Definition: Stealing information and unauthorized access; illegal activity.
Current Impact: With the rise of digital data, hacking occurs every 30 seconds and security breaches are frequent.
Career Insight: Cybersecurity offers long-term job stability due to the necessity of digital security.
Role of Ethical Hackers
Purpose: To secure applications and systems by identifying vulnerabilities before they go into production.
Method: Ethical hackers simulate attacks, analyze root causes, and report vulnerabilities (also known as penetration testing or pen testing).
Responsibilities:
Hack applications in multiple ways.
Identify and document vulnerabilities (termed vulnerabilities).
Provide security fixes and mitigations.
Ensure no personal use of hacked information.
Importance of Ethical Hacking
Protection Against Attacks: Protects against social engineering, organizational attacks, automated attacks, DoS attacks, viruses, trojans, worms, and accidental breaches.
Security Assessment: Ethical hackers perform security assessments to make applications secure for production.
Types of Hackers
Black Hat Hackers: Use skills for illegal activities, malicious purposes, financial gain, and blackmail.
White Hat Hackers: Hired by companies to find vulnerabilities and fix them. Operate with permission and do not misuse information.
Gray Hat Hackers: A mix of black and white hat hackers. Work for salary and may engage in illegal activities for additional financial gain.
Key Terminologies
Vulnerability: Any weakness in a system that can be exploited.
Exploit: Method used to leverage a vulnerability. Example: bullet (payload) in a gun represents a malicious code which if executed can control a server or application.