Hacking has rapidly become an unavoidable and expensive challenge for many businesses. Data breaches have climbed by 10% since 2020, as per the Quick View report.
Ethical hacking is the legal subversion of system security to identify prospective data breaches, current flaws, and network risks.
Ethical hackers utilize their knowledge to find flaws in a company’s cybersecurity. They undertake in-depth research for a company to improve its security systems and footprint in order to withstand or avoid cyberattacks. This method, unlike malicious hacking, is designed, authorized, and, more importantly, lawful.
Also Read: Top 5 Cybersecurity Job Roles for EC Council Certified Professionals
To Become an Ethical Hacker, you’ll need the following skills
To become an ethical hacker, you’ll need to master a variety of skills, including:
1. Computer Networking: Any aspiring ethical hacker must thoroughly understand networks and computers. Hacking involves gaining access to computer systems and their interconnections in order to identify potential threats. So, you must be familiar with basic concepts such as thread killing, process injection, process killing, and so on. Networking fundamentals must be well-understood, including the IP addresses, OSI model, DHCP, MAC addresses, routing, and subnetting.
2. Knowledge of Operating Systems: Another important ethical hacking ability to master is operating system knowledge. Detailed knowledge of Linux is essential because it is more secure than other operating systems. It doesn’t mean Linux is fully secure; it can be hacked, but it is significantly less vulnerable than other operating systems. Ethical hacking also requires other key operating systems, such as Red Hat and Ubuntu.
3. Programming: Programmers use technical and logical variables in their programming to create code that performs specific functions. To find flaws in the code, ethical hackers need to be familiar with programming languages, including PYTHON, JAVA, C, C#, C++, JAVASCRIPT, NET, PHP, and HTML.
4. Penetration Testing: Penetration testing, which identifies system vulnerabilities, is a skill that ethical hackers should have. Ethical hackers can use penetration testing to find and fix issues before they cause a security breach. There are 5 steps in this procedure: scanning, reconnaissance, retaining access, getting access, and analysis, which are carried out with various tools like Wireshark, Nmap, Metasploit, Hashcat, and others.
5. Cryptography: Cryptography is the process of creating and analyzing protocols that prevent malicious forces from collecting data between two parties for secure communication while complying with a variety of information security rules. During transmission, cryptography converts a standard text/message into a non-readable format known as cipher-text, rendering it incomprehensible to hackers. One of the most important responsibilities of an ethical hacker is to protect the confidentiality of internal communications.
6. Reverse Engineering: Reverse engineering is the process of studying code to restore a product’s design, requirements, and operations. Its goal is to make maintenance more accessible by improving its readability and creating the necessary documentation for a legacy system. It’s often used in software security to see if the system has any major security flaws or risks.
Aside from these skills, an ethical hacker should be familiar with basic hardware, be able to handle a database, and have realistic and dynamic problem-solving skills
Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)
Those looking to start a career in ethical hacking can do the Certified Ethical Haker certification, also known as CEH certification. This training prepares for the fundamentals of ethical hacking. Professionals learn the basics of computer systems and operating systems along with the common hacking tools. In addition, it will also introduce more advanced techniques around penetration testing, blocking cyberattacks, cybercrime countermeasures, firewall testings, and more.
CEH training isn’t just for beginners. The Certified Ethical Hacker training includes many new things and techniques that even cybersecurity professionals might not know.
Who Hires Ethical Hackers?
Every type of private, public and government organizations hires Ethical Hackers. For example:
- Financial institutions
- Ecommerce marketplaces
- SaaS companies
- Data centres and cloud computing companies
- Local, state, and federal government bodies
- Entertainment and media providers
Companies are hiring ethical hackers and penetration testers because of the rise in cybercrime; with their help, they can be one step ahead of malicious hackers. As per Payscale, the average salary for a Certified Ethical Hacker is over $90,000 a year.
Ethical Hacking Career: Job Profiles
An ethical hacker can try for the following roles:
- Information Security Analyst
- Security Analyst
- Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)
- Ethical Hacker
- Security Consultant, (Computing / Networking / Information Technology)
- Information Security Manager
- Penetration Tester
Ethical hacker jobs can be found as a standalone or as a part of IT security. Job seekers can also reach out directly to CTO’s, IT recruiters, and network admins to find open positions.
Get CEH Certified With Microtek Learning
Microtek Learning provides EC Council certification training. Check out our EC-Council CEH: Certified Ethical Hacker v12 course to help you prepare for the CEH exam. It’s a five-day, 40-hour program that costs $2,795.