The term “hacker” was coined to describe experts who used their skills to re-develop mainframe systems, increasing their efficiency and allowing them to multi-task. Nowadays, the term is commonly used to describe skilled programmers who gain unauthorized access to computer systems by exploiting weaknesses or exploiting bugs, motivated by malice or mischief.
What Exactly Is an Ethical Hacker?
Ethical hacking is the legal practice of detecting vulnerabilities in an application, system, or organization’s infrastructure and circumventing system security in order to identify potential data breaches and threats in a network. Ethical hackers look for flaws in the system or network that malicious hackers can exploit or destroy. They can enhance the security footprint to better withstand or divert attacks.
The company that owns the system or network permits such activities to be performed by cyber security engineers in order to test the system’s defenses. In contrast to malicious hacking, this process is planned, approved, and, most importantly, legal.
They look for, but are not limited to, the following key vulnerabilities:
- Attacks by injection
- Modifications to security settings
- sensitive data exposure
- Authentication protocol breach
- System or network components that can be used as access points
What are the Different Types of Hackers?
Hackers can be classified into three different categories:
- Black Hat Hacker
- White Hat Hacker
- Grey Hat Hacker
Black Hat Hacker
Black-hat hackers may also be referred to as unethical hackers or security crackers. These individuals illegally hack the system in order to steal money or achieve their own illegal goals. They target banks and other businesses with poor security and steal money or credit card information. They can also change or delete the data. Black hat hacking is against the law.
White Hat Hacker
White hat Hackers are also known as Ethical Hackers or a Penetration Tester. White hat hackers are the good guys of the hacker world.
These people use the same technique used by the black hat hackers. They also hack the system, but they can only hack the system that they I have permission to hack in order to test the security of the system. They focus on security and protect IT systems. White hat hacking is legal.
Gray Hat Hacker
Grey hat hackers are a cross between black hat hackers and white hat hackers. They can hack any system even if they do not have permission to test its security, but they will never steal money or damage the system.
In most cases, they inform the system administrator. They are also illegal because they test the security of a system that they do not have permission to test. Grey hat hacking is sometimes legal and sometimes not.
What are the main ethical hacking principles?
Hacking experts follow four key protocol concepts:
- Keep your legal status. Obtain sufficient authorization before accessing and performing a security evaluation.
- Determine the scope. Determine the scope of the assessment so that the ethical hacker’s work remains legal and within the organization’s permitted parameters.
- Vulnerabilities must be disclosed. All vulnerabilities discovered during the assessment must be reported to the organisation. We provide recommendations on how to address these vulnerabilities
- Maintain data confidentiality. Depending on the sensitivity of the material, ethical hackers may be required to sign a non-disclosure agreement in addition to the terms and conditions imposed by the examined firm.
What are the types of ethical hacking?
There are various types of ethical hacking techniques since practically every component of a system can be hacked, and these “hacking” performances necessitate extensive understanding of that component. A list of several ethical hacking approaches is provided below.
- Web application hacking
- Social engineering
- System hacking
- Hacking wireless networks
- Web server hacking
The Importance of Ethical Hacking
Hacking is useful for a variety of reasons. Consider the following:
- There are numerous opportunities for ethical hacking in the current market. Ethical hacking is extremely beneficial to organisations for testing security solutions. Ethical hacking ensures that all systems are safe and secure from black hat hackers. There are a lot of hacking attacks these days. As a result, there is a high demand for ethical hackers.
- Ethical hacking is used to protect sensitive data from adversaries. It protects your computer from extortion by anyone who seeks to exploit the vulnerability. A corporation or organization can discover security vulnerabilities and threats by employing ethical hacking.
- Governments use state-sponsored hacking to prevent intelligence information on influencing politics, an enemy state, and so on from reaching the public. Ethical hacking can protect the country by averting cyber-terrorism and terrorist acts.
Conclusion:
Ethical hacking can help in a variety of ways, including improving computer and network security through penetration testing. It enables one to take preventive measures in order to avoid security breaches. Finally, I’d like to point out that the list of benefits provided by ethical hackers is quite long, and thus ethical hackers are in high demand.
