Ethical hacking in simple terms means exploring the vulnerabilities of a device, network, or application without the intention to harm, but rather to improve it from what was previously obtainable.
The goal of ethical hacking is to discover these vulnerabilities before those who have the intent to cause or introduce harm so that security measures can be taken immediately against possible attacks. This makes ethical hacking one of the cybersecurity tools.
The Equifax data breach in 2017 that affected one hundred and forty-seven million Equifax customers due to their web application vulnerability would have been prevented through web application testing, a type of ethical hacking.
There are various ways in which ethical hacking can be performed depending on where it is needed, each of the hacking types employed in a case focuses on a particular aspect to find out a vulnerability.
Web application testing is a type of ethical hacking that explores the vulnerabilities of a web application, testing to see the possible ways that attackers can exploit the web application.
Penetration testing is one of the most common types of ethical hacking. This is carried out to explore ways of getting into a system or network.
It can be done in three ways, there is the white box testing, here it is done by someone who understands the inner workings of a system. Think of it like when an insider tries to breach the protocol.
Then there is the gray box testing, where the ethical hacker does not have full knowledge of the system. Black box testing is another type of ethical hacking that explores the vulnerability of the system with someone who does understand anything about the system being tested. So imagine it as a random hacker attacking the device.
Wireless testing is done on wireless networks as the name implies to ascertain the level of security and how they can be exploited maliciously.
Organizations can hire people to be ethical hackers focused on doing these testing on their systems, networks, and devices. Or, they can do this through bug bounty programs. The bug bounty program uses incentives to realize its goal.
Ethical hacking here can be done by anyone because there is a price and recognition attached if you can find a vulnerability. So cybersecurity defenders and security researchers go above and beyond to find one.
There are lots of benefits to carrying out ethical hacking, especially now in the digital economy where a lot goes on online and people and organizations need to ascertain the level of their security to avoid costly damage due to data breaches.
Ethical Hacking is not without challenges as well, there are a few that plagues its activity. The legal and ethical considerations are a major bottleneck because ethical hackers are still dealing with private data.
Also, the actions taken by these ethical hackers have to be by the book or they could get into trouble themselves.
It might be very difficult to find the vulnerability, due to ethical constraints and considerations.
Therefore, ethical hackers have a responsibility of managing these challenges by first obtaining the necessary permissions before conducting ethical hacking on any system, network, or device and also ensuring no harm comes to the device, system, or network in the cause of their activity.
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