|
Written by Ed
|
|
Sunday, 23 August 2009 14:30 |
|
Page 2 of 2
Soon after publishing my article I received an email from someone that uses the pseudonym PsiPhiber. He brings an alternative view on hacker hats to light. The definition I gave on the previous page is the more common and popular usage but that doesn't make it the correct usage. Just as musical genres are arbitrary with no clear dividing line then it is worth considering that hackers won't fall directly into one category or other. In fact the inherent dualism of modern thought should be avoided; it is too simplistic. PsiPhiber explains, from his viewpoint, the differences between the hat terms and puts that into historical context. Hacker hats revisited Blackhat doesn't mean actively causing harm. It can mean simply staying out of the public / community eye. Just because a hacker doesn't post or blog what they are up to, doesn't make them nefarious, it just makes them quiet and self-reliant. The negative associations with "black hat" seem to be simplistic and immaturely experienced to me, although this definition is pervasive throughout the web, I think it is really pretty ill-defined. White hats are just about making things public. They will post to the security lists, contact vendors and try to make things known. I look at it as more like colors in the true sense that white reflects light and black absorbs light. Good and Bad depends on context of events, and in a defining these adjectives in general, there is no context nor specific events to speak of. Most of us don't really fit into definitions that people interested in making have decided to make up and propagate. When I was first exposed to the whole hoopla of what color your hat should be it didn't make any sense to me and it still doesn't. I view it as yet another human short coming in our attempts to grow and develop an accurate perception of things. The kids coming up today in the scene that I meet seem to have been really been done a disservice by this myth of separation by 'hat.' They are either on the road to being a corporate tool in the name of "white hat" or malicious ignoramus in the name of "black hat," which seems to really be more about rebellion against rules. Not the least of why they were drawn was our own defense mechanism. When the Patriot Act was passed, one of the things that spread was that it was able to be used to retroactively prosecute someone for violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1990. Combined with the sweeping aside of needs for warrants and the whole Bernie S and Mitnick thing, it seemed to me then that this distinction was a way for those who love to do what they do (probe technology) to be able to present something to the totally clueless. To say something along the lines of "Look, here are two very basic distinctions. I'm going to break it down very simply for you (the politically motivated and technologically clueless)." Gray Hat was added as an after thought as any line that categorizes something into two areas inherently creates an implied third distinction which is of course the things that do not easily fit into either one of the other two.
|
|
Last Updated on Tuesday, 25 August 2009 19:26 |
