What is a White Hat Hacker? [Definition and Purpose]

White hat hackers or ethical hackers are one of the cybersecurity experts that hacks a system to test it. Although they “hack” the system, they have the owner’s consent. 

According to the FBI, over 300,000 Americans are targeted by hackers yearly. In 2021, businesses allocated 12.7% of their budget to cybersecurity. With this increased budget, companies hire white hat hackers to hack and upgrade the system. 

These hackers would access the information system using black hat hacking techniques; however, they had consent from the owner. 

Read more on how white hat hackers work and their goals. 

White Hat Hackers: What Are They?

White Hat Hackers would try to invade the system to test the capability of it. They would use different kinds of techniques to overrun your security. 

According to HackerOne, organizations allocated more than $30 million to white hat hackers from 2012 to 2018.  

They are often hired by businesses to combat their cybersecurity team. Additionally, it will attempt to trick the staff into downloading various malware types. 

These hackers choose the most ethical way to do their skills without consequences. 

White Hat Hacker: Goals and Motivation

As they gained more expertise in this field, many hackers began to satisfy their curiosity. They typically hack systems to get money and make money. It may result from either legal or illegal hacking.

The desire to hack freely and without repercussions drives the majority of white hat hackers. They often use their hacking abilities to get money and find employment.

White Hat Hackers’ Common Techniques 

The organization can modernize its system by collaborating with white hat hackers and staying secure from modern cybersecurity threats. 

Here are some techniques used by white hat hackers. 

Penetration Test

This technique would try to overcome the firewall. It would be a stimulation of cyberattacks to check the system's vulnerability.

Social Engineering Attack

Social engineering relies on human error to gather information offline, online, or through other types of interaction. It manipulates staff by deceiving them into taking over the approach to check the employee’s awareness.

Password Cracking

White hat hackers would attempt to guess the passwords of the workers.  They will also try to use password-cracking software to weaken the user's passcode. 

Wireless  Security Testing

They would test the security of wireless networks as they can be vulnerable to cyberattacks. Hackers often try using tools to capture access points and crack weak encryptions. 

Static and Dynamic Code Analysis

This is used to identify flaws in the security of software applications. Static analyzes code without executing it, while dynamic analyzes the code while running. 

Read on the legality of white hat hackers. 

White Hat Hacking Legality

White hacking is legal if it has the owner's consent. It will remain legal as the hacker would protect the system while hacking it. 

The government often contacts and hires ethical hackers as various organizations use them to upgrade the system.

After knowing that white hat hackers are legal, the following section discusses how different countries made them legal. 

USA

The Department of Justice revised its US Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. As this act often threatened white hat hackers of violation of CFAA. 

Belgium

The Belgian Center for Cybersecurity (CCB) announced that ethical hackers would have legal protection. The activities they do are private and consented with the other party. 

United Kingdom

There are proposals for an amendment to Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure (PSTI) to protect ethical hackers. This bill would be under the Computer Misuse Acts, a legal defense of cybersecurity experts. 

White hat hackers become legal jobs now. Organizations can hire them as a hacker to assess their security team. 

Here are some famous white hat hackers. 

Most Popular White Hat Hackers

There are many hackers to learn from as the number of ethical hackers rises. These people support businesses in keeping their security systems safe. 

The following are some of history's most famous White Hat Hackers. 

Tim Berners-Lee

Tim Berners-Lee is renowned for creating World Wide Web (www). He started as a white hat hacker before inventing www. 

Tim was also banned from using his college computer at Oxford as a student. 

Kevin Mitnick

Kevin Mitnick was a black hat hacker on the FBI's most wanted list. He served some time after hacking into one of the biggest companies in the world. 

Mitnick hacked and stole codes from Sun Microsystems, Motorola, and Nokia and pleaded guilty upon arrest.  

He changed his ways after being freed, becoming an ethical hacker, a writer, and a consultant.

Tsutomu Shimomura

Tsutomu and Mitnick had a complicated relationship. Mitnick hacked Tsutoma back in his black-hat days. Tsutomu takes his revenge by assisting the FBI in tracking and locating Mitnick.

Tsutomu was regarded as a white web hacker because of this.

Dan Kaminsky

Kamisnky is among the most known white hat hackers. Dan played a significant role in fighting cybercrime since 2008.  

He found a serious DNS vulnerability in which DNS sends users to impostor sites instead of the real ones such as Google, Bank, etc. 

Becoming a White Hat Hacker

White hat hackers are security developers and engineers with cybersecurity backgrounds. They have to breach the security system to fix its vulnerabilities. 

Read more on how to become a white hat hacker. 

Skills of a White Hat Hacker

As a hacker, you should be able to keep up with the evolving cyberattacks. 

Here are the basic requirements to become one white hat hacker. 

How much does White Hat Hacker Earn?

As of 2023, a white hat hacker's annual income in the US is predicted to be between $70,000 and $80,000, as the basic salary of full-time ethical hackers. 

The renowned white hat hackers can make up to $100,000 for each vulnerability they discover in the system. 

Where can you find jobs as a white hat hacker? 

You can apply everywhere. Companies in the tech and telecom industries are constantly looking for new ethical hackers. 

Any security firm will hire new people to work as white hat hackers.   Governmental organizations are another option, as they frequently require more personnel. 

You can also find white hat jobs online as a freelancer. Ethical hackers can earn money through the bug-bounty system and consultations. 

White Hat Hackers vs. Other Hat Types

Hackers come in various forms. They differ from each other as they function differently. 

Here are some hat types to know. 

Black Hat Hackers

Black hat hackers earn money by hacking the system and stealing information. They are on the illegal side, as they would use their skills to blackmail or commit online identity theft. 

Grey Hat Hackers

Grey hat hackers are in-between. They have no malicious motive but don’t have any consent. 

Green Hat Hackers

They are the newbies in hacking. They often do phishing and other social engineering tools.

Blue Hat Hackers

Blue hat hackers are also white hat hackers who frequently work on organizations by hacking.  As white hat hackers operated by contracts, this hacker only worked with one organization. 

Red Hat Hackers

These hackers often fight against black hat hackers. Red hat hackers are known as the vigilantes of the hacker world. 

The next section will compare the three most common types of hackers. 

Final Thoughts

White web hackers are cybersecurity experts that hack security systems with the owner's consent. They frequently work for the company as an employee or contractor. 

Using black hat hacking techniques, they broke into the system to find the vulnerability. The security team will address any flaws they identify as soon as possible. 

This kind of hacker is necessary since they guard the security system from other hackers who use the same techniques.