Jen English: Although the term hacker usually
comes with a negative connotation, there are good
hackers too.
An ethical hacker is an InfoSec specialist who
breaks into a computer system, network or
application with permission. Ethical hackers are
hired by organizations to find and attempt to
exploit vulnerabilities to see if malicious
hackers can gain access. interested in becoming an
ethical hacker? Click the link above or in the
description below to read all about what it takes.
Ethical hackers can help organizations by
evaluating IT security measures and identifying
those that are effective, require updating or have
exploitable weaknesses. They can also demonstrate
methods used by cyber criminals to educate and
help companies prevent possible attacks. Ethical
hackers often use the same techniques as malicious
hackers to create an overall vulnerability
assessment. These techniques can include reverse
engineering, penetration testing, CT scanning,
social engineering, phishing, footprinting, SQL
injection, sniffing, and cryptography, among
others. To identify potential attack vectors that
could harm business and operational data, an
ethical hacker must have extensive technical
knowledge and information security. Technical
subjects like programming, scripting, networking,
hardware engineering, system administration, and
software development provide a fundamental
understanding of the technologies that ethical
hackers work on. Along with academic degrees in
computer science and actual experience working
with security systems, there are several industry
certifications that can help demonstrate subject
matter expertise. A few of these certifications
include Certified Ethical Hacker by the EC
Council, Certified Information Systems Auditor and
Certified Information Security Manager by ISACA
CompTIA cybersecurity analyst, advanced security
practitioner and pentest+ certifications in GX
Security Essentials certification. Does your
organization employ ethical hackers? Why or why
not? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
And be sure to hit those like and subscribe
buttons too.