Professional Practices: What Is Ethical Hacking and Why Is It Important?

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Ethical hacking: it seems counterintuitive.

While most people typically associate the word “hacking” with a negative connotation, hacking done right can actually benefit your business or organization.

Enter ethical hacking. Ethical hackers will test your organization’s network and systems to make sure all of your information is secure.

Interested in learning more? Below we’ve created a guide that explains all about ethical hacking and vulnerability testing.

How Does Ethical Hacking Work?

An ethical hacker, also called a white hat hacker, is an IT expert who uses their skills to penetrate a computer system to find its flaws. It will look at the system, network, and other applications on the computer to find the vulnerabilities.

Organizations will give ethical hackers permission to do this so they can uncover potential weak spots in their security. Ethical hackers will uncover these weaknesses before malicious hackers can exploit them.

The purpose of ethical hacking is to find problems and vulnerabilities in systems, networks, and infrastructure. The process works by finding and trying to exploit vulnerabilities. This will determine if malicious activity is possible.

Ethical hackers use many of the same techniques as their unethical counterparts, But instead of taking advantage of these vulnerabilities that they find, they document them for businesses to fix them.

Be Structured has a team of experts who specialize in ethical hacking and can help you find those threats to your business.

Different Types of Hackers

Before we explain more about ethical hacking, it’s a good idea to understand the different types of hackers. Not all hackers are the same, and IT systems could face a variety of threats based on different hacking styles.

There are different types of hackers, ranging from malicious ones to the ones that will benefit you. The most common types of hackers are white hat, grey hat, and black hat hackers.

White hat hackers are ethical hackers and will use their hacking skills to benefit others. Grey hat hackers also hack for ethical purposes.

Meanwhile, black hat hackers are involved in illegal hacking. Their actions serve malicious intent.

But there are other types of hackers who specialize in other types of hacking, both ethical and unethical.

Green hat hackers are usually aspiring hackers. They don’t have the technical skills yet but want to grow as hackers. Green hat hackers may have gotten involved in hacking because they want to participate in hacktivism.

Hacktivism is a social or political act that happens when a hacker breaks into a secure computer system. As the name suggests, it’s a mix of “hacking” and “activism.”

Blue hat hackers can be two types of hackers (which is a bit confusing, if you ask us). The first type is someone who is skilled enough with malware to compromise computer systems, usually as a form of retaliation.

The second is someone who Microsoft asks to participate in their invitation-only BlueHat security conference. Microsoft uses ethical hackers to do beta testing on unreleased products.

And red hat hackers are considered the “Robinhood” of ethical hacking. They specialize in doing everything they can to cripple black hat hackers. But instead of turning them over to the authorities, they ruin the black hat’s computing resources.

What Exactly Do Ethical Hackers Do?

Ethical hackers typically have a skill set that allows them to help organizations with a variety of security measures. Below are just a few of their skillsets.

Find Vulnerabilities and Prepare for Attacks

Ethical hackers will help companies analyze the effectiveness of their IT security measures. They’ll test the system to see which ones are protecting the company and which have vulnerabilities. In many cases, the company will also need to perform updates on certain systems to keep them functioning properly.

When ethical hackers finish evaluating an organization’s systems, they will write down their findings and present them to company leaders. They will explain what the vulnerable areas are and how to fix them.

Vulnerabilities could include problems like poor password encryption, insecure applications, or exposed systems.

Organizations can then use this data to make decisions about improving their cyber security. They may decide to increase their IT security campaign or hire a new member for the department.

Cyber attacks can destroy a business or organization – especially a small one. Unfortunately, many companies are not prepared for cyber attacks.

Ethical hackers understand how malicious actors think, and they know how hackers will use information to compromise a system.

Teams who work with ethical hackers are better able to protect themselves from future attacks. The ethical hacker will show them how to be on the lookout for the threats in the constantly changing online landscape.

Demonstrate Cybercriminal Methods

Ethical hackers will also go one step further than just describing weaknesses. They can also demonstrate exactly how cybercriminals will access a system and compromise information.

Showing the executives the hacking techniques used by malicious individuals will help the company understand just how serious the issue is. They’ll then be able to use this new knowledge to better prevent these attacks.

Prepare for the Future of Cybersecurity

The modern workplace is changing, and with it are security measures.

For example, by 2028, 73% of departments will have remote workers. This means that workers will rely solely on their computers to communicate and access sensitive information. A complete record of those interactions will be stored on the computer.

Ethical hackers can help to update and solidify the security controls and processes on both personal and work computers to ensure that all work stays between the employee and the company. They can also help modify the security system so your IT team has the resources it needs to communicate with company members.

And because everything is going digital, zero-trust principles are also becoming adopted. Zero-trust means that the trustworthiness of each device, user, and service needs to be validated before granting it access to company information.

