A Beginner’s Guide to Ethical Hacking and Its Types

Ethical hacking is the branch of computer science that deals with the practice of performing security checks and data breaching in the system of corporations, organizations, or government systems. All hacking is not bad ethical hacking is planned, organized, and approved intelligently to prevent hacking of the systems, which can lead to misuse of information that is private and company-specific.

A person who pursues ethical hacking is known as an ethical hacker. It is his/her job to investigate systems and networks for weak points that could lead to the stealing of private information. 

Types of Hackers:

1. White Hat Hacker: Ethical hacking is a type of white hat hacking in which a person is involved to look into data breaching and vulnerabilities for a company, corporation, or organization to prevent stealing of private data and information. 

2. Black Hat Hacker: Opposite to ethical hacking, black hat hacker is involved in manipulating and violating data interpretation for the cause of crime.

Duty of Ethical Hacker:

Ethical hackers are bound by specific rules and regulations, unlike black hat hackers, who are violating rules, and regulations. Some of the duties an ethical hacker has to perform are:

• Inform about vulnerabilities and data breaches prevailing in the system.

• An ethical hacker needs to follow a non-disclosure agreement as his role is to secure the network and system.

• Try to remove the passage for hacking by himself/herself checking if hacking can happen in the system.

• An ethical hacker should take authorization from the administration of the system that holds all the rights regarding the systems, data, and networking of the company.

• To determine the scope and plan accordingly for the benefit of the organization.

Skills: 

To become an ethical hacker, you need to have sound knowledge and a great skill set to deal with networking errors or issues, data security, codes, and so on. Some of the skills required are:

• The sound knowledge of servers and search engines.

• Windows, Linux, Unix are different OS companies use, and an ethical hacker should have an idea about these.

• Using various hacking tools available in the technology world.

• Good understanding of databases, including SQL queries, testing, and various operations performed in database queries.

• Since networking is the most threatened vulnerability, an ethical hacker should have a profound knowledge of networking, different layers of the OSI model that involves security and data transfer.

• It is not enough he/she should have skills and implementation of the process of Software Development Life Cycle.

Benefits:

These days number of openings are available for ethical hacking, and yet very few people are involved in pursuing this career. There is a good scope in learning ethical hacking as there is in any other IT branch. One who knows ethical hacking can be active both intellectually and analytically. As in ethical hacking, you need to have sound knowledge and skillset in coding. Even if you are a white-hat hacker, you are supposed to mold your mind like a black hat hacker because the main task is to beat that person avoiding any mismanagement and stealing of secure information of any company.

Getting certified in ethical hacking or pursuing a diploma in the same can open up opportunities for you in the same. You can inspect, introspect, and understand how data can be manipulated inappropriately and can revert this issue, helping the company’s network and system stay more secure.

Ethical hacking is becoming a necessity as cyber scams are increasing in the technology world. These days companies are investing more in their security systems to prevent information thefts.