What Is Ethical Hacking? 

Demand for qualified cybersecurity experts has been rising quickly over the past decade. In the USA alone, the ethical hacking industry is worth $4 billion. Frost and Sullivan, an analyst firm, estimate that the ethical hacking industry is growing at 21% per year, and nearly 2.3 million security professionals currently provide internet security across the globe.

In response to the growing popularity of this industry, this guide aims to answer some questions that people may have about what ethical hacking is, how people get into this line of work, and what ethical hackers might be able to do for your company.

 

What Is Ethical Hacking? 

 

Ethical hacking is when a website gives someone permission to gain ‘unauthorised’ access to their computer system, application, or data in order to identify security risks.  By using a trusted professional, companies are able to safely spot and resolve vulnerabilities in their websites and apps before a malicious attacker can take advantage. 

Ethical hackers may take part in red teaming exercises, where the cyber defences of a company are tested and they may also take part in purple teaming exercises and penetration testing, all of which are designed to test how well a company is set up to deal with malicious and potentially very aggressive hackers trying to penetrate their cyber defences.

 

What Is an Ethical Hacker?

 

Ethical hackers are cybersecurity experts who try to spot the weaknesses in a company’s system by ‘hacking’ it with permission. They try to infiltrate the company’s data and document exactly where the company’s weak spots are.

This is all done with the company’s permission, which is why it is known as ‘ethical’ hacking. The intention of these hackers is not to commit crimes or steal data, but rather to improve a company’s security.  

How Much Do Ethical Hackers Make?

 

Ethical hackers are also known as penetration testers and security or cybersecurity engineers, earn an average of $87,000 according to Payscale, and can make salaries of around $125,000 in some positions. Salaries depend on location, education, and years of experience.

 

What Responsibilities Do Ethical Hackers Have?

 

The extent of each ethical hacker’s responsibilities can vary depending on the needs of the company hiring them. However, their responsibilities will always involve improving the security of a computer system.

Other things ethical hackers may be required to do include:

• Testing new products for vulnerabilities before they launch
• Setting up security measures for the company’s systems, including their phone system and computer system
• Finding ways to prevent the theft of a company’s information
• List all the weaknesses of a company’s system, finding all the ways that malicious hackers can infiltrate it.
• Keep up to date with new security software, new hardware, and new techniques used by malicious hackers

 

Where Do Ethical Hackers Work?

 

Ethical hackers are usually employed by software companies and hardware companies, but they can also be hired by places such as government agencies, banks, and law firms. These institutions hire ethical hackers to test their security measures and report on any weak spots and security flaws. 

 

What Skills Do Ethical Hackers Need? 

 

Ethical hackers need a host of skills to be able to effectively help their employers. The most important ones are listed below.

 

Software Programming

 

This is used by ethical hackers to write the code that they use to test a computer’s security. Most ethical hackers know programming languages like C and Python. 

 

Problem Solving

 

This helps ethical hackers to solve the security issues that may arise when they attempt to infiltrate a computer’s systems. Problem solving is used to help determine the system’s security flaws, and sometimes to suggest how to resolve them.

 

Network Design

 

To be an ethical hacker, one needs to know how to design networks of all types. This requires knowledge of various network protocols, as well as how to install and configure switches, routers, modems, and firewalls. 

Research

 

Ethical hackers need to know a great deal about the specialised tools and software used to analyse a computer’s system. Technology evolves rapidly, and keeping up with this is important. They may also have to research any of the new products that they are testing before they are released to the public. 

 

Maths 

 

Ethical hackers often use complicated algorithms and encryption keys, or calculate network bandwidth and capacity. Having a head for numbers can be crucial.

 

What Are the Key Concepts of Ethical Hacking?

 

Ethical hacking differentiates itself from malicious hacking via four key concepts:

1. Stay legal: Only access and perform security assessments with the company’s explicit approval and permission
2. Define the scope: Always stay within the approved boundaries set by the company
3. Report vulnerabilities: Document all the security flaws you find, and provide suggestions to solve them
4. Respect data sensitivity: You may have to sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) prior to starting work on a project

 

What Types of Security Flaws Do Ethical Hackers Find?

 

Examples of security flaws that ethical hackers can detect are injection attacks, exposure of sensitive data, vulnerabilities in components, security misconfigurations, and broken authentication.

 

Are There Any Limitations To Ethical Hackers?

 

Ethical hackers are limited by the time that their employers give them for each task, whereas malicious hackers may have all the time in the world. These time constraints can limit ethical hackers from finding some smaller flaws in a system that malicious hackers may exploit. 

Other limitations can be computing power, budget, and limited scope.