Introduction
Hacking is identifying the weakness of computer systems or networks to gain access and exploit it. Example of Hacking: Using a vulnerable link sent to a target machine and gaining access to a system.
Computers became mandatory to run successful businesses. It is not enough to possess isolated computers systems; they have to be networked to facilitate communication with external businesses. This exposes them to the surface world and hacking. Hacking means using computers to commit fraudulent acts like piracy, privacy invasion, stealing corporate/personal data, etc. Due to cybercrimes, many organizations lose a great amount of dollars per annum. Businesses need to protect themselves against such cyber-attacks.
Hackers
A hacker is a person who finds the weakness/vulnerabilities in a computer system or network and exploits them. We can classify the hackers into three major types based on our role:
- White Hat Hacker
- Black Hat Hacker
- Grey Hat Hacker
White Hat Hacker
A person who has access to find weaknesses/vulnerabilities/bugs in a computer system/network is known as a white-hat hacker. He is also known as an ethical hacker. Such people involved in legal activities.
Black Hat Hacker
A person who has unauthorized access to the computer is known as a black hat hacker. These kinds of people do illegal activities like data stealing, piracy etc.
Grey Hat Hacker
A person who has to prove our skills is known as a grey hat hacker. He is neither a white hat hacker nor a black hat hacker.
What is Ethical Hacking?
Ethical Hacking is identifying the weakness in the computer systems or computer networks and advises to protect the weaknesses. Ethical hackers must follow the rules.
There are:
- Get permission from the concerned owner of the computer system or computer network before hacking.
- Protect the privacy and sensitive data of the concerned organization being hacked.
- Transparently report all the identified weaknesses in the computer system to that concerned organization.
- Inform the identified weakness of hardware/software/network to the concerned organization.
Why do Ethical Hacking?
- Ethical Hacking can be prevented from cybercrime/attacks.
- Information is one of the most valuable assets of an organization. Keeping information secure can protect an organization’s reputation and save a lot of money.
- Hacking can lead to loss of business for many organizations that deal in finance such as PayPal. Ethical hacking puts them a step ahead of the cyber criminals who would otherwise lead to loss of business.
- Modern days, cybercrimes are increasing. Many of the people involved in cyber-crimes for earning money.
- The most common and repeated cyber crime is ATM fraud, identity theft, privacy violation, sharing copyrighted/personal information etc.
Legality of Ethical Hacking
Ethical Hacking is legal if the hacker followed the rules stipulated in the above section on the definition of Ethical Hacking. The International Council of E-Commerce Consultants (EC-Council) provides a certification program that tests an individual’s skill set in Ethical Hacking. Those who all pass the examination are awarded certificates. The certificates are supposed to be renewed after some time.
Phases of Ethical Hacking
- Scanning
- Information Gathering
- Foot printing
- Enumeration
- Reconnaissance
- System Hacking
- Escalation of privileges
- Covering Track
Skills required for Ethical Hacker
- Ethical Hackers are having strong knowledge in operating systems like Windows , Linux and Mac.
- Ethical Hackers must be known for all kinds of attacks like phishing, DDOS attack etc.
- Ethical Hackers have a strong skill set in networking and concepts of software and hardware.
- Proficiency in programming languages like C, C++, Python, JAVA, PHP, HTML etc.
- Ethical Hackers must know about all the protocols like TCP, IP, HTTP, SMTP, ICMP.
- Ethical Hackers must know the hacking terminologies to protect our computers.
Nowadays they are used many hacking terminologies like there are:
- Phishing
- Spoofing
- Encryption
- HTTPS/SSL/TLS
- Firewall
- Payload
- RAT
- WORM
- SPAM
- Cloaking
Scope of Ethical Hacking
Nowadays, the internet and networking are the two fastest growing industries. Usage of internet cyber crime also increases day by day. So we can hire Ethical Hackers. Ethical Hackers are finding vulnerabilities and fixing them.
IT firms are main recruiters of Ethical Hackers additionally , government agencies like various wings of the military and enforcement, defence organizations, forensic laboratories, detective companies and investigative services offer challenging roles for ethical Hackers.
The various roles during which an ethical hacker can add a corporation are:
- Network Security System Administrator/Manager
- Security Investigator
- Network Security Engineer
- Systems/Applications Security Executive
- Web security Administrator/Manager
- Security Auditor
- Ethical Hacker
- Data security specialist
- Chief Information Security Officer
- Computer Forensics Investigator
- IT Security Administrator/Consultant/ Manager
- Security Certified Programmer
- Forensics Investigator
14.Security consultant
Courses for Ethical Hacking
Many organizations and institutions offer ethical hacking courses and also training in India. And various online domains for e-learning like great learning academy also offer a free ethical hacking course in hindi and english. You can also check out an ethical hacking in hinditutorial. After completion of hacking course in hindi, certificates will be provided by a particular domain in which you learn that.
Top 10 Certification for Ethical Hacking
- Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)
- Global Information Assurance Certification Penetration Tester (GIAC)
- Certified Information System Auditor (CISA)
- Certified Information Security Manager ( CISM)
- Offensive Security Certified Solution
- CREST
- Certified Penetration Testing Engineer (CPTE)
- Certified Penetration Testing Consultant (CPTC)
- Certified Information System Security Professional ( CISSP)
- CompTIA Security +
Conclusion
Ethical Hacking is legal and is not considered as an illegal or criminal activity. Ethical Hacking is most important in business these days. Users and developers must see vulnerabilities in the system they employ and fix them. Thus, an ethical hacker is very important.
