Digitization has brought many benefits to our everyday lives and has made us vulnerable to numerous online threats. Whether on an individual or organizational level, your data is always at risk of getting stolen, misused, or sold.
That is why you need effective security measures to prevent these hazardous situations. One way to counter malicious attempts to access your data is through ethical hacking. It is an authorized attempt to gain access to applications and data by duplicating the same methods a hacker would use.
The purpose of ethical hacking is to identify security vulnerabilities and fix them right away. It prevents hackers from gaining authorized access to any database and saves sensitive information from falling into the wrong hands.
If you are interested in joining this sector, you should familiarize yourself with the concept of ethical hacking. To help you out, here’s what you need to know:
What Educational Qualifications Do Ethical Hackers Need?
Before you can pursue a career in ethical hacking, you need to have the right educational qualifications. Two certifications are relevant to ethical hacking: the Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) and the Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP).
Certified hackers use the same techniques a hacker would gain access to a database. Still, these professionals look for weaknesses instead of stealing or corrupting data. If you become a certified ethical hacker, testing and fixing security potholes come under your jurisdiction.
While an offensive security expert researches, the network identifies vulnerabilities and gains access to the database to conduct penetration tests. After carefully examining where the network stands, this security expert will use their findings to generate a report that depicts what security areas need to be fixed.
Therefore, to learn how to become ethical hacker, you need to earn a certificate and a bachelor’s degree first and then work on your skill set. Try getting your under-grad in any computer-related field, such as computer science or engineering, before you appear for these certifying exams.
What Does An Ethical Hacker Do?
As an ethical hacker, you can work in any field. Whether you choose to join a cybersecurity firm or become a freelance consultant, both areas of employment are rewarding in their way. Your primary role is protecting websites and applications by using your knowledge of common tactics used by hackers. In some cases, you will also need to study up on certain digital assets or get hired to protect a specific software. Typically, here is what you may need to do:
Conduct A Full Fledged Security Assessment
As an ethical hacker, you must complete a security assessment. This evaluation allows you to judge whether an organization has excellent security to prevent hacking.
Since security tests are extensive, you may need to check for vulnerabilities through penetration tests and recommend steps to fix the loopholes and reduce the risk of falling prey to these attacks. You may need to update the firewall and carry out a patch test.
Threat Modeling
Threat modeling is a process that allows you to work on network security and identify all areas of vulnerabilities to come up with countermeasures to prevent an attack.
Modeling allows you to consider the whole system and conclude where an organization needs to focus on improving its security network. For instance, if a company designs a practical application, you will need to assess the purpose of this application, identify its digital assets and create security measures that protect all this delicate data.
Write Up Reports
After completing a security assessment, you need to write up a report on what you discovered and what countermeasures you need to take. This comprehensive evaluation will contain details on the exposed data, areas of vulnerability, and the threats you found. The measures you suggest must be realistic and easy to follow, or the firm may need help maintaining its security measures.
What Skills Do You Need To Become An Ethical Hacker?
To be a seasoned, ethical hacker, you must have specific skills. Apart from understanding how hackers access datasets, you need to have strong technical skills that allow you to code and know how to work on wired and wireless networks. You must also show proficiency with operating systems such as Windows and Linux, which most software developers use.
Your scope of knowledge should also include an understanding of firewalls and file systems since you will need to work on various servers, know how to ask for permission to get into file systems and organize the data you find. It will help if you build your experience by familiarizing yourself with vulnerability testing tools like Invicti, Metasploit, and OpenVAS.
Furthermore, it would help if you got skills in working with SQL.
It is a programming language needed for hacking. It is used to communicate with databases while web hacking. You will need to use SQL injection to bypass weak web applications and logic algorithms and delete databases. Lastly, you also need to know how to work with cryptography. It involves translating a standard test message to the non-readable type known as ciphertext.
What Is The Career Outlook For Ethical Hackers?
After you get your degree and certification as an ethical hacker, you can become an information security analyst, a security consultant, or a penetration tester.
According to the pay scale, you’ll start with a junior position first and get an opportunity to make a salary of over $80,000 per year. But the more experience you gain and skillful you become, your salary will boost to $90,000 per year. Once you enter senior positions, you can acquire a six-figure salary.
Final Thoughts
Ethical hacking is a valuable skill to have. Once you become a certified expert, you can lend your knowledge to helping organizations manage their security and prevent severe damage to their online data.
To become proficient at ethical hacking, you need the right educational qualifications and skills, such as security assessment, SQL injection, and cryptography. You will also need to know how to code, conduct vulnerability tests and write reports on your findings. Lastly, your job as an ethical hacker can help you secure a job as a security analyst, consultant, or penetration tester. A solid career can land you an easy six-figure job.
