The word “hacker” doesn’t always mean criminal. In fact, many hackers work to protect systems rather than break into them. Learn about the different hats hackers wear and the roles each one plays in modern cybersecurity.
Understanding the history of hackers
The word "hacker" often conjures a mental image of a shadowy figure in a dark room, illegally breaking into computer systems.

Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) systems for their sensitive data and access to business communications. If your VoIP system has been hacked, you may notice unusual activity, such as unexpected call patterns or unexplained charges.

You may not think of your office printers as a security risk, but hackers certainly do. In fact, many hackers exploit certain vulnerabilities in printers to gain access to a company’s data or even infiltrate business IT systems without anyone noticing.

There are many hackers in the world. Some hackers just want to cause mischief, while others have more malicious intentions. In this blog post, we will explain the three main kinds of hackers and how they differ from one another.
A complicated history
In the 1950s, the term “hacker” was vaguely defined as someone who explored the details and limits of computer technology by testing them for a variety of purposes.

Can business printers get hacked? The short answer is yes. Anything that connects to your business network can be exploited by malicious actors on the internet, even innocuous machines like your printers. These can be exploited to steal data and/or create entry points into your system to launch larger attacks.

To achieve foolproof cybersecurity, you must make sure that every endpoint is protected from threats. That means securing every network, every server, every computer — and every printer. Because they’re easily overlooked, print devices can be exploited by hackers and used as an entry point to steal or modify data.

Hackers are known by the general public as cybercriminals, especially with so much news about nude celebrity photos beings released to the cloud, millions of customer information being stolen across many industries, and government agencies paying the ransoms hackers demand so that the former can regain access and control of their systems.

The word “hacker” conjures up an image of a hoodie-wearing basement dweller that programs all sorts of malicious attacks to infiltrate their target’s computer. But hackers are so much more than that. There are also hackers that use their skills to do good.

Personal computing is with us wherever we go. Thanks to the rise of the mobile industry, smartphones and tablets allow us to take work home with us. And with the bring your own device (BYOD) strategy, businesses have never been so productive. However, BYOD can pose a number of security risks if you’re not careful.

Newspaper headlines and Hollywood movies have influenced our understanding of computer hackers, but in the real world it’s not so simple. Some hackers are making tremendous contributions to the field of cyber security, it just depends on which hat they’re wearing that day.