Ethical hacking is all about getting into a hacker's mind to protect your system from being hacked. Lately, it has become a fairly popular career choice for many, and that shouldn't come as a surprise if you take into account the considerable rise in Internet crimes across the world.
Ethical hacking is a white hat technique, wherein the hacker breaches the security of a computer system or the network to expose the security systems vulnerability. A career as an ethical hacker has bright prospects because of two reasons: first, the dependence of the entire world on computer technology, and second, easy access to world wide web.
Ethical Hacking for Dummies
In ethical hacking, the hacker identifies the weakness in the system, but instead of taking advantage of the same, he alerts the owner, so that the latter can fix the loophole and secure his system.
In this case, the message can be conveyed by various means, ranging from a simple phone call to leaving an electronic card in the system as an obvious signal that the system was breached. Ethical hackers use the same tools as hackers do, but they are not a threat to the system. Some people do it as a hobby, while some pursue it as their career.
It's difficult to defend yourself against an unknown enemy; hacking best exemplifies this. You can't fight hackers if you don't know how they work. They use various methods and tools to hack into a system. In order to understand their methodology, one has to get into their shoes.
An ethical hacker has to possess excellent programming and networking skills as well as good working knowledge of various operating systems. All these skills should be backed by the knowledge of necessary hardware and software.
A certified ethical hacking or cyber security course is the basic requirement to become an ethical hacker. Hacking is not a process which can be executed with a snap of the finger. It's important to be patient, especially for beginners. In some cases, you may have to monitor the system for days or weeks to get a single opportunity to crack it.
It's all about practicing to become perfect, both white hat and black hat techniques. You can try hacking your own system to find the loopholes in the security. You can also hack a friends PC, but make sure that you have the permission to do so.
Privacy Issues
Privacy of the client's information is one of the most predominant issue in the field of ethical hacking. While working on a project, the ethical hacker may come across some vital information about the user or the company. He should make sure that this information is kept secret.
All the results―documented as well as in electronic format―have to be kept in a safe custody. The information may mean a lot to the user or the company, and the ethical hacker has to respect his client's privacy.
Illegal hacking is considered a severe Internet crime, which can earn up to 10 years imprisonment, and thus, it is wise to take necessary precautions.
Computer security has become a major concern in the world today. Though ethical hackers can penetrate into systems and warn administrators about the possible attacks, it's the administrators who have to be careful about the hazards of the advanced methods that the hackers use.