Ethical hackers will be able to ensure that zero-trust properties are working properly and giving each entity access to only the resources it needs for each task.

Who Hires Ethical Hackers?

Ethical hackers will benefit almost every type of organization. Private, public, and government organizations need to remain secure so sensitive data and transactions cannot be revealed.

Ethical hackers, therefore, work for a variety of institutions, including:

Ecommerce marketplaces
Financial institutions
SaaS companies
Data centers and cloud computing companies
Local, state, and federal governments
Entertainment providers

There were 4.8 million identity theft and fraud reports received by the FTC in 2020, up 45% from 2019. With cybercrime on the rise, more and more companies are hiring ethical hackers. The money saved from a potential data breach far outweighs the cost of hiring an IT professional to ethically hack your systems.

Staying ahead of malicious hackers has become the priority for companies in all sorts of industries. Even if your company isn’t in a traditionally high-risk industry like finance, you’re always better safe than sorry.

Ethical Hacking Techniques

Ethical hackers usually use the same hacking skills that malicious hackers use to access information. Essentially, they use reverse engineering to create scenarios that could compromise important data. These scenarios are created as part of the overall vulnerability assessment that the ethical hacker performs.

One such hacking technique is scanning ports to find vulnerabilities. Ports are part of a TCP/IP networks and identify the network traffic. If they’re left open, they could become a security issue for hackers that access the information that the ports provide to applications.

Ethical hackers will use port scanning tools to look at a company’s system and identify open ports. They’ll study the vulnerability of each port and recommend action if necessary.

Other methods will include analyzing patch installation processes, trying to evade the network’s security systems and firewalls, and performing network traffic analysis.

Ethical hackers will also use social engineering techniques to manipulate users and get information about an organization’s system. Ways to get information from employees will include tactics like going through posts on social media or engaging employees in phishing attacks.

Ethical Hacking vs. Penetration Testing

Penetration testing and ethical hacking are often used interchangeably, but there are some differences between the two roles. Many organizations will use both ethical hackers and penetration testers to make the most of their IT security.

Ethical hackers will routinely test IT systems. They will look for flaws and keep ahead of security issues like ransomware or threatening computer viruses. Their work often is part of a regular, overall IT security assessment.

Meanwhile, penetration testers often do similar tests, but on a defined schedule. Penetration testing usually focuses on more narrow parts of the network, rather than maintaining overall security.

For instance, the penetration tester will only have access to the systems that they’re testing for the duration of the test. Meanwhile, an ethical hacker will usually have access to the entire system for an ongoing amount of time.

Ethical Hacking Professional Requirements

There is no one way to become an ethical hacker. It is a skill set that many people learn in different ways.

But when you’re hiring an ethical hacker, there are certain skillsets you should look for to ensure that you’re hiring someone who can keep your systems secure.

Below we explain why programming knowledge, soft skills, and a CEH certification are important hiring metrics.

Programming and Operating Systems

Knowledge of programming and operating systems is a must for any hacker. Ethical hacking requires an understanding of the most popular operating systems: Windows, UNIX, LINUX, and IOS.

Hackers will also usually work with a variety of programming languages. The most crucial ones in today’s day and age are Python, C++, and Javascript. On the technical front, these skills are non-negotiable.

Having a vivid understanding of different operating systems and programming languages will help the hacker to find vulnerabilities. They can also implement new security measures when it is necessary.

Soft Skills

Aside from the programming skills and knowledge of operating systems, ethical hackers also need soft skills.

A successful ethical hacker will be able to stay calm in a crisis and think on their feet. Hacking can be stressful, especially when there are only a few minutes – or less – to fix a problem if something goes wrong.

Ethical hackers also need to be skilled in communication. They’ll explain problems to top company leaders who typically won’t have an understanding of the mechanisms of cybersecurity. To help everyone understand, ethical hackers will have to break down knowledge and processes into digestible pieces of information.

And while hacking seems like a one-person job, it’s actually not the case for an ethical hacker. Ethical hackers will usually work with the IT department or cybersecurity team of or organization. They need to know how to delegate and be a team player when necessary.

Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)

The Certified Ethical Hacker is a core certification for those who want to start a career in ethical hacking. It’s a vendor-neutral certification from the International Council of Electronic Commerce Consultants.

Many ethical hacking jobs will require you to have this certificate. But even if it’s not required, it’s always wise to hire someone with the certification.

This certification tests how much a person knows about network security, and it covers more than 270 types of attack technologies.

In order to get the certification, the white-hat hacker must attend official training from the EC-Council and have at least two years of infosec-related experience.

But the course isn’t just for IT security beginners. It introduces many new techniques that even more experienced cybersecurity professionals may be surprised by.

The CEH Master certification is an option for more advanced hackers. It has more than 20 hacking competitions and other challenges. The challenges mainly focus on security for cloud computing.