Everything has its ups and downs, and so does technology, but whether you use it for good or for bad, it depends on you. When you hear about hacking, you start thinking of something malicious or illegal. But what I am going to talk here has nothing to do with illegality; instead, this is one of the most demanding skills in the contemporary job market given the current digital business transformation to stabilise operations and secure business integrity and continuity.

Ethical hackers are also called white hat hackers, and their work can be guessed from their names. Many people think that hacking is hacking, whether it is good or bad, and also many people believe that any hacking is illegal and any hackers are cybercriminals – but this doesn't seem right. Now let's understand what is Ethical hacking.

Ethical hacking

The word "ethical" means "moral" - meaning ethical or legitimate hacking, and those who do this hacking have a policy, they don't do anything imethical. First, let's understand, what is the job of a hacker or what does he do? You see, hackers try to find fault with any system (computing/networking system) and break through the security level of the system and enter the primary system and take control.

Now, if someone tries to enter the system without permission from a network or the company whose security flaw is being sought, such hackers will be called malicious hackers or black hat hackers. Malicious hackers can usually break the rules and security of the system and cause damage to the core IT system of an organisation.

So hacking is to find out the flaws or shortcomings of a system. So what is ethical hacking? - ethical hacking is when a hacker takes permission from a system admin or software company to start checking for system errors. Even if he breaks the security of the system, he has full permission to do so, and he does not work without the consent like a malicious hacker.

An ethical hacker must respect the privacy of any company or system, and must act only with permission. After he works, it means checking the system, and if he finds any error, he must inform the company about that error and help secure the system by providing a security patch. If it finds a backdoor, it must seal it so that malicious hackers can enter it and do no harm to the system.

Moreover, he will attack the system in many ways using different techniques so that if there is any defect in the system, it will be caught in front. If a system error is not detected after a hack attack, it does not guarantee that the system is 100% secure. Because no system is 100% secure, it is essential to have regular security checks.

The demand for ethical hackers

In fact, the demand for ethical hackers or white hat hackers has increased a lot in the last few years. As the world becomes more digital, so does computing and networking; And with that comes increasing security risks, and the ethical hackers needed to mitigate these risks.

Now suppose a malicious hacker came and hacked the GCSE result database of UK government, or hacked the online train ticketing system and started booking tickets as they wished, thus harming both the government and the people of the country. Ethical hackers look into every system and attack the system just like a malicious hacker. If they find a problem, they fix it or report the issue to the company or government so that it can be resolved as soon as possible.

Let's take an example to understand the requirements and importance of an ethical hacker on the whole subject. Suppose a king of a region builds a royal palace to live in and to complete all the work of the kingdom while sitting there. Now he must secure the palace through various security measures.

Because the palace may be attacked at any time, it will have a lot of resources, a lot of paperwork that is very necessary. Now suppose the king erected massive walls to secure his palace and appointed innumerable guards. Now the enemy will not be able to attack easily or with a swollen chest, because the security is very tight.

So what will they do; they will try to find faults in the walls of the palace or will try to enter from the side where the guard is less. Now the king may have erected the wall firmly, but the king has forgotten that there was an old sloping door on one side, and the attack may come from that side. So even with such tight security, it will not be of any use. Now suppose the king hires a person or a group of people who will do the security check, they will go around the palace like the enemy and try to find the old or weak wall, or when any guard is asleep, they will run security defeats, and as soon as the problem is found he will take action and the king will be informed.

As a result, the chances of the enemy attacking and entering the palace will be significantly reduced. So that particular person or group in this story is the ethical hacker. No matter how many security measures a system has, it is crucial to check it regularly.

There is a lot of demand for a good ethical hacker, a company can save millions or billions of dollars. Malicious hackers also work to find system errors, but they do this without informing the system admin or the company, and if they find errors, they start damaging the system.

And to avoid these black hats, IT companies look for good white hats and hire them at very high salaries according to their skills. And if you can be a Certified Ethical Hacker, your annual salary can be up to $132,322.1 depending on the company and your skills (source; Infosecinstitute.Com ).

How to start a career in ethical hacking?

For those who are already studying IT or computer science, the matter is much easier. If you are studying, finish your studies first and try to get a job in IT, no matter how low paid the job is because your target is to get on track for an IT career.

Then you can work in cybersecurity or IT in police or military if you want, it will increase your work skills a lot. You can do different courses on networking and get various certificates. The procedure can be matured with network support and admin role.

Now you will need some security certificates, and you can get it again by completing some courses. After passing all the above steps, you will finally have to join the International Council of Electronic Commerce Consultant Program, and by passing the exam, you will become a Certified Ethical Hacker.

But even if you haven't studied computer science, it's still possible if you want to build your own career in ethical hacking. You can make a lot of money and a promising career by working as a freelance ethical hacker.

Once you become a Certified Ethical Hacker, your value in the market will be different. You can do it as a permanent job or as a freelancer if you want.

Computing knowledge

To be a hacker, you must be proficient in networking. Must have a good idea about all popular computer operating systems and specialisation on Unix / Linux. It is essential to have a good understanding of the various aspects of Linux and their commands. As well as some programming languages ​​such as; C, Java, Perl etc. and good database knowledge is essential.

Another thing to keep in mind is that hacking requires technical expertise and smart personality. In addition to having technical knowledge, you need to be energetic, can build relationships quickly with people, have the ability to solve problems quickly, and have the ability to trick people. If you have the power to get your work done by talking to someone, you will be considered a 50% hacker. Because it is much easier to deceive people sitting in a system than to hack a system with pure technical knowledge, and in the language of hacking it is called social engineering.

But if you want to be an ethical hacker, you must be honest. After finding fault with a malicious hacker, he should not be abused for the sake of money. You must have full authorised access to a network before you can access it.

Getting involved in ethical activities or having black hat thoughts can ruin your career, so be very careful. Ordinary people look down on hacking, so you have to be 100% honest.

You should not engage in any unethical activities even before starting your career, because the company will check your background before giving you a job. So from the moment you decide you want to be an ethical hacker, you have to start living an honest life.