Information is an important asset of any organization and to ensure the security of it, organizations are going an extra mile and implementing solutions to help defend themselves. Ethical hacking is an emerging tool which has proved to be effective when it comes to securing an organization’s crucial data. It helps in recognizing security risks and vulnerabilities in an organization’s network.
An ethical hacker can suggest relevant tools and methodologies to organizations to avoid cyber attacks. They act as a security measure, which, when properly executed, tests the security of enterprise networks. Ethical hackers use hacking tools and methodologies to intrude systems and networks and reach vulnerabilities before criminal attackers reach them. This is done ethically, with the permission of the management, as it is performed for the benefit of the organization.
Objectives of Ethical Hacking
- Finding the scope of ethical hacking
- Understanding the type of tools and processes required to execute
- Implementing ethical hacking effectively
Importance of ethical hacking in organizations
- Organizations are under constant cyber attacks
Organizations, big or small, are constantly targeted. More than 540 million records of Facebook user account details were compromised and exposed to Amazon’s cloud computing service. [1] About 8000 account holders’ data of about 10 Pakistani banks were sold in a hacker’s market. [2] Big organizations and financial institutions invest a lot of resources in cybersecurity but remain unprotected.
To curtail the acts of cyber attackers, one needs to be able to think like them but act faster. Ethical hackers perform security intrusions to spot vulnerabilities and patch them. They work after seeking permission to hack the organization’s network and secure it from illegal hacking.
- Cloud transition emphasizes the demand for ethical hackers
The business world is moving towards cloud technology, resulting in virtualization and IT outsourcing. The transition of the information world, from a typical in-house server to cloud storage, has increased the level of threats and hence, the thereby demand for ethical hackers. Information security has become a major concern ever since organizations have started outsourcing data storage; security has been a major concern. With the advancement in technology is the advancement in hacking processes that are constantly evolving, making it a challenge for organizations to uplift their security requirements.
What does an ethical hacker do?
An ethical hacker is responsible for digital security and needs to always be aware of the latest technologies. Some responsibilities of an ethical hacker are:
- To build a network system that can prevent hackers from accessing information.
- Safeguarding network systems by blocking digital loopholes and preventing hacking attempts.
- To design a strategy and an action plan as a preventive measure to prohibit malicious attackers from breaching information.
- To test networks and systems regularly.
- To create awareness of cybersecurity at every level of the organization.
- To ensure the security of business transactions and client information and prevent them from being leaked or being tampered.
- To check and assess incoming and outgoing digital traffic.
Cost of hiring an ethical hacker
The cost of hiring an ethical hacker and securing your data vary from business to business. Those with a larger database should be prepared to have a bigger budget than those with lesser information. The costs related to firewall checking, verifying IP addresses and servers are worth the price, especially when compared to the loss incurred due to a data breach. To protect systems from being hacked, organizations can either hire an ethical hacker or outsource the task of ethical hacking. This decision is influenced by many factors and in both the situations, ethical hacking is a legal agreement either between the professional and organization or among the host company and the organization.
To conclude, there is no doubt that all organizations depend largely on cloud technology to store their data. Cloud-storage can be a third-party service or in-house storage. But cybercriminals looking to harm an organization will try to intrude the database. Ethical hackers, who are trained and qualified, can help mitigate these risks by finding and patching any vulnerablity.
A degree in cybersecurity and a specialized certification in ethical hacking will help attain the knowledge on IP address configuration, securing server setups, and all the necessary security measures to safeguard the organization from the loss in both finance and reputation. The Bachelor of Science from Cybersecurity is an online degree program from EC-Council University that provides greater scope to individuals on ethical hacking and further. It also comes with three industry-recognized certifications including the Certified Ethical Hacker (C|EH) from EC-Council.
Source:
[1] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/millions-facebook-user-records-exposed-amazon-cloud-server/ [2] https://www.businesstoday.in/current/economy-politics/data-of-almost-all-pakistani-banks-hacked-report/story/288903.html
