What is Ethical Hacking?

Ethical hacking is the use of?hacking?techniques by friendly parties in an attempt to uncover, understand and fix security vulnerabilities in a network or computer system.?

Ethical hackers' code of ethics

Ethical hackers follow a strict code of ethics to make sure their actions help rather than harm companies. Many organizations that train or certify ethical hackers, such as the International Council of E-Commerce Consultants (EC Council), publish their own formal written code of ethics. While stated ethics can vary among hackers or organizations, the general guidelines are:

• Ethical hackers get permission from the companies they hack:?Ethical hackers are employed by or partnered with the organizations they hack. They work with companies to define a scope for their activities including hacking timelines, methods used, and systems and assets tested.?
• Ethical hackers don't cause any harm:?Ethical hackers don't do any actual damage to the systems they hack, nor do they steal any sensitive data they find. When white hats hack a network, they're only doing it to demonstrate what real cybercriminals might do.?
• Ethical hackers keep their findings confidential:?Ethical hackers share the information they gather on vulnerabilities and security systems with the company—and only the company. They also assist the company in using these findings to improve network defenses.

• Ethical hackers work within the confines of the law:?Ethical hackers use only legal methods to assess information security. They don't associate with black hats or participate in malicious hacks.

?Importance of Ethical Hacking?

·?Tools and methodologies:?The lessons learned from ethical hacking help with the creation of effective testing tools and methodologies. Such tools and methodologies further improve an organization’s cybersecurity posture.

·?Vulnerability identification:?White hat hackers can find critical security flaws in systems, applications, and websites. Patching vulnerabilities before a malicious hacker can exploit them can enhance different types of security, including?Internet security. Vulnerability identification is also an important component of?vulnerability management.

·?Incident Response:?Ethical hackers can run attack simulations using the same methods and tools as malicious hackers to help security teams prepare for cyber threats. With the aid of cyber-attack exercises, security teams can improve their?incident response plan?and reduce their incident response time.

·?Anti-phishing:?Many modern ethical hacking teams offer anti-phishing training services. Here, they use emails, text messages, phone calls, and baiting to test the readiness of organizations against threats that utilize phishing. Read about this?hacking prank?for an example of a clever social engineering attack.

·?Secure development:?Some software developers hire ethical hackers to test their products during the development cycle. By ironing out vulnerabilities, developers can stop hackers from taking advantage of?zero-day bugs.

·?Data security:?Modern organizations manage different types of sensitive data. Malicious hackers can access this data by using social engineering attacks or exploiting software vulnerabilities. Ethical hackers can improve data security by running penetration testing and simulating phishing attacks.

·?National security:?National organizations such as security agencies and public sector organizations face sophisticated threats from state-sponsored entities. They can mitigate the risk of terror threats and cyber-attacks by using the lessons learned from ethical hacking to improve their cybersecurity.

·?Financial rewards:?Some ethical hackers rely on contracts and programs to generate income. They can find full-time or part-time employment with companies that develop software or need to reduce security vulnerabilities.? They can also earn rewards by finding security vulnerabilities in bug bounty programs.

·?Financial losses:?Companies can suffer significant financial losses due to the exploitation of software vulnerabilities by hackers. Ethical hackers can reduce the risk of long-term losses by improving security.

·?Regulatory compliance: Organizations must comply with regulations concerning privacy and security. They can comply with such regulations more easily by hiring white hat hackers to find bugs that can be exploited by attackers.

·?Reputational Damage:?A cybersecurity attack can dent a company’s reputation if it results in the loss of sensitive information. Running attack simulations and patching exploitable bugs with the assistance of ethical hacking can prevent incidents that damage an organization’s standing with its clients and partners.

Ethical hackers offer a range of services:

1. Vulnerability assessments

Vulnerability assessment is like pen testing, but it doesn't go as far as exploiting the vulnerabilities. Instead, ethical hackers use manual and automated methods to find, categorize and prioritize vulnerabilities in a system. Then they share their findings with the company.?

2. Malware analysis

Some ethical hackers specialize in analyzing ransomware and malware strains. They study new malware releases to understand how they work and share their conclusions with companies and the broader information security community.?

3. Risk management

Ethical hackers may also assist with high-level strategic?risk management. They can identify new and emerging threats, analyze how these threats impact the company’s security posture and help the company develop countermeasures. ?

4. Penetration testing

Penetration tests, or "pen tests," are simulated security breaches. Pen testers imitate malicious hackers that gain unauthorized access to company systems. Of course, pen testers don't cause any actual harm. They use the results of their tests to help defend the company against real cybercriminals.