What is ethical hacking?
Ethical hacking is a legal means of t gaining unauthorised access to a computer system, application, or data. Mirroring malicious attackers’ approaches and behaviours is part of pulling out an ethical hack. This approach aids in the detection of security flaws, which may subsequently be addressed before a malevolent attacker can exploit them.
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Who are ethical hackers?
Ethical hackers are security specialists who conduct security audits. Their proactive effort contributes to an organisation’s security posture. The objective of ethical hacking is opposed to harmful hacking and requires prior clearance from the company or owner of the IT asset.
Ethical hackers utilise their knowledge to safeguard and improve businesses’ technology. They perform an essential service for these firms by hunting for vulnerabilities that might lead to a security breach.
The found vulnerabilities are reported to the company by an ethical hacker. They also give remedial suggestions. In many situations, with the organisation’s permission, ethical hackers re-test to assure that the vulnerabilities are fixed.
Why is ethical hacking essential?
Terrorist groups often finance hackers to penetrate security systems, either to damage national security features or to extort large sums by introducing malware and withholding access to trigger international hostilities. Hence, organisations must upgrade their hack-prevention strategies and use various technologies to defend their systems/networks.
Every day, new viruses, malware, worms, and ransomware are generated, prompting the need for ethical hacking solutions to secure corporate, government, and defence networks.
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What are the roles and responsibilities of an ethical hacker?
Organisations hire white-hat or ethical hackers to test a system’s vulnerabilities and develop counter-measures. A black hat hacker might extract the information and erase the files, causing the firm significant financial harm.
Here is the list of responsibilities of an ethical hacker:
- Terrorist organisations fund hackers to breach security systems to harm national security or extract money by installing malware. As a result, organisations must constantly improve their cybersecurity measures and systems to prevent and mitigate cyberattacks. Ethical hackers help companies strengthen and secure their systems.
- Cyber assaults may weaken or kill a firm, be it a small company or a big corporate. Ethical hackers recognise how threat actors work and how they can employ new ways to attack systems. Security experts who collaborate with ethical hackers are better equipped to plan for future assaults because they can respond more quickly to dynamic cyber threats.
- Ethical hackers scan an organisation’s systems and locate open ports, using port scanning tools such as Nmap or Nessus. Each of these ports’ vulnerabilities may be investigated and corrective steps implemented.
- Ethical hackers demonstrate methods utilised by cybercriminals. These demonstrations illustrate the hacking approaches that bad actors may employ to infiltrate their networks and disrupt operations. Thus, if companies have a thorough understanding of the strategies used by attackers, they remain better prepared to avoid such intrusions.
- Ethical hackers are responsible for circumventing security measures such as intrusion detection systems (IDS), firewalls, etc. They sniff networks, crack and bypass wireless encryption, and take over web servers and apps.
- Ethical hackers research security threats and devise countermeasures. Malware is software that provides an attacker with complete or limited control over an object after it reaches the destination server. They might either hurt or change the host cell structure to aid an intruder in capturing or destroying specific information.
- An ethical hacker employs social engineering techniques such as dumpster diving, i.e., searching through garbage bins for passwords, sticky notes, charts, or any other item containing critical information needed to launch an attack.
- Ethical hackers are responsible for inspecting patch installations. They ensure that patch installations are not vulnerable to exploitation. Examining is a strategy companies use to assess both the hacking process and the employee’s performance. In most cases, the supervisor may determine the employee. A meeting is frequently planned to discuss the installation’s evaluation procedure.
- Since no attacker wants to be detected, ethical hacking necessitates that hackers leave no trace. This procedure guarantees that the attackers leave no evidence that may be traced back to them. It’s crucial because ethical hackers must stay in contact with the system without being identified by the forensics team or the incident response team.
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Where can Ethical Hackers work?
- Several software companies hire ethical hackers. Before releasing their product, software companies hire ethical hackers to evaluate it for flaws. Because the software uses computer systems and networks, it is often targeted by cybercriminals, thereby creating the need for ethical hackers.
- Some government agencies employ ethical hackers to investigate new ways for hackers to get access to government computer systems. The ethical hacker may attempt to circumvent security measures to identify security problems and provide solutions.
- Hardware businesses frequently use ethical hackers to find and repair security problems. In this example, the susceptible product is hardware, such as a router or firewall, which hackers may exploit using the software.
- Financial companies, such as banks, pay ethical hackers to try to circumvent security systems to identify security holes. These might include computer networks and internet banking provided by banks.
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Conclusion
To become an ethical hacker, you must first receive the appropriate certification, which demonstrates that you understand the commercial and technological consequences of hacking to increase security and understand the requirements of legal hacking. This implies that you must be a certified hacker to work for the government, consulting firms, or corporations in the sector.
Certified ethical hackers frequently spend much of their time hunting for vulnerabilities in information systems and networks. They hunt for methods to attack susceptible systems in the same manner that a criminal hacker does. Their results can help public institutions and other businesses improve security and protect their systems, networks, information, and apps from theft and fraud.
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