[ronkelly1]

So i was reading some articles and i found out about this person who was on purposely getting files from the web that where rats reverse tracking and jacking their emails passwords ect. Now i ask is this black hat activity or white hat because he is preventing others from being infected from the rat but at the same time infecting the bad guy.

[CYP2D6]

Either or? other than justifying the conscience it doesn't really make a difference.

It depends mostly on his intentions. Is he either :

1) Trying to be an internet superhero by protecting victims?
2) Knows that RAT users have generally a lot of sensitive information and victims so by highjacking them he/she acquires more targets + information quicker by getting it at the source.

A matter of opinion really.

Black hat: A malevolent user
White hat: A protective user.

IMO anyway

[DiamondHacking]

Jesus man you're not a fucking super hero or some kind of vigilante!

If you're doing anything illegal than it is black hat.

End of story.

[Weiss Schnee]

If hes not given special permission from the government then hes still breaking a law. So its black hat hacking. If he wants to help out he should get a job doing something like this. I know id rather get paid for that instead of doing it for nothing.

[Sunnypay]

If it's against the law (which it sounds like it is) it is illegal and will be prosecuted if caught. Doesn't matter how you try to justify it. Going out and murdering a bunch of serial killers is still murder (dexter).

[Phoneix128]

It's white hat cause, he is preventing other people for falling for it