Study Examines Why Security Professionals are Turning 'Gray Hat'
Almost one in 10 U.S. security professionals has admitted to having considered participating in Black Hat activity, according to the report, "White Hat, Black Hat and the Emergence of the Gray Hat: The True Costs of Cybercrime" conducted by Osterman Research. The study polled 900 senior IT decision-makers and IT security professionals in Australia, Germany, the U.S., U.K., and Singapore about the impact of cybercrime on their bottom line, and also looked at all sides of IT security costs from budget and remediation, to hiring, recruiting and retention.
The study also found that Black/Gray Hats aren't hard to find in today's SOCs. More than half of all U.S. security professionals surveyed (50.5 percent) know or have known someone that has participated in Black Hat activity. This was the highest rate of all countries surveyed. The global average was 41 percent.