How To Become An Ethical Hacker

Ethical hacking is the method of breaching into a computer system or a network with the purpose of identifying and assessing security vulnerabilities. It is a skill that is in high demand in the present day all across the globe. If you go on any job portal, you will find out the sheer lack of talent available across the market. Companies are ready to hire individuals who are trained in ethical hacking and are even paying them well, but the lack of talent is so miserable that it has raised serious concerns over our digital safety. This article is meant for those who are planning to bridge this gap by pursuing this highly promising career themselves. Read below to find out what an ethical hacker does and how you can become one.

How Are Ethical Hackers Different From Hackers?

If someone hacks an organization to steal their data, funds, or identity, then that individual or group is considered a hacker. But ethical hackers are nothing like them. Surely, they use the same techniques as hackers, because they are trained in the same art, but they use their skills for a good purpose. Ethical hackers are the professionals who are the antidote to black hat hacking or criminal hacking. They are trained, certified, and highly ethical in their work.

What Type Of Training They Have To Undertake?

To become an ethical hacker, an individual has to undergo rigorous training programs that teach the various methodologies, tools, techniques related to hacking. EC-Council’s ethical hacking training is a 5 day long hard program that will take you through the life of a hacker and tell you how to think like one. Any such equivalent training program will equip the students with the skills required to hack into secured organizations.

What Certification Do They Need?

The most coveted certification in ethical hacking is the Certified Ethical Hacking, famously known as the CEH. The brainchild of EC-Council, this certificate is the holy grail of an ethical hacker and is now a mandatory requirement in many top organizations (public and private) in many countries. To obtain this revered credential, one needs to clear the Certified Ethical Hacker exam and pass with a minimum score of 70% (between 60% to 85%, depending on the difficulty of the exam).

What Is Their Ethical Responsibility?

When an organization hires an ethical hacker or a penetration tester, they allow him/her to conduct a full-fledged cyber breach on their systems. This gives the ethical hacker access to all their sensitive files, data, and assets. Hence, ethical hackers need to be extremely responsible in their work. Every certified ethical hacker has to sign a waiver that states that they will be loyal and ethical in their services. The CIA triad that stands for confidentiality, integrity, and availability is the foundation of cybersecurity that every ethical hacker and cybersecurity professional has to follow to the T.

What Are The Skills Required?

To become a competent ethical hacker, various technical, as well as non-technical skills, are required. Understanding network topography, network security, exploits, attack vectors, social engineering, programming languages, hacking tools, and much other technical knowledge is a must for an ethical hacker. Non-technical skills (soft skills) like leadership qualities, critical thinking, problem-solving, attention to detail, and other characteristics are also required to be a successful ethical hacker. Apart from that, you must know that ethical hacking, and cybersecurity overall, is a dynamic domain that keeps changing and evolving with technological advancements. Learning every day and updating your knowledge while keeping up with old and new trends are some of the basic requirements to sustain in this field.