White hats

I have now been on line for nearly 30 years and since I first started computing the talk has ever been about viruses and anti-virus protection.
Who are these "Black hatted" evildoers that are always around? and and are there no smart enough "White hatted" do gooders, who can zap them out of existence. Or is the sale of Av protection now too lucrative?
What do the bad guys get out of it? if not selling something?
So -called "free" Av programs have now themselves become almost, like viruses with pop-up ads etc . I guess they lost their white hats:O)
Just musing :O) John