Words aren't defined by any authority. Their historical and present common uses however are documented by dictionaries et al. The most authoritative source on t

Words aren't defined by any authority. Their historical and present common uses however are documented by dictionaries et al. The most authoritative source on the term "black hat" is probably esr's jargon file: http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/B/black-hat.html http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/B/black-hat.html To save the click: "1. [common among security specialists] A cracker, someone bent on breaking into the system you are protecting." Your (and hdyr's) looser version is not in common usage and in that sense is wrong.