grayhat

Grayhat describes someone who operates in the ethical middle ground between whitehat (fully legitimate) and blackhat (malicious).

Most often applied to hackers who may break into systems without authorization but without criminal intent—perhaps to expose vulnerabilities or test security limits.

A grayhat might notify a company of a flaw after exploiting it, or publish findings that embarrass but don't harm.

The grayhat community argues that some trespassing serves the public good.

Also spelled grey hat.