If you have ever watched a Hollywood thriller or spy movie, then there is no chance that you have not come across the word "hacking" or "ethical hacking". If there was a list of the most misunderstood words, then ethical hacking would have topped the list. Many people are unaware of the good that ethical hacking and ethical hackers can do. With technical know-how and skills, ethical hackers can help society in ways that are beyond our imagination. So today, let us begin this article with a motive to study, what is ethical hacking? And why is ethical hacking important?
What Is ‘Ethical Hacking’ ?
To much of everyone's surprise, ethical hacking isn't a bad practice. Everything that we have learnt from various books, magazines, television, and other sorts of informational media was incorrect. Ethical hacking is also known as penetration testing. Ethical hacking is the process of exploiting a computer system or computer network with due permission from the concerned authorities. This is done to identify and acknowledge the vulnerabilities of the computer network and then rectify them properly, using correct security tools and methodologies. The results obtained from running an ethical hacking test are used to tighten and maintain online security for the users and system owners. Ethical hacking comes into play in situations where there is a threat to the security of the entire system. In situations of password leaks, data leaks and conventional hacking, ethical hacking comes into action. Ethical hackers protect and prepare us for situations which can cause possible threats on a computer network. The work of ethical hackers involves protecting their clients from ill-intended hackers and tackling their malicious activities.
The work of an ethical hacker comes under system defences, they meticulously work on the computer network of their client and find security weaknesses and find adequate solutions to them.
Recently, the rising interest and attention that was given to ethical hackers, has led companies to think of ethical hackers as an asset to the companies. Companies and organizations now, do not shy away from investing in ethical hackers and their teams. Ethical hackers save data and reputation loss worth billions. Companies are actively expanding their networks of ethical hackers to avoid any security catastrophe.
Why Ethical Hacking is Important?
We are now aware of what ethical hacking is in its true means. Information and data are valuable assets for any organization. Many governmental or private organizations deal with extremely sensitive data that needs to be protected for the sake of safeguarding the privacy of the organization and the customer base associated with it. So now we will study why ethical hacking is important for everyone. The following are the reasons that will prove the importance of ethical hacking: -
- In the age of digitalization, every organization needs to be assertive while ensuring the security and privacy of the data and information they deal with.
- Ethical hacking is extensively used to test security systems. Ethical hacking is also used during executing, managing and designing stages of test security systems. It finds the security vulnerabilities and corrects them.
- We often hear about hackers finding bugs in various websites, and companies awarding them. Many hackers find technical bugs in the websites and applications of big companies. Due to this reason, many companies offer bug bounty programs. In bug bounty programs, hackers are expected to find technical bugs or security vulnerabilities and then notify the organization. After notifying, the companies get the bug fixed and award the due credit and reward to the hacker who informed. Big organizations like Google, Yahoo, Instagram, Facebook, and Uber, hire hackers, particularly for this purpose.
- Ethical hacking is also used to secure crucial data from adversaries. It prevents malicious users from exploiting the organizational or an individual. It reduces the risk of getting blackmailed by a person or organization with ill intentions.
- Ethical hacking has a crucial role to play in the safety and security of any nation. Many national and state-funded organizations hire hackers to prevent cyber terrorism and terrorist attacks. Many government-employed personnel hire ethical hackers to protect their privacy.
- Ethical hackers know very well how to think from the perspective of an attacker with ill intentions and find any potential entry point of security vulnerabilities.
- Ethical hackers can provide security assistance to many domains related to IT and CS systems like software developers, risk management, quality assurance tester, and network defender.
- The work of ethical hackers also involves ensuring the functions of the software are executed swiftly and testing them under standard and extreme security systems.
- Once ethical hackers find the security vulnerabilities, they develop testing tools and methodologies to avoid the occurrence of any similar situation in the future.
- If an organization deals with info products, applications, and websites then the need for an ethical hacker is unparalleled.
Types of ethical hacking
There are many ways through which a hacker can get into a security system and network. Based on the way they get into the security system or security network and execute the hacking process; we classify them as follows:-
- Web Application Hacking: Web application hacking is also known as penetrating hacking. Web application hacking is the practice of testing a computer system or a computer network to find security vulnerabilities that could be easily exploited. Web application hacking can be performed both manually and automatically. During the process of web application hacking, we highlight the weakness in the security measurements of a company. Even though Web application hacking is ideally performed when a new network is added to the computer system, it should be performed from time to time to check the security performance. It is also useful in the modification of the infrastructure or the application. It also modifies the end-users' policies and applies various security patches as well. Web application hacking is practised by many beginners by gaining various certifications such as the CEH certificate. If you are interested in CEH courses, you should check out the best CEH course by KnowledgeHut.
