--- title: "Explain the difference between a white and black hat hacker." description: "Explain the difference between a white and black hat hacker." author: "Mukul Goenka" published: 2022-05-05 canonical: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/97141/explain-the-difference-between-a-white-and-black-hat-hacker category: "troubleshooting" tags: ["troubleshooting", "network-security", "networking"] reading_time: 1 minute --- # Explain the difference between a white and black hat hacker. [Explain the difference](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/158865/explain-the-difference-between-a-shallow-copy-and-a-deep-copy-in-python) between a white and [black](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/view/84423/white-hat-vs-black-hat-vs-gray-hat-seo) hat hacker. ## Answers ### Answer by Hitesh Vohra - A **black hat hacker** looks more like the stereotypes of hackers in the media, although they don't always wear hoodies or live in their parents' basements. People who are known for using their technological skills to damage and deceive others are known as black hats. They usually know how to hack into computer networks, carry out various cyberattacks, build malware, and circumvent security standards. - These are ethical hackers who utilise their technical skills to defend the world against black hat hackers. **'Ethical hackers' is another term for white hat hackers.** They're both highly skilled IT specialists with cybersecurity and ethical hacking degrees and certifications. White hat hackers use the same hacking tactics as black hat hackers, but they do so legally and with the system owners' approval. \ **Read More: [What are the different functionalities in network security?](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/97133/what-are-the-different-functionalities-in-network-security)** --- Original Source: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/97141/explain-the-difference-between-a-white-and-black-hat-hacker Copyright © MindStick Software Pvt. Ltd. This Markdown version is provided for developers, AI systems, and offline reading.