Computer hacking is a practice with many nuances. Intent, whether benign or malicious, is often in the eyes of the beholder. When examining the root cause of a website hack or application exploit, it pays to follow the money. A hacker will be motivated by whomever or whatever is sponsoring his or her actions. The computer security industry coined the term “ethical hacking” to describe a hacker who benevolently attacks a network or other security system – whether private or public – on behalf of its owners. Ethical hackers are also called white hat hackers, as distinguished from the black-hatted bad guys.
One grey area in ethical hacking is hacktivism, where the hacker detects and reports (but sometimes exploits) security vulnerabilities as a form of social activism. In these cases the motivation isn’t money, but rather to call attention to an issue or injustice the hacker believes merits social change. However, the victim of the hack may not be so receptive to this message. Ethical hacking should always be undertaken with the express advance consent of the targeted organization – as many black hat hackers claim to be ethical hackers when caught.