court to answer for their crimes, although most of the time they are acclaimed and exalted with impunity within their own circles.
What motivates the Hackers of the dark side?
According to a recent study, those who practice Black Hat Hacking carry out most of their activities for fun, morality, monetary gain and notoriety.
How to protect yourself from Black Hat Hacking?
The main thing is to be advised by professionals who compete day after day against hacker threats, and who know how to help you both in development and in the protection of your systems. For this, without a doubt, the main recommendation is to immediately contact your trusted ZARZA Engineer, who will know how to advise you, or direct you to the ZARZA specialists, who have been practicing White Hat Hacking since 2003, protecting everything from conventional databases to complex mission-critical banking systems.
It is important to note that to survive in Black Hat Hacking, you have to feel passion for what you do, and if you need to be protected, you must likewise hire professionals who feel passion for what they do.
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