What is Ethical Hacking?

In today’s society, we have to be careful of scammers and hackers, who may get into important or personal information on computers, or cause computers to get a virus. As scary as this can be, there are actually hackers who can be used for technical safety — called ethical hackers. These hackers can discover vulnerabilities of a network, implement secure networks, and can even defend national security and protect data from getting into the hands of terrorists, according to EC-Council. Want to know more about ethical hacking? Here is everything you need to know:

What Exactly Is Ethical Hacking?

Simply stated, ethical hacking is the legal use of hacking into a computer in order to find weaknesses. According to CSO, companies engage ethical hackers to identify vulnerabilities in their systems. Big companies and corporations may benefit from ethical hacking, because oftentimes there is very sensitive information on companies’ websites, such as credit card information or other important personal information.

In 2018, according to the article on Wired called The Untold Story of the 2018 Olympics Cyberattack, the Most Deceptive Hack in History, the Olympics were hacked by a cyber attacker known as “Olympic Destroyer”. The cyber attack caused every network in the Seoul data center to shut down, affecting Wi-Fi servers in the stadium where the Olympics were held, as well as the Olympics website and app. Some companies may have no idea how unsafe their websites and systems are from being hacked by bad people, including large organizations such as the Olympics.

What Is Important About Ethical Hacking?

Not only can ethical hacking be helpful to companies that may have flaws in their websites, but it can also protect against threats to national security and terrorists. Logsign states in an article about the threats about ethical hacking that many organizations may be targeted by terrorist groups, hacker teams, and cyber criminals. As a result, ethical hackers will go into software and create a safety barrier that will prevent attacks from cyber terrorists and illegal hackers.

What Are The Types Of Hacking?

According to Eccouncil, which is a respected and trusted ethical hacking program, there are about five types of ethical hacking. These types of hacking include:

1. Web Application Hacking: web application hacking is simply hacking to a website and gaining access to the files inside of it.

2. System Hacking: system hacking is getting access to single computers within a certain network.

3. Web Server Hacking: web server hacking is getting direct access to credential information and other important information.

4. Hacking Wireless Networks: hacking into wireless networks is when hackers hack into individual Wi-Fi servers and wireless routers.

5. Social Engineering: social engineering is getting access to networks through word of mouth, human error, and manipulation.

How Can Ethical Hacking Help Our Society?

Imagine how scary it would be to be an owner of an organization and one day you find out that your organization has fallen victim to a cyber criminal who has gained access to credential information, like the cyber attacks on the Olympics in 2018. That is why organizations are more often hiring ethical hackers nowadays in order to keep their websites and networks safe from cyber attacks.

In order to fix the cyber attack that had affected the Olympics servers, an ethical hacking and security team were able to create a brand new software that would prevent another cyber attack from happening in just 12 hours. Ethical hacking can help our society by protecting us from the unsettling fear of being hacked illegally, and can keep people’s personal information safe from theft.

Ethical Hacking — A Great Protection

Ethical hacking is a great protection to both organizations and our society. No one likes clicking on a website and fearing that they may get a virus, or worse, get hacked because of the security issues that some websites have. Ethical hackers can solve these flaws in security and provide a peace of mind to many.