Its a much-held misconception that all hackers are bad, when in actuality the word hacker doesnt specifically refer to criminals, bad guys or anything in between. For ease of labeling, tech writers often refer to three types of hackers: black hats, white hats and gray hats. In security terms, these are computer security pros who specialize in penetration testing and other methodologies to ensure the security of an organization’s information systems. Black hats are the bad guys theyre the Liberty Valances and Ben Wades of the Western scene.”]
Source: https://securityintelligence.com/black-hats-and-white-hats-if-cybersecurity-were-a-western/