why cyber security is important

Cybersecurity risk is increasing, driven by global connectivity and usage of cloud services, like
Amazon Web Services, to store sensitive data and personal information. Widespread poor
configuration of cloud services paired with increasingly sophisticated cyber criminals means the
risk that your organization suffers from a successful cyber attack or data breach is on the rise.

Who is Ethical Hacker?

An ethical hacker (also known as a white-hat hacker) is the ultimate security

professional. Ethical hackers know how to find and exploit vulnerabilities and
weaknesses in various systems—just like a malicious hacker (or a black hat hacker). In
fact, they both use the same skills; however, an ethical hacker uses those skills in a
legitimate, lawful manner to try to find vulnerabilities and fix them before the bad guys
can get there and try to break in.

According to the EC-Council, the ethical hacking definition is “an individual who is

usually employed with an organization and who can be trusted to undertake an attempt
to penetrate networks and/or computer systems using the same methods and
techniques as a malicious hacker.”

The role of an ethical hacker is important since the bad guys will always be there, trying
to find cracks, backdoors, and other secret ways to access data they shouldn’t. In fact,
there’s even a professional certification for ethical hackers: the Certified Ethical Hacker .

What is Ethical Hacking?

Apart from testing duties, ethical hackers are associated with other responsibilities. The
main idea is to replicate a malicious hacker at work and instead of exploiting the
vulnerabilities for malicious purposes, seek countermeasures to shore up the system’s
defenses. An ethical hacker might employ all or some of these strategies to penetrate a
system:

 Scanning ports and seeking vulnerabilities: An ethical hacker uses port scanning tools
like Nmap or Nessus to scan one’s own systems and find open ports. The vulnerabilities with
each of the ports can be studied, and remedial measures can be taken.

 An ethical hacker will examine patch installations and make sure that they cannot be
exploited.
 The ethical hacker may engage in social engineering concepts like dumpster diving—
rummaging through trash bins for passwords, charts, sticky notes, or anything with crucial
information that can be used to generate an attack. 

What is Ethical Hacking?

Ethical Hacking is an authorized practice of bypassing system security to identify

potential data breaches and threats in a network. The company that owns the system or
network allows Cyber Security engineers to perform such activities in order to test the
system’s defenses. Thus, unlike malicious hacking, this process is planned, approved,
and more importantly, legal.

Ethical hackers aim to investigate the system or network for weak points that malicious
hackers can exploit or destroy. They collect and analyze the information to figure out
ways to strengthen the security of the system/network/applications. By doing so,  they
can improve the security footprint so that it can better withstand attacks or divert them.

Ethical Hackers check for key vulnerabilities include but are not limited to:

 Injection attacks

 Changes in security settings

 Exposure of sensitive data

 Breach in authentication protocols

 Components used in the system or network that may be used as access points

White Hat vs Black Hat Hacker 

The best way to differentiate between White Hat and Black Hat hackers is by taking a
look at their motives. Black Hat hackers are motivated by malicious intent, manifested
by personal gains, profit, or harassment; whereas White Hat hackers seek out and
remedy vulnerabilities, so as to prevent Black Hats from taking advantage.
The other ways to draw a distinction between White Hat and Black Hat hackers include:

 Techniques used: White Hat hackers duplicate the techniques and methods

followed by malicious hackers in order to find out the system discrepancies,
replicating all the latter’s steps to find out how a system attack occurred or may
occur. If they find a weak point in the system or network, they report it immediately
and fix the flaw.

 Legality: Even though White Hat hacking follows the same techniques and
methods as Black Hat hacking, only one is legally acceptable. Black Hat hackers
break the law by penetrating systems without consent.

 Ownership: White Hat hackers are employed by organizations to penetrate their

systems and detect security issues. Black hat hackers neither own the system nor
work for someone who owns it.

Roles and Responsibilities of an Ethical Hacker

Ethical Hackers must follow certain guidelines in order to perform hacking legally. A
good hacker knows his or her responsibility and adheres to all of the ethical guidelines.
Here are the most important rules of Ethical Hacking:

 An ethical hacker must seek authorization from the organization that owns the
system. Hackers should obtain complete approval before performing any security
assessment on the system or network.

 Determine the scope of their assessment and make known their plan to the
organization.

 Report any security breaches and vulnerabilities found in the system or network.

 Keep their discoveries confidential. As their purpose is to secure the system or

network, ethical hackers should agree to and respect their non-disclosure agreement.

 Erase all traces of the hack after checking the system for any vulnerability. It
prevents malicious hackers from entering the system through the identified
loopholes.

Benefits Of Ethical hacking

The sudden rise in the demand for ethical hacking that is being noticed is a result of
technological advances that lead to many threats in the technology sphere in the world.
An ethical hacker serves as an organization by protecting their system and its
information from illegal hackers as cyber-attacks and cyber terrorism is greatly growing.

Understanding and getting accustomed to ethical hacking comprises of delving into the
psyche and techniques of the hackers and thus learning how to penetrate into the
systems through identifying and evaluating vulnerabilities in the software and computer
networks. Pursuing ethical hacking can add immense value to an organization, if
practiced and exercised efficiently and correctly.

Conclusion

Since the convolution of security threats have multiplied, the requirement for ethical
hackers and their significance across the world is rapidly multiplying. Adopting a driven
approach and outlook towards security can help organizations shield their reputation
effectively. Well, That’s it, folks! This brings us to the end of this article.