Hackers, frequently represented as hooded underground dwellers with faces lighted only by blue light, come in diverse shapes and sizes and wear various coloured caps. Black hats are people who use their hacking ability for malicious, destructive reasons, whereas white hats utilize their hacking skills for ethical and beneficial ends. Ethical hackers are in scarce supply in the industry, but they play a critical role in ensuring the overall security of modern enterprises and other organizations.
In the cyber security field, the old aged "attack is the best form of defence" undoubtedly holds true, so ethical hackers are well compensated. Their job is to use their hacking skills and system knowledge to uncover security flaws in software and infrastructure so that they can seal them before criminals can take advantage of them.
How Many Different Types of Hackers Exist?
There are three categories of hackers:
White Hat Hackers
This hacking is lawful and carried out for a good cause. Permission is requested from the owner, and an investigation is carried out to protect the data of a company, organization, or individual in this sort of hacking. Ethical hacking is also known as White hat hacking, and the people that do it are known as White hackers.
Black Hat Hackers
They are illegal hackers, and they hack for nefarious purposes and personal gain. Ethical hacking is used to protect against black hat hacking. This type of hacking involves security breaches and illicit methods to delete data or compromise a company's system or network.
Grey Hat Hackers
This is a hybrid of white and black hat hacking techniques. Typically, the Grey hat hacking procedure addresses national security concerns. However, similar to the Black hat, this is illegal because this form of hacking is carried out without the consent of the relevant authorities. Grey hackers, on the other hand, do not hack any system or network for the benefit of a third party or personal gain. These hackers frequently hack a network/system for entertainment or warn the owner about potential security problems in the future.
What is The Role of an Ethical Hacker?
The role of ethical hacking is to inspect the infrastructure security of a system or network. An ethical hacker will try to go around system security and uncover and expose any vulnerabilities that a malicious hacker could exploit.
Vulnerabilities are usually found in insecure system configurations; they are seen as faults in hardware or software. Hackers need to seek permission and have to obtain authorization from the owner in order to investigate their network and find solutions for security problems.
An ethical hacker must conduct research, document their results, and share them with management and IT teams. Businesses and organizations then use this information to strengthen their security system to reduce or eliminate prospective assaults. To fix company security flaws, ethical hackers will provide input and verification. Ethical hacking has gained popularity in the information security business. It is a prime requirement for a company or organization that offers an online service or is connected to the internet to implement penetration tests.
What is Ethical Hacking and How Does it Work?
The goal of an ethical hacker is to study the system using the same hacking abilities used by cyber attackers. The five stages of this process are as follows:
- Reconnaissance: Gathering information on the target system is the initial stage, and it could be about the company or the people connected to the target. This step aims to engineer a hack following the target's security measures.
- Scanning: Hacking is carried out through network access. A common Wi-Fi or WLAN network connects the majority of devices. This is exploited by hackers, who concentrate on acquiring illegal access to the targeted network host. This procedure reveals the topology and vulnerabilities of the network.
- Gaining Access: Hacking begins when the above-mentioned gathering stages have been completed. It entails circumventing security measures or cracking the password to access the target system.
- Maintaining Access: Cybercriminals ensure that they retain access to the target system after gaining access. They construct a backdoor for this, which they will utilize in the future to exploit or attack the system.
- Clearing Tracks: After hacking, you must delete all signs of your intrusion. It entails erasing any logs, executables, or backdoors that could lead to the hacker's identification.
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What are Some of The Issues that An Ethical Hacker Works On?
An ethical hacker obtains permission from the system's owner and then conducts a security evaluation of the system/network.
An Ethical Hacker's responsibilities include the following:
- Provide thorough information regarding the extent of their assessment and then notify the authorities of their proposal.
- Reconnaissance tools like NMAP and Nessus can be used to scan both open and closed ports.
- Participate in social engineering techniques.
- Vulnerability analysis is incorporated to examine patch releases.
- Perform tasks to see if they can get beyond intrusion prevention systems (IPS), intrusion detection systems (IDS), honeypots, and firewalls.
- Sniffing networks, bypassing and cracking wireless encryption, and hijacking web servers and online applications are among the tactics that can be used.
- Vulnerabilities and security breaches in the system/network should be reported.
- Maintain the secrecy of their conclusions and adhere to the conditions of their non-disclosure agreement.
