Ethical Hacking – A Global Digital Trend

Why Ethical Hacking?

Nowadays, organizations spend millions to find security solutions, but still, they feel vulnerable to potential threats. Ethical hacking helps in that regard by demonstrating the actual exploitation of an IT system’s vulnerabilities instead of just identifying them. 

Several courses of action can be used to test IT environments against cyber-attacks. When you hear the term “hacking”, you usually think of a person or a virus that infects your computer, when in fact ethical hacking investigates the system’s weaknesses and brings them to the attention of the organization before they are misused.

The expansion of the internet is increasing day by day, and so are the numbers of data breaches and cyber-attacks. Cybercrime is a threat to almost all organizations. As there are more sophisticated hacking techniques nowadays, ethical hackers use advanced tools and strategies to prevent such attacks from happening. 

Ethical hacking helps organizations to strengthen their security towards today’s cyber-attacks.

Why Ethical Hackers?

An ethical hacker uses several techniques to find weak points within the network, systems, or services of an organization. The main goal of an ethical hacker is to find out how far an attack may go, without being detected. 

Identifying exploitable vulnerabilities on time would help the organization protect its data and information that should be kept confidential. In this regard, investing in ethical hacking is becoming a necessity, more than a choice. 

An ethical hacker is required to report all issues found, which may include privileged information for the organization, or those that are used for illegitimate purposes. It should be kept in mind that it is up to the organization to adequately respond to all the issues reported by the ethical hacker since if no corrective actions are taken by the organization, the findings would go to waste. 

Considering that the cost and severity of cyber-attacks are surging, the demand for ethical hackers is constantly increasing.  

The rising need for Ethical Hackers

Ethical hacking is currently one of the most demanding roles in cybersecurity. This is a result of many compromised network systems and security vulnerabilities which are costing businesses huge amounts each year. 

Another powerful element that contributes to the high demand for ethical hackers is that the cyber sector is developing at a fast pace, which is presenting complex security requirements that can be overcome only by experts in the field. 

Moreover, the information technology world is heading towards the cloud, with IT outsourcing and virtualization as the main trends. This transition has brought an increased level of threat, increasing the demand for ethical hackers as well. 

Considering the aforementioned, organizations are continually looking for ethical hackers who can fortify business networks, as well as prevent cyber-attacks. 

Skills of an Ethical Hacker

To become a good ethical hacker, one should think like a real hacker. As a trending topic nowadays, it should be noted that both the hacking techniques and the required ethical hacking skills are continually evolving. 

Some of the concepts that an Ethical Hacker should have knowledge of include:

• Cryptography – An ethical hacker should understand how cryptography is used to secure the stored or transmitted information of the organization.
• Database – An ethical hacker should have good database skills, engines, and schemas so that it can help an organization to build an effective and secure Database Management System.
• Programming – An ethical hacker should have knowledge of programming language. 
• Computer networking – An ethical hacker should understand the interconnection of several devices and the potential security threats they may face.  
• Penetration testing – An ethical hacker should have comprehensive knowledge of penetration testing tools and methodologies in order to successfully detect any vulnerability. 

An ethical hacker may employ some of the strategies below for penetrating an organization’s system or identifying vulnerabilities: 

• Observing the patch installation and their security to ensure that no system is compromised
• Employing different social engineering techniques to gain access to any crucial information
• Examining issues that could be related to any employee fraud case
• Using port-scanning tools to find vulnerabilities, if any, and help the organization to find remedial measures  

How can PECB help you?

As a result of cyber-threats, a considerable number of organizations embraced digital transformation rapidly. Thus, there is a huge demand for professionals who have a rich background and practical skills in the field. 

The PECB Certified Lead Ethical Hacker training course is participant-centric, and it combines lectures, exercises, labs, discussions, and much more. 

The training course is now being finalized, and it will be available for distribution very soon!

If you are interested in the training course, contact us at marketing@pecb.com.

About the authors: 

Vesa Hyseni is a Senior Product Marketing Manager for GRC at PECB. She is in charge of conducting market research while developing and providing information related to ISO standards. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact her: marketing.grc@pecb.com.

Albana Iseni is a Product Marketing Manager for ISR at PECB. She is in charge of conducting market research while developing and providing information related to ISO standards. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact her: marketing.ism@pecb.com.