It’s the time of the year when Girl Scouts knock on our doors and sell their infamous and delicious cookies: Samoas, Tagalongs, Do-si-dos, Thanks-A-Lot and Thin Mints (my family’s personal favorite).

Almost one in 10 U.S. security professionals admits to having considered participating in Black Hat – or cybercriminal – activity, according to the report White Hat, Black Hat and the Emergence of the Grey Hat: The True Costs of Cybercrime, conducted by Osterman Research and sponsored by Malwarebytes.

Want to proactively detect and resolve cyber vulnerabilities? Maybe it's time to crowdsource your intelligence through a bug bounty program…

When discussing cybersecurity, a color can make all the difference. I recently spoke with Christopher Camejo, Director of Threat and Vulnerability Analysis, for NTT Com Security, about the differences between a white hacker, blue hacker and black hacker, and a red penetration test.

There are white hat hackers, black hat hackers and those who live in-between, in the grey area. White hat hackers are ethical computer hackers or security experts who specialize in penetration testing to make sure a system is truly secure.