Ethical Hacking: All the Stats, Facts, and Data You'll Ever Need to Know

Ethical hacking is the lawful attempt to gain unauthorized access to a computer system, application, or data by employing the strategies and techniques of malicious attackers. By using this technique, security vulnerabilities can be identified and addressed before a malicious attacker can exploit them.

These proactive security assessments are conducted by security experts known as ethical hackers to improve an organization's security posture. Ethical hacking, as opposed to damaging hacking, entails getting prior consent from the company or IT asset owner.

Hacking Professionals Adhere to Four Fundamental Protocol Ideas.

Remain Lawful. 

Before obtaining and conducting a security evaluation, obtain the appropriate approval.

Describe the Scope. 

Establish the parameters of the evaluation to ensure that the ethical hacker's activities stay within the organization's authorized parameters and are lawful.

Share the Results. 

The organization should be informed of all vulnerabilities discovered throughout the assessment, along with remedial instructions for resolving them.

Be Mindful of the Sensitivity of the Data.

 In addition to other terms and conditions mandated by the evaluated organization, ethical hackers might be forced to sign a nondisclosure agreement, depending on the sensitivity of the data.

Types of Hackers

Three categories of hackers are recognized by the cybersecurity sector using a well-known "old west" naming scheme: white hat, black hat, and gray hat.

White-Hat Hackers

The "good guys" are these. White hat hackers, also referred to as ethical hackers, help commercial and governmental entities by conducting penetration tests and locating cybersecurity weaknesses. They use a range of methods to break into networks with good intentions, find weaknesses that malevolent attackers might exploit, and assist the host organization's IT staff in eliminating malware and viruses.

Black Hat hackers

Black hat hackers, on the other hand, are the cybercriminals that every network-dependent firm needs to protect itself from. They are usually driven by the desire to make money through ransomware or other unethical methods. These malevolent hackers search for vulnerabilities in public institutions and/or individual computers. By taking advantage of whatever weaknesses they discover, they breach their networks to obtain highly sensitive or valuable financial, corporate, and personal data. For amusement, some black hat hackers destroy backend servers or deface websites to harm a company's brand or result in financial loss.

Gray Hat Hackers 

As the name would suggest, these people are in the middle. They may have good or terrible intentions, but many do not use their skills for personal benefit. For instance, a gray hat might breach a company's system, discover a weakness, and post the information online to alert the company.

How are Ethical Hackers Different Than Malicious Hackers?

Ethical hackers safeguard and improve an organization's technology by applying their knowledge. They play a vital role by looking for flaws that could lead to a security breach and alerting the business to the vulnerabilities they discover. They also offer remediation guidance. Ethical hackers often also perform a retest to ensure that the vulnerabilities are fully resolved.

Malicious hackers attempt to obtain unauthorized access to a resource—the more sensitive, the better—in order to profit or achieve notoriety. Malicious hackers frequently deface websites or destroy back-end servers for fun, to damage their reputation, or to profit. The methods used and vulnerabilities found are not made public. Enhancing the organization's security posture is not a priority for them.

What Credentials and Abilities are Required for Ethical Hacking?

A broad range of computer abilities is necessary for an ethical hacker. They frequently specialize, becoming into subject matter experts in a specific area of the ethical hacking field.

Every ethical hacker ought to own

• proficiency with programming languages

• Knowledge of operating systems

• An extensive understanding of networking

• A strong basis in information security principles

Among the most renowned and obtained qualifications are

• Certified Ethical Hacking Certification from the EC Council

• Certification as an Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP)

• Security+ CompTIA

• Cisco's SANS GOSWE CCNA Security

Ethical Hacking Process :

Six steps make up the ethical hacking method, which ethical hackers frequently adhere to.

1. Reconnaissance:

 It is the main stage where the hacker attempts to learn more about the target. It involves figuring out the target's network, DNS records, IP address range, and other specifics.

2. Scanning:

 In this stage, the hacker starts to effectively look for potentially exploitable weaknesses in a target system or object. It includes the use of tools such as network mappers, sweepers, port scanners, vulnerability scanners, and dialers to verify information.

3. Gaining Access:

 At this stage, the hacker plans the organizational structure of the objective using the information gathered via observation and verification. After locating and examining the organization, the hacker concludes that they have a few options for gaining access to it.

4. Maintaining Access:

 This refers to the situation in which a hacker has successfully gained access to a system. The hacker gains access by introducing a few auxiliary passageways that allow him to enter the framework later on when he needs to. In this cycle, the preferred tool is Metasploit.

5. Clearing Tracks:

 This procedure is essentially immoral. It has to do with the deletion of logs from the many exercises that take place throughout the hacking encounter.

6. Reporting :

In this, the Ethical Hacker aggregates a report with his discoveries and the work that was done, for example, the instruments utilized, weaknesses found, the achievement rate, and the endeavor measures.

Benefits of Ethical Hacking: 

The benefits of ethical hacking are as follows.

• This aids in the fight against national security breaches and cyberterrorism.

• This aids in taking precautions against hackers.

• This aids in the development of a system that guards against hacker intrusion of any form.

• This provides financial institutions and banks with security.

• This aids in locating and sealing any gaps in a network or computer system

Disadvantages of Ethical Hacking :

 The following are some of the drawbacks of ethical hacking.

• This might infect the files or data of an organization.

     

• The information they obtain could be used maliciously. Consequently, it is anticipated that trustworthy programmers would succeed in this framework.

• Employing such experts will raise the company's expenses.

• Someone's privacy may be harmed by this tactic.

• It interferes with system functionality.

Conclusion

The stakes are higher in the fight to protect sensitive consumer and financial data systems from ransomware attacks and data breaches as more and more parts of our lives become digital and cloud-based, and as cybercriminals grow more skilled and determined. A vital component of this effort should continue to be ethical hackers working with IT experts in governmental, corporate, financial, healthcare, and e-commerce organizations.