What is a “White Hat Hacker”?

I saw a story about this the other night on one of the network newscasts. In recent times it is alleged that China has a group of hackers that all work out of one unsuspecting apartment building in a very indiscreet neighborhood, or at least that where we've traced the hackers IP addresses to. Their job is to hack into anything and everything U.S government related. Thus far, they have nabbed some info, but not that much thanks to poeple called "White Hat Hackers". The good guy always wears the white hat, right? So what is a "White Hat Hacker"?  A "White Hat Hacker"  is a computer security specialist who breaks into protected systems and networks to test and assess their security.

"White Hat Hackers" use their skills to improve security by exposing vulnerabilities before malicious hackers (known as "Black Hat Hackers") can detect and exploit them. Although the methods used are similar, if not identical, to those employed by malicious hackers, "White Hat Hackers" have permission to employ them against the organization that has hired them.

They may be reformed "Black Hat Hackers" or they may just be well-versed in the methods and techniques used by hackers. An organization can hire these consultants to do tests and implement best practices that will make them less vulnerable to real hacking attempts in the future.

So, our government utilizes the skills of these folks to not only trace the origin of "Black Hat Hackers", but also to hack into their system to see what they have hacked into that is ours.

So many little secret wars going on that we don't know about, and this seems to be one that is growing in size and scope. I think it's fascinating.

I hope none of these hackers in China get into my large collection of Asian porn!