What is Ethical Hacking?
Ethical Hacking also called “White Hat Hacking” or “Penetration Testing” is a means of intruding into a system or a network in order to detect malware samples and vulnerabilities that can be found by malicious characters and exploited, resulting in significant damages in lost data.
The main objective of ethical hacking is to enhance the level of security.
Who is an Ethical Hacker?
Ethical Hackers usually known as white hat hackers or penetration testers are experienced hacking professionals who recognize and exploit weaknesses and vulnerabilities in target systems/networks with the help of numerous top hacking tools. When compared with malicious hackers, rather than taking advantage of discovered vulnerabilities, ethical hackers work with the approval and consent of authorized management and must follow the rules of the management and any law of the land.
Types of Ethical Hacking
Ethical hacking is a broad field made up of numerous sub disciplines. Each of these has their own skill sets and requirements. Some of the major types include:
- Penetration testing – This involves being granted permission by an organization to hack into their systems in an attempt to find security holes.
- Digital forensics – The digital branch of forensic science can include things like intrusion investigation and assisting law enforcement.
- Social engineering – A significant part of breaching systems is all about tricking people instead of getting past technology. This particular field of expertise is known as social engineering.
- Vulnerability research – This job involves finding the latest vulnerabilities and threats, as well as coming up with ways to effectively manage them
Qualification for Ethical Hacking
Even though most jobs require you to have a Bachelor’s degree in computer science or cyber security-related field, exceptions are made for people with sound knowledge of operating systems, databases and networking!
Also, it is nearly impossible to directly become an ethical hacker. Most ethical hackers start their career as tech support engineers who climb their way up by obtaining certifications like CCNA and CISSP before working towards the ultimate CEH certification. The time to market yourself as an ethical hacker is after earning your CEH certifications by joining Ethical hacking course.
Job Profiles for an Ethical Hacking Career
Once you have received a CEH certification in ethical hacking, you will be able to shine in roles like:
- Security Analyst
- Ethical Hacker
- Information Security Manager
- Information Security Analyst
- Certified Ethical Hacker
- Penetration Tester
What Do Companies Look for in an Ethical Hacker?
When an organization hires an ethical hacker, they are searching for someone with cyber security expertise who can completely take on the role of a malicious hacker in order to replicate realistic attacks.
Ethical hackers are required to have advanced knowledge about the skills, techniques, and mindset that black hat hackers use to attack security defenses.
Organizations are also looking for someone who is professional, transparent, and communicative. Corporations often have to place a lot of faith in ethical hackers. It is a role that comes with a lot of trust.
Ethical hackers have to fully inform the organization of everything that they find during testing. Ideally, the ethical hacker will also work with the organization to assure that all problems and vulnerabilities are safely resolved after the testing is complete.
Scope and Career Opportunities of Ethical Hacking in Future
Ethical Hacking was developed with the aim to protect individuals or organization’s useful data from any unauthorized person. The main idea behind the concept of ethical hacking is the safety of important data.
And with this idea of safety in mind, Ethical Hacking was introduced to protect sensitive information from any suspicious person. However, many people still consider Ethical Hacking as an informal activitiy unaware of the fact that anyone can steal their precious business data at any time.
The truth is that Ethical hackers protect your data from any kind of outside attack and inform you of any suspicious activity in your system.
Ethical Hacking is growing tremendously and a career in this field is an interesting option because all companies need an ethical hacker to safeguard their business data from illegal hackers. So, it has vast scope in future.
Tech giants like Accenture, Wipro, EY and TCS are always in need of people who are knowledgeable in Ethical hacking and Cybersecurity to prevent illegal transfer of information.
The remunerations for this field can be very fruitful. In India, with just a year’s experience in this field, an ethical hacker can get a salary of up to four to five lakhs per annum. If a White Hat hacker has up to five years experience, the salary can be as high as 12 lakhs per year. This is one of the main reasons why people are attracted to this field.
Final Thoughts
Ethical hacking is an important part of securing a company’s information and enables companies to enhance their level of security by recognizing and reducing weaknesses and vulnerabilities, as well as patching bugs and more. There are many courses for training available on the internet if you have ever thought about becoming an ethical hacker.
