greyhat
Morally ambiguous hacker
A greyhat (or gray hat) operates in the murky middle ground between ethical and malicious hacking.
Unlike whitehats who work with permission and blackhats who exploit for personal gain, greyhats may probe systems without authorization but typically disclose vulnerabilities rather than exploit them: The greyhat found the security flaw and reported it to the company—after posting about it online.
Notable act or abuse
- vulnerabilityOpenness to harm
- zero-dayUnpatched security vulnerability
- backdoorHidden bypass mechanism
- intrusionUnauthorized entry into space
reverse-engineering · disclosure · proof-of-concept · sandbox · fuzzing · reconnaissance · enumeration · rootkit
Right and wrong principles
- dilemmaForced choice between undesirables
- ambiguityOpenness to multiple interpretations
- dualityTwofold nature
- compromiseAgreement through mutual sacrifice
justification · accountability · controversy · judgment · responsibility · consequences · principles · quandary
Network access control system
- encryptionConverting data into code
- patchingRepairing by covering
- hardeningBecoming less soft
- authenticationConfirming genuine identity
monitoring · honeypot · forensics · audit · red-team
Writing software instructions
- scriptingWriting executable commands
- networkingBuilding professional relationships
- cryptographyScience of secure messaging
- reverse-engineeringAnalyzing something to recreate it
Desire to learn
- challengeTest of ability
- reputationCollective opinion of someone
- bountyReward for capture
- activismDirect effort for reform
exposure · vigilantism · notoriety · thrill · ideology · reform · whistleblowing · ego
exploit
Notable act or abuse
- vulnerabilityOpenness to harm
- zero-dayUnpatched security vulnerability
- backdoorHidden bypass mechanism
intrusion · reverse-engineering · disclosure · proof-of-concept · sandbox · fuzzing · reconnaissance · enumeration · rootkit · injection
morality
Right and wrong principles
- dilemmaForced choice between undesirables
- ambiguityOpenness to multiple interpretations
- dualityTwofold nature
compromise · justification · accountability · controversy · judgment · responsibility · consequences · principles · quandary · utilitarianism
firewall
Network access control system
- encryptionConverting data into code
- patchingRepairing by covering
- hardeningBecoming less soft
authentication · monitoring · honeypot · forensics · audit · red-team
programming
Writing software instructions
- scriptingWriting executable commands
- networkingBuilding professional relationships
- cryptographyScience of secure messaging
reverse-engineering · debugging · exploitation · forensics · fuzzing
curiosity
Desire to learn
- challengeTest of ability
- reputationCollective opinion of someone
- bountyReward for capture
activism · exposure · vigilantism · notoriety · thrill · ideology · reform · whistleblowing · ego · recognition
greyhatwhitehat
Authorized security tester
blackhat · cybercriminal · security researcher · cracker · script kiddie
grey, gray, hat, hats, hatted, greyish, grayish, greyer, grayer