- System Hacking: System hacking is also known as network hacking. In system hacking, hackers get access to the networks and try to steal the data from there. System hacking is done if a hacker gets access to any server or computer network. Since system hacking is executed on servers and computer networks it results in a huge loss of data at once. Ethical hackers spend a lot of time reviewing the security levels of a server or computer to network to prevent any vicious activities by unethical hackers.
- Web Server Hacking: We are often advised to not share or enter our sensitive information on the web loosely. This is because web server hacking makes it possible to get information and data available on the web very effortlessly. Due to web server hacking, unethical hackers steal information like passwords, bank account details, etc. Web server hacking is a hacking practice in which hackers steal sensitive information from the web by carrying out sniffing attacks. Web server hackers are found in various cyber security departments. Web server hacking professionals opt for various cyber security courses from time to time to improve their knowledge. If you are looking for a course of improving your knowledge, then you should try the IT cyber security courses by KnowlegeHut.
- Wireless Network Hacking: Wireless network hacking is the most common type of hacking. We are often advised to use public Wi-Fi networks; it is because wireless network hackers can access your data from those open networks very handily. Wireless networks communicate with radio waves, so it is easy to hack them from nearby locations.
Types of hackers
We have now studied about types of hacking and know the two basic types of hackers, which are ethical hackers and unethical hackers. But both the types of hackers work within three categories, their intentions and methodologies vary. The following are the three types of hackers:-
- Black hat hackers: The primary motive of black hat hackers is to attain financial gains and cause digital havoc. They steal, alter and discard data in a way that causes monetary loss to the owner of the data. It is due to them that there are so many misconceptions about ethical hacking as well.
- White hat hackers: White hat hackers are ethical hackers in the true sense, they seek due permission from the owner before getting into any computer system or computer network. There has been an increase in demand for white hat hackers in many technical and non-technical organizations to safeguard their data and information. Many White hat hackers opt for various CEH (Certified ethical hacker) courses. If you are interested in pursuing a CEH course, you should check out the KnowledgeHut best CEH course
- Grey hat hackers: Grey hat hackers lie between black and white hat hackers. They are always necessarily malicious but will look for some sort of financial gain after finding a bug in the computer network system. They have an ambiguous nature, and their behaviour will depend on the ethics of the person.
Examples of Ethical Hacking
We now have a fair idea of what ethical hacking is, to understand and acknowledged it a bit more, we will look at some examples of ethical hacking which are as follows:
- Lone ethical hackers: If you ask any ethical hacking enthusiast, there is a hundred per cent chance of him/her telling you about Mark Litchfield. In the year 2019, BBC conducted a report, in which it was revealed by Litchfield that he made more than $1.5 million by just finding bugs in the websites and applications of top companies like Yahoo. Many white hat hackers, enter the industry for the knowledge and prestige that it provides to them, financial gains are sure shot outcomes. Such lone hackers, workday and night and improve their skills and use them for the betterment of society.
- Ethical hacking groups: There are many ethical hacking groups all over the internet. The members of those groups are not necessarily from the same region, but they work together on one web and help the clients that come to them. Many ethical hackers have discovered major bugs in the websites and applications of top companies.
Examples of Unethical Hacking
We previously discussed unethical hacking and how it causes digital havoc. To understand it more, let us look at some cases of unethical hacking:
- Ashley Madison service case of 2015: Ashley Madison was a website of a dating/ matrimony service. It was hacked in the year 2015 by a group of hackers who called themselves the Impact team and demanded the site go shut down otherwise they would release the customer data. The group of hackers released customer data of around 60 GB blaming the deceptive practices carried out by the website.
- Marriott hacking case of 2018: Marriott is one of the most reputed hotel chains in the world. It reported a security database incident in the year 2018. A group of hackers stole the confidential data of nearly 320 million customers. The information consisted of emails, phone numbers, addresses and reservation details. This caused a huge loss to the Marriott chains. Customers all around the world associated with the Marriott chains were left baffled. The information that was accessed by the hackers was believed to be sold illegally to many companies.
- British Airways hacking case of 2018: One of the most disheartening hacking cases in history is that of the British Airways customer database hacking case of 2018. The customers were disheartened because they expected the airline to have a better security setup. It took only 22 lines of code to hack the customer database of the British airways. After this incident, many airlines started working on their security systems. This incident showed the world the need for a good security system or security network to protect sensitive data and information.
Conclusion
The field of ethical hacking was highly misunderstood, but slowly and steadily people are gaining awareness of it. The profession of an ethical hacker is highly respected and reputed. More and more people are opting for it. It is a field that holds high significance. The assistance and security it provides to other departments are unparalleled. We require more quality ethical hackers to safeguard ourselves.
