Learn more about what a hacker is in this article.
A hacker is a person that uses their technical skills to gain unauthorised access to computer systems. Hackers can gain unauthorised access to systems in a lot of ways and not all of them require much technical knowledge. It can be as simple as guessing someone's password and using it to gain access to their electronic account without their permission.
Skilled hackers use more complex ways to gain unauthorised access, including performing brute-force attacks to go through a list of common passwords until the correct password is discovered, installing spyware on a computer system that logs keystrokes, and exploiting vulnerabilities in computer systems, software, and databases. They may also use social engineering tactics, including phishing and pharming to steal usernames and passwords as well as gain backdoor access.
What Can Hackers Do?
Once hackers have gained unauthorised access to a computer system or an electronic account, they can do anything that someone with that same level of access can do. The consequences of unauthorised access depends on the type of account and what it is used for. Below are 10 things that hackers can do once they have gained access.
Steal the victim's money and purchase items in their name.
Sell the victim's data to third parties who will misuse it.
Obtain sensitive information and threaten to publicly share it. Hackers could also use any sensitive information for blackmail purposes.
Open credit card and bank accounts in the victim's name.
Spy on the victim's Wi-Fi connection and eavesdrop on conversations to steal sensitive information, including passwords and bank details.
Send spam or junk emails to others in the victim's name. Hackers could also use the compromised email account to gain unauthorised access to other accounts if a password reset message is sent to it.
Post spam or false information using the victim's social media account.
Obtain sensitive information to impersonate the victim.
Sign up for unwanted services or subscriptions in the victim's name that may charge them fees or send them spam.
Hijack the victim's webcam to activate it remotely. This will allow a hacker to sneakily take video recordings and send them to a remote location without the victim knowing.
Why Do People Hack?
Five reasons why people hack into computer systems are:
Financial gain
The most common reason why people hack into computer systems and networks is for financial gain. Hackers can make money by selling data and stealing financial information from people to steal money from them. The amount of money hackers make encourages them to hack into even more accounts and networks.
Revenge
Someone may hack into someone else's account as a way of getting revenge on them when they feel like they have done something wrong to them. For example, after hacking into the victim's social media account, the hacker may make false statements about them on their social media profile, as a direct message to someone else, or on other people's posts to damage their reputation.
Seeing others suffer
There are some people that enjoy causing problems for other people and seeing them suffer. Hackers can cause someone to lose a lot of money and damage their reputation. When hackers know that they are causing all of this havoc, it will encourage them to hack into even more accounts and networks.
Cyberbullying
Some hackers may hack into someone else's account as a way of cyberbullying someone else. The target may think that it is actually the account owner cyberbullying them rather than the hacker, which can ruin their reputation if not discovered quickly.
Security improvements
When thinking of the term 'hacker', most people immediately think of malicious hacking designed to gain unauthorised access to systems and data. However, not all hacking is malicious. Some people test systems for security holes by trying to gain access. This is known as white hat hacking or ethical hacking. There are even 'bounties' paid to white hat hackers that correctly detect security holes in websites, software, and networks, and report them to the organisation that developed it.
Types Of Hackers
Below are eight types of hackers.
Black hat hackers - These gain unauthorised access to systems and networks with malicious intent and for illegal purposes, like identity fraud. Black hat hackers can do harm to individual computer users by stealing personal financial information, compromising the security of major systems and networks, and seeing individuals suffer.
White hat hackers - Also known as ethical hackers, they try to hack a system or a network with the goal of discovering security holes and vulnerabilities with permission from the owner of the system being tested. They then help fix these security holes and vulnerabilities before malicious hackers can exploit them. White hat hackers use their technical skills to benefit society, not do harm.
Grey hat hackers - These fall somewhere in between black hat hackers and white hat hackers. These types of hackers do not have the malicious intent of black hat hackers, but occasionally violate laws and ethical standards. Grey hat hackers are more likely to access systems and networks without permission and exploit a vulnerability to spread public awareness that it exists without privately notifying the company, but at the same time, they are much less likely to do any harm to the systems or networks they hack.
Red hat hackers - Similar to white hat hackers. The main difference between white hat hackers and red hat hackers is that red hat hackers take aggressive steps to stop black hat hackers from hacking into systems for malicious purposes, whilst white hat hackers won't try to attack black hat hackers. Red hat hackers do everything they can to stop black hat hackers, using cyberattacks towards the systems of black hat hackers, which may be illegal or extreme actions.
Blue hat hackers - These types of hackers come in two types, including revenge seekers and external security professionals. Revenge seekers hack as a way of payback on someone else. External security professionals are invited by organisations to test their security systems by carrying out penetration tests and providing an assessment of the system's security.
Green hat hackers - These are new and inexperienced hackers that lack the technical skills of more experienced hackers, causing them to make mistakes and possibly leading to harm to systems and networks. Whether they have malicious intentions or are trying to become an ethical hacker, they have a lot more to learn about hacking.
Script kiddies - These are inexperienced hackers that use prewritten scripts or codes to hack into systems and networks without properly understanding how they work. Script kiddies lack the skills to create their own. They are similar to green hat hackers, but green hat hackers want to learn new skills and develop their hacking skills and techniques, whilst script kiddies want to find or buy all the scripts or tools they need and use them without doing anything else themselves.
Hacktivists - These are individuals that hack into computer systems or networks because of political or socially motivated reasons. The goal is to bring attention to something the hacktivist thinks might be violating ethics or human rights. Hacktivists target individuals or organisations representing beliefs that they dislike.
Where Did The Term 'Hacker' Come From?
Historically, the term 'hacker' was used to describe a skilled programmer or individual who could solve technical problems using non-standard, creative, and undocumented methods. It was first used in the 1960s to describe a programmer or individual who could increase the efficiency of computer code in a way that removed excess machine code instructions from the program. Over the years, the term 'hacker' has evolved to describe someone who gains unauthorised access to computer systems, data, or networks and is the most widely used meaning of this term.
