> They do not make money from the exploitation of the companies whose software/hardware they find flaws in.
Right, and neither did these researchers.
In point of fact, no, the difference really isn't all that stark. It's a difference of degree, not category. You apparently have a problem with disclosing vulnerabilities without providing advanced notice to the vendor, and you consider it especially distasteful to do so if you're financially benefitting from that. But all of that still comprises vulnerability disclosure, which is categorically different from actively using a vulnerability to compromise users as part of a criminal enterprise.
We can go back and forth like this all day, because every time someone bends the definition of black hat to fit something they disagree with, I can form a counterpoint which is technically true but which no one is willing to call black hat behavior, like Google Project Zero. On the other hand, if we use the definition of black hats as criminals engaging in online fraud, augmented by security vulnerabilities, then of course Google Project Zero doesn't qualify. You're going to have a very difficult time broadening the scope of this terminology to suit your definition without accidentally including groups you don't want to be in the same bucket.
And that's precisely my point. If you broaden terms too much, like "black hat" to "stuff with computers in bad faith", we can just weasel in whatever satisfies the definition or agrees with our personal viewpoint. Black hat criminals do not engage in debatable behavior, because it's strictly illegal and directly profits at the expense of other people. At best, all you can do is formulate an abstract argument about people being harmed by rapid disclosure, but that actually comes down to a debate of disclosure guidelines, not a debate of activist investing.
Actually dsacco convinced me with his arguments (that those guys are not black hats). Don't assume bad faith in opponents when you are losing the argument ...
On the other hand I agree with responsible disclosure. And I think that should be made mandatory by law.
And finally, I also agree with some fines for companies allowing these holes to exist for so long. Especially those discoverable by 4 (more or less) random guys.
This is not black and white situation, so don't look for easy conclusions.
Right, and neither did these researchers.
In point of fact, no, the difference really isn't all that stark. It's a difference of degree, not category. You apparently have a problem with disclosing vulnerabilities without providing advanced notice to the vendor, and you consider it especially distasteful to do so if you're financially benefitting from that. But all of that still comprises vulnerability disclosure, which is categorically different from actively using a vulnerability to compromise users as part of a criminal enterprise.
We can go back and forth like this all day, because every time someone bends the definition of black hat to fit something they disagree with, I can form a counterpoint which is technically true but which no one is willing to call black hat behavior, like Google Project Zero. On the other hand, if we use the definition of black hats as criminals engaging in online fraud, augmented by security vulnerabilities, then of course Google Project Zero doesn't qualify. You're going to have a very difficult time broadening the scope of this terminology to suit your definition without accidentally including groups you don't want to be in the same bucket.
And that's precisely my point. If you broaden terms too much, like "black hat" to "stuff with computers in bad faith", we can just weasel in whatever satisfies the definition or agrees with our personal viewpoint. Black hat criminals do not engage in debatable behavior, because it's strictly illegal and directly profits at the expense of other people. At best, all you can do is formulate an abstract argument about people being harmed by rapid disclosure, but that actually comes down to a debate of disclosure guidelines, not a debate of activist investing.