- After discovering the security flaws and weaknesses in the system, erase all evidence of their hacking.
What are The Required Skills to be An Ethical Hacker?
There are a variety of skills that can assist ethical hackers in being more productive in their roles. Here's a rundown of six of the most practical:
Software programming
Ethical hackers build code to test computer security using their software programming talents. Programming languages like C and Python are frequently used by these professions. They may also employ database systems to keep track of computer security data to work more efficiently
Problem-solving
Problem-solving abilities aid ethical hackers in resolving difficult security concerns and identifying flaws in current software and hardware. These abilities also aid them in assessing the security of a company's network or website. They may also assist software developers in resolving issues when developing new software products.
Network design
Ethical hackers are typically skilled at designing networks to suit their needs. Computer networks of various sizes and sorts can be built, maintained, and troubleshoot.
This position necessitates familiarity with networking hardware, software, and security protocols, as well as an understanding of various network protocols. Ethical hackers can also install and configure switches, routers, modems, and firewalls, which are used to link a company's computers and networks.
Communication
Communication abilities, both written and verbal, are also required for ethical hacking professions. Ethical hackers frequently converse through the phone, email, or in person. They may use database systems to obtain data, write code for computer security testing, collaborate with team members, and hold meetings.
Research
Ethical hackers frequently perform research to assist their employer or client in implementing computer security measures. They could look into the most recent hacking assaults and figure out how to prevent them. They may also investigate computer systems with specialized tools and software, which necessitates an understanding of information technology.
Ethical hackers may also research new items that they can test before releasing them to the general public, such as new software or hardware.
Mathematics
Ethical hackers need maths abilities because they frequently utilize them to construct intricate algorithms and encryption keys that help secure data from hackers. They can also analyze traffic patterns and assess network bandwidth and capacity. Maths and computer science courses are frequently used to improve their maths skills.
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Ethical hackers normally have a standard set of hacking tools, but depending on the assignment, they may need to hunt for and stock up on other devices.
If a penetration tester is asked to target SQL servers and has no prior experience with this type of attack, they may want to begin researching and trying various SQL attack tools.
Most penetration testers begin with a specific Linux "distro" for penetration testing. Hacking Linux distributions come and go over time, but the Kali distro is currently the one that most professional, ethical hackers use.
There are thousands of hacking tools available, including a few standbys that almost every pen tester employs.
Beyond its quality and suitability for the task at hand, the most crucial aspect of any hacking tool is to ensure that it does not contain malware or other programming meant to hack the hacker.
The great majority of hacking tools available on the internet, particularly those available for free, contain malware and unauthorized backdoors.
The most common and popular hacking tools, such as Nmap, can usually be trusted; however, the finest ethical hackers build and utilize their tools since they don't trust anything others write.
Technological advancement is taking place at an exponential rate, and this implies a greater number of online and offline opportunities for interested individuals. The only way to grab these opportunities and scale higher by being an expert is possible when you learn from the best in the field. It appears that KnowledgeHut is the best Ethical Hacking course online with certificate.
Conclusion
- To become an ethical hacker, you must receive the appropriate certification, which demonstrates that you understand the commercial and technological consequences of hacking to improve security and the ethical requirements of legal hacking.
- To work in the industry for the government, consultancy, or corporations, you must be a certified hacker. Certified ethical hackers often spend their days looking for new ways to attack computer systems and networks.
- They hunt for ways to exploit insecure systems in the same manner that an unlawful hacker would. Their findings aid governments and businesses in improving their security and ensuring that their systems, networks, data, and applications are safe from fraud and theft.
- With the Certified Ethical Hacker CEH v11 training, you'll understand and learn the most up-to-date commercial hacking tools, techniques, and approaches. Become a better ethical hacker by learning cutting-edge skills, exploring proven tactics and best practices, and putting them into practice. This ethical hacking training will teach you to safeguard your company from harmful hackers.
- The latest security risks, advanced attack vectors, and realistic real-time demonstrations of the latest hacking techniques, methodologies, tools, tactics, and security measures are all covered in CEH Certification training.
- You'll learn practical skills by participating in interactive seminars with hands-on labs and then using what you've learned by scanning, hacking, and securing your systems.
- In this Ethical Hacking Certification course, you'll learn about the five processes of ethical hacking: reconnaissance, gaining access, enumeration, maintaining access, and hiding your tracks, as well as how to prepare for the exam and get certified.
