Ethical hacking is the practice of legally breaking into a system with the intention of locating vulnerabilities in the security system. The reason behind doing this is to find and fix the possible loopholes in order to make the system or network more secure and immune to online attacks. The first step in your Ethical hacking journey can be enrollment in a Certified Ethical Hacker course from a reputed institute.
Corporations and even governments use ethical hacking to assess their network security levels. An Ethical hacker is a person hired for the Ethical hacking process, they are responsible for locating loopholes and strengthening weak areas of the security system in order to achieve the highest level of security.
Table of Contents:
- What is Ethical Hacking?
- Types of Ethical Hacking
- Why is Ethical Hacking Important?
- Conclusion
What is Ethical Hacking?
Let’s try to understand Ethical hacking with a simple real-life example. Suppose you run a commercial store and you are concerned about your security system.
The most effective way to test it is to ask a burglar to break into your store and let him report to you how difficult it was for him to do so. He will also suggest areas in which you need to increase the security and if you need to add any extra security layer.
Take reference from the above example and replace the shop with a network or system, and the thief with an Ethical hacker. This is exactly what Ethical hacking is in the real world.
Ethical hacking can be defined as the process of breaking into a system or computer network with the sole aim of identifying and acknowledging the vulnerabilities in the security levels of the company.
Ethical hacking is also referred to as penetration testing.
Types of Ethical Hacking
Let’s discuss some common types of Ethical hacking:
- Web Application Hacking: The act of evaluating a computer network or system to identify security flaws that could be quickly exploited is known as web application hacking.
The hacking of web applications can be done automatically or manually.
Web application hacking should be done occasionally to assess the security effectiveness even though it is best done when a new network is added to the computer system. It is helpful while changing the application or the infrastructure.
- Web Server Hacking: We are frequently urged not to disclose or submit sensitive information online carelessly.
This is because web server hacking allows for very easy access to information and data on the internet. Unethical hackers steal information such as passwords, bank account details, and so on as a result of web server hacking.
Web server hacking is a type of hacking in which hackers collect sensitive information from the internet via sniffing attacks.
- System Hacking: System hacking involves gaining access to networks in order to attempt data theft. When a hacker gains access to a server or computer network, system hacking occurs.
System hacking causes a massive loss of data all at once because it is carried out on servers and computer networks.
Ethical hackers devote a significant amount of time to checking the security levels of a server or computer connected to a network in order to prevent malicious acts by unethical hackers.
- Wireless Network Hacking: The most frequent kind of hacking is wireless network hacking. We are frequently told not to use open Wi-Fi networks because wireless network hackers can easily access our data from those networks.
Since wireless networks use radio waves to communicate, it is simple to hack them from adjacent locations.
Why is Ethical Hacking Important?
Now we have an idea about what Ethical hacking is and its different types. The data stored in servers of any organization or Government body is very sensitive data and it needs to be protected by any means.
Now we will be talking about the importance of Ethical hacking and how it can play a major role in safeguarding data and networks.
- Ethical hacking is very important when it comes to the execution, management, and design of security systems. It helps in locating security loopholes and fixing them.
- Data is very important for companies because users trust them with their important data. If someone unethically gets access to that data, they can exploit it or blackmail the owner. To avoid such situations Ethical hacking in security planning helps a lot.
- There have been many occurrences when someone found a bug in websites or security systems of big companies websites. Those who help in locating any type of bug are heavily awarded by those companies. Hackers can attack anyway of your accounts hacker Facebook or Instagram or another personal account. Moreover, there are many bug bounty programs conducted in which hackers participate and help companies find bugs and fix them.
- Ethical hacking also plays a major role in national security. Government agencies hire Ethical hackers to prevent any kind of terrorist attacks or cyber terrorism.
- Ethical hackers have the ability to think like an attacker, this helps them to strengthen the potential entry points before any cyber attack.
- Ethical hackers also develop various tools to help eliminate system vulnerabilities.
Conclusion
In this article, we discussed Ethical hacking, its types, and how it can be helpful for your organization. We got to know how major roles Ethical hackers can play in any company and even in national security.