Ethical hacking entails breaking into or hacking, a computer system for the purpose of determining the various vectors from which a malicious hacker could potentially attack the system and then attempting to close off all of these open access routes. It is called hacking because Ethical Hackers (EHs) try to hack any system first and then try to seal all those ways that it can be hacked. Hacking is a practice that has been around for a long time. They put themselves in the position of malicious hackers who break into computer systems in order to steal information or data.
In order to learn about ethical hacking, it is important to first gain an understanding of the mentality of black hat hackers as well as the methods used by ethical testers. Security professionals in a variety of fields and industries, such as network defense, risk management, and quality assurance testing, can put this knowledge to use by applying it in various settings. If you live in India and want to earn a post-graduate degree while also completing coursework in ethical hacking, you will need to enroll in an Ethical Hacking Course In Chennai.
Learning ethical hacking gives you the ability to improve the safety of corporate networks by locating and patching any vulnerabilities you find. This is the primary advantage of learning this skill. When network defenders have a better understanding of how hackers operate, they are better able to prioritize risks and put effective remediation strategies into action. In addition, those individuals who are interested in entering the security field or demonstrating their skills and expertise to their organization would benefit from participating in Ethical Hacking Training or obtaining certifications in this area.
You should now have a good understanding of what ethical hackers do and who ethical hackers are. Now, let’s take a look at the various types of ethical hackers that are found in the world today.
- Let’s go over the various categories of hackers, shall we?
- How many different kinds of hackers are there?
Different types of Hackers
Hackers can be categorized based on their reasons for breaking into systems.
White Hat Hacker
It is another name for someone who works in the field of ethical hacking. They break into a system with the owner’s permission in order to find vulnerabilities and report them to the owner so that they can be fixed before someone with malicious intent discovers them.
Black Hat Hacker
They are also known as crackers, and their goal is to gain unauthorized access to a system in order to either steal sensitive information or cause damage to the system’s operations. It is always illegal due to the malicious intent behind it, which may include stealing corporate data, violating privacy, damaging the system, and other such activities.
Grey Hat Hacker
They are comprised of both white hat and black hat hackers in equal measure. They do it primarily for amusement and to get around the owner’s permission or knowledge requirements in order to exploit a security flaw in a computer system or network. Their goal is to draw the attention of the owners to the vulnerability while also earning a bug bounty for their efforts.
What are the various forms of hacking that are available?
Let’s talk about the different kinds of hacking that are possible now that we’ve gone over the different kinds of hackers. We are able to classify hacking into various categories according to the goals that the hacker is attempting to accomplish.
Website Hacking
When someone “hacks” a website, they gain unauthorized control of a web server and the software that is associated with it, such as databases and other interfaces.
Hacking of a network
Gathering information about a network through the use of tools such as Telnet, NS lookup, Ping, Tracert, and Netstat, among others, with the intention of causing damage to the network system and impeding its operation is what is meant by “hacking” a network.
Email Hacking
This includes gaining unauthorized access to an email account and using it without first obtaining the consent of the account’s owner in order to send spam links, threats from third parties, and engage in other harmful activities of a similar nature.
Process of ethical hacking: In the process of ethical hacking, there are six steps that are typically carried out by ethical hackers.
- Reconnaissance is the primary stage in which the hacker tries to gather information about the target in order to advance to the next stage. Identifying the Target, locating the target’s IP Address Range, DNS records, and Network, among other things, are all a part of this process.
- The hacker will now begin to effectively test an objective machine or organization for vulnerabilities that can be exploited in the next stage, which is called “scanning.” Conducting a check on the information requires the utilization of various tools such as dialers, network mappers, sweepers, port scanners, and vulnerability scanners.
- During this stage, the hacker plans the outline of the organization of the objective with the assistance of information gathered during observation and checking. They do this so that they can gain access to the target. The hacker has finished identifying and investigating the organization, and they have come to the conclusion that there are a few different ways for them to gain access to the organization.
- Maintaining Access is the interaction that occurs after a hacker has successfully gained entrance into a framework and is now responsible for maintaining that access. The hacker creates a few secondary entrances into the framework by gaining access to it. These passages will come in handy in the event that the hacker needs access to the possessed framework in the future. The Metasploit framework is the tool of choice during this cycle.
- The process of clearing tracks is generally considered to be an unethical activity. It has to do with the removal of logs of the various hacking activities that take place during the interaction.
- Reporting is the final step that must be completed before the ethical hacking process is considered complete. In this phase of the process, the Ethical Hacker compiles a report with his findings and the work that was completed, including the tools that were used, the vulnerabilities that were discovered, the success rate, and the effort measures.
