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Is There Such A Thing As Ethical Hacking?
24 January 2012
The Internet has certainly made life easier and better for a lot of people. Not only does it now allow people from all over the world to communicate easily, it has also opened several doors for commerce, to the point that new companies have sprouted that deal exclusively in e-commerce. However, the advent of the Internet has also opened doors for shady characters to steal information and money online. Media has reported several cases of companies losing millions of dollars because of hackers. Even the governments have not been spared, as some hackers were actually able to breach the security of government websites to steal sensitive information in order to sell these to equally disreputable organizations.
What is ethical hacking?
At first glance, "ethical hacking" sounds like a paradox, since most people have come to associate "hacker" with malicious individuals who steal money and information over the Internet and spread malicious viruses. While an ethical hacker may have the same skills as a malicious hacker, these two are quite different from each other.
An ethical hacker is someone who is an IT and network expert who ensures that a company's security system is secure. They usually test the security system by actually attempting to hack it themselves to see if there are any weaknesses. Should they detect any problems that malicious hacker can exploit, they can either beef up the security or make recommendations on how the company will be able to do this, depending on their agreement with the organization that they are working for. That way, they will be able to help the company boost its security so as to keep the system from being hacked by anonymous malicious hackers. In other words, while a malicious hacker attempts to break a computer's security settings for profit, malice, or even just for fun, an ethical hacker does exactly the opposite, by ensuring that malicious hackers will not be able to gain access to the computer network so that no information will be stolen or that no viruses will infect the system.
Believe it or not, the first case of ethical hacking occurred in 1970, when the United States government hired a team of hackers to try to breach their computer's security system to check just how safe the information in their database will be in the event that malicious hackers should try to gain access to the data. Since then, ethical hacking has become a must-have for a lot of industries, and the largest companies are known to have in-house ethical hackers in their employ to ensure that their systems are protected at all times.
There are two ways in which a person can become involved in ethical hacking. He or she can either learn ethical hacking by actually being trained in the industry, or he or she can become an ethical hacker by coming in through the backdoor. A lot of ethical hackers have actually started their career as malicious hackers before they actually got involved in ethical hacking. Some companies actually prefer these "reformed" hackers, believing that since they have actually experienced hacking into systems themselves, they will also be able to boost the security of their company. Other organizations, however, are not as trusting of these ethical hackers, believing that hiring these individuals to oversee to the security of their database and network is similar to hiring an arsonist to teach fire safety. A sizeable percentage of those involved in ethical hacking are reformed malicious hackers, some of whom have even served jail time before turning into a "white hat" (a colloquial term used to describe people into ethical hacking, as opposed to the "black hat", describing malicious hackers).
Ethical hacking today
While there is a growing awareness toward what ethical hacking is about, so much so that there are now students who are now trying to learn ethical hacking, there remains to be people and organizations who do not know what this is about. As such, those who are doing ethical hacking will usually ask for their contracts to explicitly state that they are free from prosecution. This is because hacking is still technically considered a felony in some states, as the law still has not distinguished the differences between malicious hacking and ethical hacking. This stipulation in the contract is essentially a "get out of jail for free" card that they can use should they get prosecuted during the course of their contract with the company they are working for.
While there remains to be a lot of misconceptions about ethical hacking, thankfully, more and more people are now beginning to understand the importance of this in today's Internet-centered society. As more people now register more information online, so too will the demand for more ethical hackers increase, in order to keep sensitive information about these people and companies from falling into the wrong hands.
What is ethical hacking?
At first glance, "ethical hacking" sounds like a paradox, since most people have come to associate "hacker" with malicious individuals who steal money and information over the Internet and spread malicious viruses. While an ethical hacker may have the same skills as a malicious hacker, these two are quite different from each other.
An ethical hacker is someone who is an IT and network expert who ensures that a company's security system is secure. They usually test the security system by actually attempting to hack it themselves to see if there are any weaknesses. Should they detect any problems that malicious hacker can exploit, they can either beef up the security or make recommendations on how the company will be able to do this, depending on their agreement with the organization that they are working for. That way, they will be able to help the company boost its security so as to keep the system from being hacked by anonymous malicious hackers. In other words, while a malicious hacker attempts to break a computer's security settings for profit, malice, or even just for fun, an ethical hacker does exactly the opposite, by ensuring that malicious hackers will not be able to gain access to the computer network so that no information will be stolen or that no viruses will infect the system.
Believe it or not, the first case of ethical hacking occurred in 1970, when the United States government hired a team of hackers to try to breach their computer's security system to check just how safe the information in their database will be in the event that malicious hackers should try to gain access to the data. Since then, ethical hacking has become a must-have for a lot of industries, and the largest companies are known to have in-house ethical hackers in their employ to ensure that their systems are protected at all times.
There are two ways in which a person can become involved in ethical hacking. He or she can either learn ethical hacking by actually being trained in the industry, or he or she can become an ethical hacker by coming in through the backdoor. A lot of ethical hackers have actually started their career as malicious hackers before they actually got involved in ethical hacking. Some companies actually prefer these "reformed" hackers, believing that since they have actually experienced hacking into systems themselves, they will also be able to boost the security of their company. Other organizations, however, are not as trusting of these ethical hackers, believing that hiring these individuals to oversee to the security of their database and network is similar to hiring an arsonist to teach fire safety. A sizeable percentage of those involved in ethical hacking are reformed malicious hackers, some of whom have even served jail time before turning into a "white hat" (a colloquial term used to describe people into ethical hacking, as opposed to the "black hat", describing malicious hackers).
Ethical hacking today
While there is a growing awareness toward what ethical hacking is about, so much so that there are now students who are now trying to learn ethical hacking, there remains to be people and organizations who do not know what this is about. As such, those who are doing ethical hacking will usually ask for their contracts to explicitly state that they are free from prosecution. This is because hacking is still technically considered a felony in some states, as the law still has not distinguished the differences between malicious hacking and ethical hacking. This stipulation in the contract is essentially a "get out of jail for free" card that they can use should they get prosecuted during the course of their contract with the company they are working for.
While there remains to be a lot of misconceptions about ethical hacking, thankfully, more and more people are now beginning to understand the importance of this in today's Internet-centered society. As more people now register more information online, so too will the demand for more ethical hackers increase, in order to keep sensitive information about these people and companies from falling into the wrong hands.
