‘Hackers’ are individuals with advanced technology skills and are trained to bypass network security. A data breach can damage a company’s systems and infrastructure. An ethical hacker, also known as a white-hat hacker, checks the security of a network and exposes weak points. They identify and exploit system vulnerabilities in the same manner as a criminal hacker. In simple words, Ethical Hacking or penetration testing is an authorized attempt to gain unauthorized access to a computer system, application, data, and network to help find security vulnerabilities.
What does an ethical hacker do?
Ethical hackers can help organizations in several ways, like:
- Finding Vulnerabilities: A certified ethical hacker will check the IT security measures and determine if they are up-to-date. They perform several checks evaluate the organization’s system, and make a detailed report for all weak areas. The companies use the data to improve their security to prevent a cyber attack
- Demonstrating procedures used by cyber attackers – They explain the various hacking techniques used by cybercriminals and guide the executives to avoid a security threat. The organizations which are fore-warned are less likely of exposure to threats
- Helping organizations fight against a cyber attack – Ethical hacker training enables one to understand how a cyber hacker operates and their procedure to attack systems. Security professionals get themselves prepared for future attacks and react simultaneously to any online threats
- Examining security patches – Check all security measures and installations to make sure that they can’t be exploited
- Investigating networks – Ethical hackers are trained to smell various bypassing and cracking wireless encryption and hijacking web servers to ensure a system secure. This includes exploring issues related to all laptops and employee frauds in a company
Types of ethical hacking
A hacking performance requires good knowledge as every system of a system can be hacked. Some of the essential ethical hacking course trains you to avoid:
- Web application hacking
- Social engineering hacking practices
- System hacking
- Wireless networks hacking
- Web server hacking
Skills required becoming a certified ethical hacker certification
Apart from a detailed knowledge of computer systems, they are required to possess the following skills:
- Expert in scripting languages
- Proficient in various operating systems
- Knowledge of networking
- Foundation in the principles of information security
How to become a certified ethical hacker?
You must be a computer freak and unique skills to go for a successful hacking training course, as already explained. As such, there are no essential education criteria, and an organization can dictate its own terms and requirements to fill this job. However, you must require a bachelor’s or master’s degree with a valid certification of ethical hacking course. A degree in information security or computer science will be an added advantage for your portfolio.
Other technical subjects that will help you pursue this course may include programming, scripting, networking, and hardware engineering.
Certified ethical hacker (CRH) certification
The most crucial component for an ethical hacker profession is a legal certificate. As there is a fine line between hacking a system legally and illegally, organizations only prefer professionals with a certified certification. A Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) is trained with the strategies, tactics, technologies, tools, and motivations of cybercriminals.
Certification process
An aspirant must qualify for the CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker) exam to be a certified hacker. The overall process includes:
- The Electronic Commerce Council (EC-Council) offers a CEH training program with over 20 modules to cover most cyber threats
- The EC-Council offers an online CEH handbook, and an exam blueprint with a range of practice questions
- Many organizations offer CEH exam preparatory courses for the professionals
- Candidates are required to go for practice tests online held by EC-Council
A candidate must complete the EC-Council training program and pass an exam with 125 multiple-choice questions, with a four-hour limit. The successful students are awarded a CEH (Practical) certification, which is recognized globally, to help develop a senior ethical hacking career.
All the passes outs are required to be recertified after every three years to maintain CEH status and help them keep updated.
Best certifications for ethical hacking course
Some of the best-known certifications are:
- EC Council: Certified Ethical Hacking Certification
- Offensive Security Certified Profession Certification (OSCP)
- Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA)
- Comp TIA Security+
- Cisco’s CCNA Security
- SANS GIAC
- Certified Information Systems Manager (CISM)
Conclusion
Information and data are the most valuable assets of an organization. All sizes of various companies have a massive amount of sensitive data, which is to be protected from various cyber threats. Organizations understand that simply locking a computer and shutting their Windows can not ensure safety for their data. Every day hackers find new threats to make your system vulnerable. So, adopting better security systems with the help of ethical cyber hackers is a critical necessity.
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