White Hat publicity

[KorpDeath]

Okay so the argument of white hat vs. black hat is getting ever more publicity. So all you here that profess that you are white hat, tell me what you think of this article.

http://www.vnunet.com/Features/1129266

I especially like this part: Ionut Ionescu, head of Exodus Communications' security division, says: "The issue of white hat versus black hat hackers is very similar to the one when you've lost your keys: should you employ a locksmith who is very good at unlocking doors, or hire a criminal who breaks into houses?"

Btu I think the analogy falls short somewhat of it's intended target. Now if you change it slightly to include testing your home alarm system, then the choice of who to hire is a little more obvious. I would rather hire an ethical burglar for that job. (If there is an "ethical burglar")

[gold eagle]

white hats and grey hats. hire no black hats.

[KorpDeath]

Tell me. If the difference in perception between white hats and black hats is hazy, then where the hell do grey hats stand? Just wondering....

[gold eagle]

In the haze of course.

[souleman]

Yeah, in the haze. Thats why they wear grey hats. So they can blend in with their surrondings and disappear.

Just like white hats wearing white to blend in with the light, and black hats blend in with the darkness.

[Ennis]

They are just terms and stereotypical at that, we constantly complain about the media portrayal and misuse of the word hacker yet we have created a group and set of symbol hats for each type of hacker.

Hmmm...

[gold eagle]

Gentleman we've seen the enemy and they is us.

[Noia]

The hat's are only a simple way of deffining if a hacker is "good" or "bad"..... (uuuh)
If we didn't have it, a bad hacker would be called something like h:567/C:435/W:5 Depending on the record of the hacker, which would make thing a hell of alot harde for us!

- Noia

The grey hatterz, I am not so sure of this one, how can one be defned as both good, and bad......maby theese are the script kiddies, Evil in intent, but not good enough to acctualy "DO" anything......

[gold eagle]

I call those ones the brown hatters.

[thesecretfire]

There is a haze between the black hats and white hats, and the grey hat stands in the haze.
The kiddiot sees the haze from the distance, and finds someone willing to take him there while he sleeps in the back of the car.
The cracker tries to get into the haze by trying to figure out which parts of the hze he might be able to clear away with a leafblower.
The virus-writer puts special gas into an RC car and sends it in, then laughs when the haze turns pink.
The DoS kiddie hypnotizes a bunch of people to get them to use their leafblowers to blow away the haze.
The programmer decides that he wants to change the fog, and makes a small current to one side.
The Security analyst puts up trees to stop the wind from blowing the haze away.
And the end user stumbles around in the haze, depserately looking for last years profit reports.