Network Security
Vulnerability Management
Privileged Access Management
Endpoint Security
Threat Hunting
Unified Endpoint Management
Email & Collaboration Security
Contents:
When you think of ‘hacking’, some things that might come to mind would be bad persons with criminal intent trying to infiltrate our systems and steal our data, or maybe ‘hacking’ scenes from popular movies. Hackers are usually the threat actors that put in danger the security of an organization, but did you know that there are some hackers whose purpose is to protect companies and improve their cyber security?
In this article, we’ll discuss about ethical hacking, understand what it is, and its importance in keeping our data safe. So, without further ado…
What Is Ethical Hacking?
Ethical hacking is the practice of testing computer systems, networks, or applications to find security vulnerabilities that could be exploited by malicious hackers.
Also known as ‘white hat’ hackers, ethical hackers use the same methods and techniques as their counterparts with malicious purposes, but they do so with permission from the owner of the system being tested. Ethical hacking is often mistaken for penetration testing, but penetration testing is just a part of what an ethical hacker does.
Types of Ethical Hacking
System Hacking
System hacking is how hacktivists access personal computers across a network. IT security professionals can utilize packet sniffing, privilege escalation, password cracking, and other defensive techniques to counteract these dangers.
Social Engineering
Through social engineering, threat actors are influencing people to share their personal data with them. It is common for eugenics to be used together with social engineering because it is typically easier to target your natural difficulty trusting than it is to figure out how to spoof your device.
Web Server Hacking
Real-time online content is produced by a server running application software and databases. Threat actors may be trying to intercept the server in order to steal credentials, passcodes, and corporate information from the web application.
To achieve their objective, attackers may employ social engineering tactics, ping deluge assaults, port scans, sniffing attacks, and gluing.
Wireless Networks Hacking
Wireless networks transfer data through radio waves, making it easy for a hacker to simply access the system.
These ethical hackers frequently employ network sniffing in order to find the Identifier and bodge a wireless network.
White Hat vs. Grey Hat vs. Black Hat Hackers
Based on their intention, hackers can be classified into three categories, white hat, grey hat, and black hat.
White-hat hackers are those who use their capabilities and knowledge to ‘damage your organizations’ (not to harm but to help you) and test your network security to find vulnerabilities and security breaches before threat actors do, and to advise you on how to mitigate them.
Usual activities of white-hat hackers include penetration testing, security scanning and social engineering techniques.
Black-hat hackers (sometimes referred to as crackers) are cybercriminals who break into computer networks with malicious purposes.
They may hold your machines hostage, release file-destroying malware, steal PII such as credit card numbers, and many other actions with the intent of making an illegal profit.
Grey-hat hackers are the experts who may sometimes break laws to typical ethical standards, but usually without malicious intent.
Unlike their white or black hacker counterparts, gray hat hacker will neither illegally exploit the security vulnerabilities it discovers, nor will tell others how to exploit them.
The Benefits of Ethical Hacking
Ethical hacking is often seen as a necessary evil. However, there are many benefits to ethical hacking that are often overlooked.
It Identifies Vulnerabilities Early
One of the biggest benefits of ethical hacking is that it can help organizations identify vulnerabilities in their systems before hackers can exploit them, and thus giving companies the chance of improving their cyber security posture. Many ethical hackers would conduct testing prior to companies reaching out to them, and would report it to organizations. This can help to prevent data breaches and other types of cyberattacks.
It Enhances Security Posture
Another benefit of ethical hacking is that it can help organizations to improve their security posture. By identifying weaknesses in systems and working to mitigate them, ethical hackers can help organizations to harden their defenses against attacks.
It Saves Money
Finally, ethical hacking can also help organizations to save money. By identifying and addressing vulnerabilities before they are exploited, a certified ethical hacker can help organizations to avoid the costly damages that can be caused by cyberattacks.
Some of the most typical vulnerabilities that ethical hackers have found include, injection attacks, sensitive data exposure, misconfigurations, or broken authentication, among many others.
Key Concepts of Ethical Hacking
When operating, ethical hackers typically follow four key concepts:
- Keep it Legal – prior to performing a security assessment, ethical hackers will reach out to obtain the company’s approval. Even if there are some isolated cases in which ethical hackers act prior to obtaining the approval, they are sharing the results of their assessment with the company and will give them tips on how to improve their security systems;
- State the Scope – ethical hackers will establish the assessment’s purpose to ensure that their work is legal and within the organization’s permitted restrictions;
- Respect Data Sensitivity – ethical hackers may need to sign a non-disclosure agreement in addition to other terms and conditions requested by the evaluated firm, depending on how sensitive the data is;
- Report the Findings – the organizations will be notified of the vulnerabilities discovered by an ethical hacker and will be provided with remediation advice.
How Can Heimdal® Help Your Company?
There are many factors that impact the cyber security of your company, some easier to prevent, others harder. One of the leading causes of cyberattacks is vulnerabilities left unpatched, which accounted for 80% of cyberattacks.
This means that, by patching your machines, systems, and applications, you can reduce significantly your company’s risk of being the victim of a cyberattack.
We get it, the patch management process can prove to be a meticulous task, but Heimdal®’s Patch & Asset Management solution will be helpful in improving your company’s cyber security posture. The solution is fully automatic, customizable, works on multiple operating systems, and works as a set-and-forget for a Hyper Automated deployment of software and updates.
Updates are delivered fully repackaged, ad-free, and tested from Heimdal using encrypted packages inside encrypted HTTPS transfer to your endpoints locally.
Heimdal’s patch management solution can be installed on multiple operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and MacOS.
Heimdal® Patch & Asset Management Software
- Schedule updates at your convenience;
- See any software assets in inventory;
- Global deployment and LAN P2P;
- And much more than we can fit in here...
Conclusions
Ethical hacking is an invaluable skill in today’s digital world, as it provides organizations with the means to protect their systems from malicious attackers. It is a multi-faceted field that requires years of experience and training in order to hone one’s skills.
Hopefully, this article gave you a deeper understanding of the world of ethical hacking.
If you liked this article, follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram for more cyber security news and topics.
Cristian is a Content Editor & Creator at Heimdal®, where he developed a deep understanding of the digital threat landscape. His style resonates with both technical and non-technical readers, proof being in his skill of communicating cybersecurity norms effectively, in an easy-to-understand manner.
