The global pandemic witnessed businesses transitioning to remote working, requiring IT workforces to manage more devices than before. Cyber attackers began exploiting security flaws in a cycle of evident cyber disasters, taking advantage of the never-expected situation.
As the world becomes more virtual, malicious attacks continually make news that has inspired companies to adopt basic cybersecurity practices. But these practices weren't sufficient to stop the drastic growth of cybercrimes due to technological advancements.
Most of the cybercrime takes place in big organizations. According to the 2020 Gone Phishing report, it is seen that 58.2% of workforces from small-scale companies have fallen into the hacker's trap, 71.5% from mid-scale firms, and 67.4% from huge companies have been deceived by cyber attackers.
It was observed that small-sized organizations are worst affected by cybercrime as 60 percent of them go out of business within 6 months of falling into data breach traps. The Global Market Insights unveiled that by 2024, the cybersecurity sector will reach $300Bn, and the loss incurred by it will be more than $2Tr.
The primary motive of malevolent hackers includes the exploitation or theft of crucial organizational data or financial profits. However, not all hackings are detrimental, which brings us to the second type of hacking known as 'Ethical Hacking.'
Here we will highlight the term Ethical Hacking and other associated term lingering around it. When seeing the phrase, never-ending questions arise: What is Ethical Hacking? Does it have anything to do with phishers? Is it beneficial for organizations? What are their roles? And so on. Let's answer a few of the questions, shall we?
Defining ‘Ethical Hacking’
Ethical Hacking is an accredited method of avoiding system security to determine potential information breaches and threats in a network. To test the system or network, companies allow Cyber Security engineers to safeguard the crucial data.
Unlike cyber attacks, Ethical Hacking is legal, planned and approved method, scrutinizing the network for loopholes that attackers can exploit. They collect and analyze data to identify different ways for enhancing security footprint so that it can better withstand attacks.
Ethical Hackers are recruited by companies to check the weak points of their networks and systems and develop top-notch solutions to hinder data breaches.
The critical vulnerabilities tested by them are:
- Sensitive data exposure
- Injection attacks
- Components leveraged as access points
- Security setting modifications
- Authentication protocol breach
Purpose of Ethical Hacking
Cybercrime breaking records in today's world, the need for Ethical Hackers skyrocketed. Here are some of the purposes of Ethical Hacking:
Prevention of Unauthorized Data Access
Installing just a firewall won't be beneficial in safeguarding our systems or networks from data security threats. Companies must challenge their own security system with crucial probes and assessments to develop an efficient security regime.
Ethical hacking assists you do that by mimicking a malevolent attacker's technique, learning from the experience and problem resolutions. It aids organizations to stick to compliance standards and offer assurance that a user's data are adequately safeguarded.
They identify vulnerabilities in the code by testing the security of applications, emails, instant messaging, databases, etc., and evaluate workforce susceptibility to pretext & social engineering.
Criminal attack Prevention
Ventures can incur substantial penalties due to criminal attacks along with a drastic reputational downfall. Fines are imposed because of the failure to adhere to compliance standards like PCI-DSS, HIPAA, GDPR and more.
Ethical Hacking prevents this by alerting the venture about the developing attack techniques, thus helping security professionals to prepare for securing their security systems.
Determining Weak Points
The weak points in the IT system are often exposed to malicious attackers leading to data misuse. To prevent this, Ethical Hackers conduct vulnerability scanning for determining the loopholes. We can also analyze the source code to identify weak points, but the process is monotonous, and, in some cases, we won't have code access.
Another fame-gained method to determine the loopholes is Fuzzing - interfering with a program and its input to crash, unveiling security problems.
Secure Network Implementation
This type of hacking enables the company to enhance its network by testing and prodding the architecture to identify vulnerabilities. It lets organizations create a robust tech system by securing network ports, configuring firewalls and permitting administrators to determine and execute the security policies.
Different Types of Ethical Hacking
The Ethical Hacking process can be categorized into different types, and some of them are:
System Hacking
System hacking is a method of attaining unauthorized access to data and systems. Black hat hackers primarily leverage prominent ways of password hacking to avoid computer security and obtain system access.
The ultimate goal of such hacking type is to get system access, escalate privileges, perform applications or hide files. To prevent system hacking, Ethical Hackers provide suitable suggestions to the users.
Social Engineering
In Social engineering, with the help of technology, hackers trick you into providing information such as credit card details, personal data, login credentials, etc., or provoke them to take action.
It takes advantage of the victim's emotional vulnerabilities and natural tendencies. Hence you need to maintain strong security regulations and make awareness among the workforce to avoid such baits.
Web Application Hacking
Web applications store different kinds of data such as bank information, login details, etc. Cyber attackers seek other ways to steal this information by avoiding application security approaches. They try gaining access through stereotypical ways like:
- SQL injections
- Data leakage
- Cross-site scripting (XSS)
- Broken authentication and access control
- Cross-site request forgery (CSRF)
Ethical Hackers are responsible for determining these security vulnerabilities and recommend appropriate resolutions.
Types of Ethical Hackers
There are 3 types of hackers, and they are as follows:
White Hat Hackers
These ethical hackers operate for companies to fill their gaps in the security systems. They acquire legal permissions to manage the penetration test and engage the attackers in a controlled way.
White hat hackers consistently report the weak points found in their penetration tests and allow the company to intensify its security policies.
Black Hat Hackers
These are malevolent attackers who make the most of vulnerabilities in a company to obtain unauthorized access. They hack systems and networks without legal permission for harming the company's reputation, data theft and creating functionality augmentations.
Grey Hat Hackers
Though they are ethical hackers, they sometimes gain access to a system or network by breaking the law. However, they don’t have malicious intent, unlike Black hat hackers. After gaining system access, white hat hackers, instead of reporting the weak points, alert the admins that they can fix those issues for a small compensation.
