Hacking means exploiting weakness in a computer network to gain an unauthorized entry to information. This is a person who tries to hack into a computer. It is a mistaken belief that hacking is always wrong. There are hackers who work with different motives.
Types of hackers
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Black Hat hackers
Black Hat hackers are people who illegally hack into a system for monetary gain.
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White hat hackers
White hat hackers are mainly security researchers and penetration testers. White hat hackers often define the system’s vulnerabilities by hacking into it with permission, to defend the organization. This is perfectly legal and ethical. White hat hackers are also known as ethical hackers.
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Gray hat hackers
As the name suggests the color gray is a combination of both white and black these hackers find vulnerabilities in the system and inform it to the owner of the system, which is a good act. They still do this without having the owner’s permission. Sometimes, these hackers also ask for money in return for the discovered vulnerabilities.
What Is Ethical Hacking?
Ethical Hacking is a legal way of hacking. Software Development Companies hire computer geeks to test system security, find vulnerabilities, and provide analysis on how to improve the firewall. It also supports the government agencies to find and locate potential threats to national security.
People who have approval to hack computer systems are known as ‘ethical hackers.’ These hackers are authorized to hack according to the clients’ instructions. Once the vulnerabilities are found, the hackers present a ‘maturity scorecard,’ which cites the level of risk, the amount of loopholes in the security, and suggests improvements if needed.
Types of Ethical Hacking
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Network Hacking
Network hacking conveys the use of tools like Ping, Telnet, Netstat, Tracert, NS lookup, and more to hack a network system with criminal intention.
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Website Hacking
Hackers attain unlawful control over the web server and its related software, containing databases and other interfaces with website hacking.
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Computer Hacking
Computer hacking is basically unauthorized entry into a computer system after stealing User IDs and passwords.
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Password Hacking
Hackers utilize unlawful means to get passwords stored or transmitted by a system.
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Email Hacking
Email Hacking is getting unauthorized control of an email account and utilizing it to send out spam emails, third-party threats, and other unlawful, harmful stuff.
Cyber Security with White Hat Hackers
An ethical hacker goes through the server and network security of the company and identifies the vulnerabilities through which a black-hat hacker can attack. He is also allowed to penetrate into the target network.
The white-hat or ethical hacker plays a crucial role in network and data security and discovers the weak spots and can inform about the specific vulnerabilities so that the authorities can further move on to the same lime.
The need for Ethical Hackers came into necessity when networks and servers of organizations and government bodies were violated thoroughly. Given below are some of the reasons that describe the need to hire an ethical hacker
- To develop solutions that would protect the data and network from malicious attacks
- To understand which of the security measures are useful and which ones need upgradation, and which are not capable enough to withstand an attack.
- To make decisions about how and where to improve data security.
- To make security awareness at all levels in a company.
- To increase data and network security standards and make them impossible to breach.
Requirement and Advantages of Ethical Hacking:
Ethical hacking goes together with ‘Penetration Testing’ and most often are the same ideas. However, ethical hacking covers a great deal more than just penetration testing.
An organization recruits an ethical hacker to penetrate the online defenses of a computer network and identify the vulnerabilities it may present to an attacker and develop solutions to avoid data breaches the security of the organization’s data. Ethical Hacking avoids data breaches and safeguards businesses from cyber terrorists.
Here are a few benefits of ethical hacking for businesses
- Testing Security Measures
- Identifying Vulnerable Areas
- Determining the Techniques and Approach of Hacker
- Finding and preparing for a cyber-attack
- Security Awareness to a data or network breach
Wrapping up
As the complexity of security threats have increased, the need for ethical hackers and their importance around the world is multiplying rapidly. Utilizing a driven approach and outlook towards security can help organizations protect their reputation effectively.