White Hat Under Ethical Hacking
Introduction
Want to know about Ethical Hacking?
All of us know that hackers do not have a respectable status in society because they sit in a dark room and plot the demise of governments and co-operations, which create a challenge for the IT team.
This does not mean that all hackers are criminals. In fact, a lot of them can assist organizations in boosting their cyber security practices through the detection and reporting of potential exploits.
Their hacking is known for the “greater good”, they are known as ethical hacking- where skills are used for morally sound measures.
You Must Know About Ethical Hackers
They are known as white hat and does the same thing as their malicious counterpart.
- The difference is that they do not exploit vulnerabilities or threats for the purpose of spreading code.
- They work with network operators for helping in fixing the issue before it is identified by others.
- Both types of hackers are credited for the same kind of thrill for breaking something that was not supposed to be. They have different motives.
- For some white hackers, the process is gamified in the form of bug bounty programmers.
Understand Black Hat, White Hat, And Grey Hat
The field of cyber security is divided into three camps- black, white, and grey hats.
- Black hats aim for self-serving reasons like monetary gain for revenge or simply to spread havoc.
- White Hat hackers aim to improve security, finding security holes, and notifying the victim so that they have a chance to fix it before other hackers exploit it.
- Grey hats lie between the above ones and conduct slightly better morally questionable operations such as hacking groups.
Both white and grey hat hackers can be called ‘ethical hackers’.
How Do These Ethical Hackers Get Money?
Black hat ones get money through theft, fraud, extortion, and other means.
- Ethical hackers are the ones that are employed by cyber security companies or within security departments of big organizations.
- They have insight into how attackers operate can help them in preventing attacks.
- Another way through which ethical hackers make money is through the collection of ‘bug bounties’.
- Big names like Facebook, Microsoft, and Google reward researchers and hackers who discover security holes within their networks.
- Rewards are something that encourages them to inform about these holes and fix them before people with ill intentions use them.
Motivating Factors For Ethical Hackers
For most hackers, curiosity act as a motivating agent, and ethical hackers also bear the same quality.
- They are usually motivated by an urge to what makes things poking around security systems for the challenge of finding an ideal way around them.
- Some are even guided by a strong urge of making the world a more private and secure place.
- Another big motivation is obviously cash. A career in pen-testing can be more alluring and allow hackers to make a great deal of money.
- Bug bounty programmers can offer generous payouts for the exploration of major flaws.
- The highest-value bug bounty is Google’s is $112,500 payment to a Chinese researcher who came up with a remote exploit vulnerability in Android.
How Can You Become An Ethical Hacker?
If someone wishes to become a white hat, the good news waiting for them is that they are already halfway.
- Becoming an ethical hacker is more state of mind than anything else.
- It is mainly a desire to use talents for good as opposed to evil.
- If you wish to use your hacking skills for improving the security of the world rather than lining your own pockets, then you are on the way to become an ethical hacker.
- In terms of practical courses, there are multiple courses that you can take. They can also promise to give you all the skills that are required to become an ethical hacker.
- Though these courses are a good way to start your career in this field, the most suitable way is to simply immerse yourself in the world of cyber security.
- It is better to read as much you can on the technical aspect of hacking and cyber defence to keep yourself updated with developments in the field.
- Try to learn as much as possible about the theory and practice of cyber security.
- Also, it is a good idea to understand a few sets of programming languages if you are aware of them.
- Usually, it is not essential for hackers to have an in-depth knowledge of coding, it can be quite useful, and will be able to pay dividends throughout your career.
Concluding Words
All in all, we can say that white hat hackers are a kind of asset for an organization and act as a barrier in preventing all the possible threats.
If you also see yourself as an ethical hacker, then you can have a bright career in it. Go ahead and grab all the opportunities that can help you to make your future a bright one.
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