Hackers are often perceived as a shadowy, secretive or even marginal grouping, which certainly helps to fuel wild rumors about them. However, there is actually a range of hacker profiles. There are black hats – cybercriminals – and white hats – hackers who promote ethics and see themselves as cyber-activists rather than cybercriminals. And somewhere in the middle between these two opposing camps, there are grey hats. Microsoft has invented its own term, blue hats, to refer to cybersecurity experts tasked with repairing vulnerabilities in security systems.