There are three types of hackers in the Cybersecurity field.

They are known as white, gray, or

black hats. The black hat hackers are the stereotypical hacker. A criminal who uses their technical
knowledge illegally for their own benefit. White hat hackers fall on the opposite end of this spectrum,
working to keep out black hats. Gray hat hackers are those who fall anywhere between the two poles
of this spectrum. Hackers pose the ethical question of where to draw lines between what acts of hacking
can be considered ethical and unethical, and how to make the distinction between the two on those
scenarios that are not blatantly obvious. There are also many who fall in the gray hat area who see
their actions as morally right, even if they are doing illegal activities or acting in a way that would
normally be considered unethical. This issue has large implications to society as a whole, as how a
hacker goes about finding security issues and how they use that information can result in security
breaches, loss of resources, and can garner legal trouble to the hacker for illegal activities.

In this paper, I will be evaluating what the term ethical hacking means and how acts can be
evaluated to determine their morality. I will discuss the specifics of each type of hacker, and explain the
differences and distinctions between them. I will evaluate the perspectives of each of these types using
the ethical theories taught in this class, more specifically the differences between egoist, utilitarian, and
virtue ethical views of the issues. I will show how the different types of hacking can be ethical when
looked at with a certain perspective and with the application of different ethical theories.