Roles and Responsibilities of Ethical Hackers
For legal hacking, Ethical Hackers must have an insight into the particular guidelines and follow them accordingly. Here are the crucial rules of Ethical Hacking:
- Hackers must obtain authorization from the company that owns the system. They must obtain complete approval from the client-end to execute any security infrastructure assessments.
- Must report security threats and breaches identified on the infrastructure.
- Identify the assessment scope and provide the company with assessment plans.
- Breach identification must be confidential. They must sign and respect the NDA, as their aim is to safeguard the system.
- Eradicate all hack traces after checking for vulnerabilities. This prevents malevolent attackers from entering through the identified weak points.
Ethical Hacker Skills
An Ethical Hacker must have a deep insight into systems, program codes, networks, security approaches and many more for efficient hacking performance. Some of the skills are:
- Networking skills are vital as breaches and threats mostly evolve from networks. You must know about different devices connected to the network, how are they linked and how to determine if they are compromised.
- Programming insight is necessary for security experts operating in the application security & Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) field.
- Insight of numerous platforms such as Unix, Windows, Linux, etc.
- Scripting knowledge - It is necessary for professionals handling network and host-related attacks.
- Understanding database - Knowledge of database management systems like SQL will be beneficial for inspecting operations carried out in the database, as attacks mainly occur in it.
- Potential to work with different hacking tools
- Search engine and server knowledge.
Ethical Hacking from Scratch to Advance
A person with the skills mentioned earlier can't necessarily be an Ethical Hacker or successful in the cybersecurity field. Instead, if you are a CEH certified professional, you are sure to succeed.
Ethical Hacking can be one of the prominent, exciting and innovative job trends. As the cyber field evolves every day and the business transformation into virtually opened chances for new ransomware, you must have the potential to conduct the probe and familiarize yourself with those.
The first step to being an Ethical Hacker is to start preparing for CEH certification.
Let us see the learning techniques of Ethical Hacking from scratch to advance.
Certified Network Defender (CND)
CND is an adaptive security approach developed on a 4-branched strategy - Protect, Detect, Respond and Predict. It is suitable for individuals working in cybersecurity or the network administrative fields in the capacity of network engineer, security analyst or network administrator.
Anyone looking forward to advancing their career in this domain, then CND is just for you.
A CND will acquire a basic understanding of the data transfer, software & network technologies, so network administrators can understand how the network works, what software is automating and how a subject material is analyzed.
Moreover, the primary network defence, network security control applications, IDS securing, firewall configuration, vulnerability scanning, etc., will assist them in developing better security policies and incident response plans.
Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)
It is a qualification obtained by demonstrating knowledge of assessing system security by looking for vulnerabilities using tools and practices similar to malicious attackers but in a legitimate way.
These hackers will undertake all preventive approaches required to safeguard a network or system against actual attacks that might happen in the future. Industry acceptance of Ethical Hackers has created the idea that this type of hacking is not just a helpful ability but good work.
The next step after being a certified EH is CEH (Practical). It is a 6-hour test that needs you to apply EH techniques such as web app hacking, threat vector identification, OS detection, system hacking, etc., to solve a security audit challenge.
By completing both CEH and CEH (Practical), you can CEH (Master) designation. This is a global-renowned CEH program that offers you a chance of proving to your co-workers, workforce and most importantly to yourself that you are ready to overcome challenges found in daily life as EH.
You won’t have exam simulations; instead, you will test your potential with real-world challenges and time limits, just as you find it in your work.
Certified Threat Intelligence Analyst (CTIA)
It is developed in collaboration with threat intelligence and cybersecurity proficient worldwide. It focuses on assisting companies to hire qualified cyber-intelligence-trained candidates to determine and reduce business risks by converting mysterious internal and external threats into quantifiable entities and halting them in their tracks.
Companies these days demand expert-level CTIA capable of extracting data intelligence by executing various advanced approaches. CTIA leverages a 360-degree system for pre-emptive threat detection and prevention methods. These are highly beneficial while creating threat intelligence and, when leveraged correctly, can secure companies from future cyberattacks.
EC-Council Certified Security Analyst (ECSA)
It is a program that develops on the previous program - CEH. This certification teaches cybersecurity professionals advanced security methods and Licensed Penetration Tester (LPT) practices. It is an excellent choice for intermediate-level security managers, security architects, penetration testers, and consultants.
ECSA is the 2nd phase of the 3-phase process, where experts begin with CEH, then take ECSA and complete Ethical Hacking certification with LPT. You can show the recruiting company that you are an expert in the skills and practices needed to safeguard their data and systems by gaining this certification.
Similar to CEH, ECSA also has a Practical certification. This tests your potential to perform threat & exploit research, understand it, write your own exploits, customize payloads and make crucial decisions at different stages of a pen-testing engagement that can either make or break the whole assessment.
Licensed Penetration Tester (LPT Master)
This is the last certification of EH that you will be acquired after successfully completing CEH and ECSA. LPT turns you into a master in pen-testing practices and tools by offering you the most demanding challenges with a time limit.
Your pen-testing skills will be challenged over 3 layers (3 challenges each) against a multi-layered network architecture with in-depth defence controls. While selecting your exploits and approach, you will need to make knowledgeable decisions under tremendous pressure.
Conclusion
With businesses entering digital platforms once pandemics struck, Ethical Hacking has become a hot trend with increasing demands and interests. While malevolent hackers try different methodologies to breach the network, Ethical Hackers have put a barricade on every system's loophole, preventing cybercrimes to a more significant extent.
If you consider entering the cybersecurity domain or trying to upskill, then this is a perfect time.
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