Ethical hacking is the identification and exploitation of security vulnerabilities for the purpose of improving an organisation’s cyber security. Ethical hacking helps organisations improve their security status by uncovering exposures that are beneath the surface and providing support to address them.
An ethical hacker, also commonly referred to as a white hat hacker, is a cyber security professional entrusted to perform ethical hacking assessments. Certified ethical hackers possess a comprehensive understanding of the tactics and techniques that malicious ‘black hat’ attackers use and leverage this knowledge to ensure that ethical hacking assessments accurately reflect real-life adversarial approaches.
The purpose of ethical hacking is to evaluate the security of and identify vulnerabilities in systems, networks or system infrastructure. It includes finding and attempting to exploit any vulnerabilities to determine whether unauthorized access or other malicious activities are possible.
White hat hackers may engage in ethical hacking in a number of ways such as:
•Simulating attacks that could enter the network.
•Using information about the company found online to try to infiltrate the system.
•Testing the security of firewalls, routers and switches.
•Attempting to hack into the company's wireless network.
•Trying to manipulate employees into divulging sensitive information, known by hackers as social engineering.
•Testing the security of physical controls including key cards, doors, alarms or guards.
•Exploiting a company website to uncover security deficiencies.
Types of Hacking
· Ethical Hacking − Ethical hacking involves finding weaknesses in a computer or network system for testing purpose and finally getting them fixed.
· Password Hacking − This is the process of recovering secret passwords from data that has been stored in or transmitted by a computer system.
· Computer Hacking − This is the process of stealing computer ID and password by applying hacking methods and getting unauthorized access to a computer system.
· Network Hacking − Hacking a network means gathering information about a network by using tools like Telnet, NS lookup, Ping, Tracert, Netstat, etc. with the intent to harm the network system and hamper its operation.
· Email Hacking − It includes getting unauthorized access on an Email account and using it without taking the consent of its owner.
· Website Hacking − Hacking a website means taking unauthorized control over a web server and its associated software such as databases and other interfaces.
Advantages of Hacking
· To recover lost information, especially in case you lost your password.
· To perform penetration testing to strengthen computer and network security.
· To put adequate preventative measures in place to prevent security breaches.
· To have a computer system that prevents malicious hackers from gaining access.
Disadvantages of Hacking
· Hampering system operation.
·Denial of service attacks.
·Malicious attack on the system.
·Massive security breach.
·Unauthorized system access on private information.
·\Privacy violation.
Purpose of Hacking
·Hampering privacy
·Money extortion
·System security testing
·To break policy compliance
·Just for fun
·Show-off
·Steal important information
·Damaging the system
Types Of Hackers-
Black Hat Hackers
Black Hat hackers, also known as crackers, are those who hack in order to gain unauthorized access to a system and harm its operations or steal sensitive information.
Black Hat hacking is always illegal because of its bad intent which includes stealing corporate data, violating privacy, damaging the system, blocking network communication, etc.
White Hat Hackers:
White Hat hackers are also known as Ethical Hackers. They never intent to harm a system, rather they try to find out weaknesses in a computer or a network system as a part of penetration testing and vulnerability assessments.
Ethical hacking is not illegal and it is one of the demanding jobs available in the IT industry. There are numerous companies that hire ethical hackers for penetration testing and vulnerability assessments.
Grey Hat Hackers
Grey hat hackers are a blend of both black hat and white hat hackers. They act without malicious intent but for their fun, they exploit a security weakness in a computer system or network without the owner’s permission or knowledge.
Their intent is to bring the weakness to the attention of the owners and getting appreciation or a little bounty from the owners.
Miscellaneous Hackers
Apart from the above well-known classes of hackers, we have the following categories of hackers based on what they hack and how they do it −
Red Hat Hackers
Red hat hackers are again a blend of both black hat and white hat hackers. They are usually on the level of hacking government agencies, top-secret information hubs, and generally anything that falls under the category of sensitive information.
Blue Hat Hackers
A blue hat hacker is someone outside computer security consulting firms who is used to bug-test a system prior to its launch. They look for loopholes that can be exploited and try to close these gaps. Microsoft also uses the term BlueHat to represent a series of security briefing events.
Script Kiddie
A script kiddie is a non-expert who breaks into computer systems by using pre-packaged automated tools written by others, usually with little understanding of the underlying concept, hence the term Kiddie.
How to become an ethical hacker
There are no standard education criteria for an ethical hacker, so an organization can set its own requirements for that position. Those interested in pursuing a career as an ethical hacker should consider a bachelor’s or master’s degree in information security, computer science or even mathematics as a strong foundation.
Individuals not planning to attend college can consider pursing an information security career in the military. Many organizations consider a military background a plus for information security hiring, and some organizations are required to hire individuals with security clearances.
Other technical subjects including programming, scripting, networking and hardware engineering, can help those pursuing a career as ethical hackers by offering a fundamental understanding of the underlying technologies that form the systems that they will be working on. Other pertinent technical skills include system administration and software development.
Certified ethical hackers
There are a number of ethical hacking certifications as well as IT certifications related to security that can help individuals become ethical hackers, including:
•Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH): This is a vendor-neutral certification from the EC-Council, one of the leading certification bodies. This security certification, which validates how much an individual knows about network security, is best suited for a penetration tester role. This certification covers more than 270 attacks technologies. Prerequisites for this certification include attending official training offered by the EC-Council or its affiliates and having at least two years of information security-related experience.
•Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA): This certification is offered by ISACA, a nonprofit, independent association that advocates for professionals involved in information security, assurance, risk management and governance. The exam certifies the knowledge and skills of security professionals. To qualify for this certification, candidates must have five years of professional work experience related to information systems auditing, control or security.
•Certified information security manager (CISM): CISM is an advanced certification offered by ISACA that provides validation for individuals who have demonstrated the in-depth knowledge and experience required to develop and manage an enterprise information security program. The certification is aimed at information security managers, aspiring managers or IT consultants who support information security program management.
•GIAC Security Essentials (GSEC): This certification created and administered by the Global Information Assurance Certification organization is geared toward security professionals who want to demonstrate they are qualified for IT systems hands-on roles with respect to security tasks. Candidates are required to demonstrate they understand information security beyond simple terminology and concepts.
Important Terms Used in Hacking.
· Adware − Adware is software designed to force pre-chosen ads to display on your system.
·Attack − An attack is an action that is done on a system to get its access and extract sensitive data.
·Back door − A back door, or trap door, is a hidden entry to a computing device or software that bypasses security measures, such as logins and password protections.
·Bot − A bot is a program that automates an action so that it can be done repeatedly at a much higher rate for a more sustained period than a human operator could do it. For example, sending HTTP, FTP or Telnet at a higher rate or calling script to create objects at a higher rate.
·Botnet − A botnet, also known as zombie army, is a group of computers controlled without their owners’ knowledge. Botnets are used to send spam or make denial of service attacks.
·Brute force attack − A brute force attack is an automated and the simplest kind of method to gain access to a system or website. It tries different combination of usernames and passwords, over and over again, until it gets in.
·Buffer Overflow − Buffer Overflow is a flaw that occurs when more data is written to a block of memory, or buffer, than the buffer is allocated to hold.
·Clone phishing − Clone phishing is the modification of an existing, legitimate email with a false link to trick the recipient into providing personal information.
·Cracker − A cracker is one who modifies the software to access the features which are considered undesirable by the person cracking the software, especially copy protection features.
·Denial of service attack (DoS) − A denial of service (DoS) attack is a malicious attempt to make a server or a network resource unavailable to users, usually by temporarily interrupting or suspending the services of a host connected to the Internet.
· DDoS − Distributed denial of service attack.
·Exploit Kit − An exploit kit is software system designed to run on web servers, with the purpose of identifying software vulnerabilities in client machines communicating with it and exploiting discovered vulnerabilities to upload and execute malicious code on the client.
·Exploit − Exploit is a piece of software, a chunk of data, or a sequence of commands that takes advantage of a bug or vulnerability to compromise the security of a computer or network system.
·Firewall − A firewall is a filter designed to keep unwanted intruders outside a computer system or network while allowing safe communication between systems and users on the inside of the firewall.
·Keystroke logging − Keystroke logging is the process of tracking the keys which are pressed on a computer (and which touchscreen points are used). It is simply the map of a computer/human interface. It is used by gray and black hat hackers to record login IDs and passwords. Keyloggers are usually secreted onto a device using a Trojan delivered by a phishing email.
·Logic bomb − A virus secreted into a system that triggers a malicious action when certain conditions are met. The most common version is the time bomb.
·Malware − Malware is an umbrella term used to refer to a variety of forms of hostile or intrusive software, including computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, ransomware, spyware, adware, scareware, and other malicious programs.
·Master Program − A master program is the program a black hat hacker uses to remotely transmit commands to infected zombie drones, normally to carry out Denial of Service attacks or spam attacks.
·Phishing − Phishing is an e-mail fraud method in which the perpetrator sends out legitimate-looking emails, in an attempt to gather personal and financial information from recipients.
·Phreaker − Phreakers are considered the original computer hackers and they are those who break into the telephone network illegally, typically to make free longdistance phone calls or to tap phone lines.
·Rootkit − Rootkit is a stealthy type of software, typically malicious, designed to hide the existence of certain processes or programs from normal methods of detection and enable continued privileged access to a computer.
·Shrink Wrap code − A Shrink Wrap code attack is an act of exploiting holes in unpatched or poorly configured software.
·Social engineering − Social engineering implies deceiving someone with the purpose of acquiring sensitive and personal information, like credit card details or user names and passwords.
·Spam − A Spam is simply an unsolicited email, also known as junk email, sent to a large number of recipients without their consent.
·Spoofing − Spoofing is a technique used to gain unauthorized access to computers, whereby the intruder sends messages to a computer with an IP address indicating that the message is coming from a trusted host.
·Spyware − Spyware is software that aims to gather information about a person or organization without their knowledge and that may send such information to another entity without the consumer's consent, or that asserts control over a computer without the consumer's knowledge.
·SQL Injection − SQL injection is an SQL code injection technique, used to attack data-driven applications, in which malicious SQL statements are inserted into an entry field for execution (e.g. to dump the database contents to the attacker).
·Threat − A threat is a possible danger that can exploit an existing bug or vulnerability to compromise the security of a computer or network system.
·Trojan − A Trojan, or Trojan Horse, is a malicious program disguised to look like a valid program, making it difficult to distinguish from programs that are supposed to be there designed with an intention to destroy files, alter information, steal passwords or other information.
·Virus − A virus is a malicious program or a piece of code which is capable of copying itself and typically has a detrimental effect, such as corrupting the system or destroying data.
·Vulnerability − A vulnerability is a weakness which allows a hacker to compromise the security of a computer or network system.
·Worms − A worm is a self-replicating
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