In the cybersecurity world, hackers are divided into three main categories based on their motive and practice. There are Black hat hackers, White hat hackers, and Gray hat hackers. The terms come from old western movie symbolism where the good guys wore white hats and the bad guys wore black hats. People use these terms to recognize an ethical hacker from a criminal hacker. 

Black Hat Hacker:

Black Hat Hackers are the stereotypical hackers in movies. They illegally ( and usually with malicious intent ) break into networks to steal information, compromise security, and manipulate data. Their motives are usually financial gain but they can also be hacking for political reasons or for fun. Their methods can include phishing, malware, vulnerability exploitation, and data theft. 

White Hat Hacker:

White Hat Hackers are seen as the good guys. They are usually employed by the government or through Bug Bounty programs for jobs like penetration testing. Their job is to make sure black hat hackers don’t get in by using their methods, finding flaws in the systems, and reporting and fixing these flaws . White hat hackers are doing this legally with the company’s permission.

Gray Hat Hacker:

Gray Hat Hackers are the middle ground between Black hat and White hat hackers. They don’t have bad intentions but they don’t have the permission to access computer systems. They usually find vulnerabilities in a system and will contact the owner about it, sometimes looking for compensation. Gray hat hackers do White hat hackers jobs, just illegally.