Ethical Hacking Tutorial
Ethical Hacking Tutorial
Certiology’s free ethical hacking tutorial, notes and study guide. Learn ethical hacking for free.
Ethical Hacking is something performed by extremely skilled computer experts. Computers experts use their knowledge of programming and attempt to find vulnerabilities in computer systems. These people are often referred to as white hats. The people that partake in unethical hacking are called black hats.
These black hats exploit vulnerabilities in systems. They use those weaknesses for mischievous purposes in order to gain something for themselves or to cause mayhem. The ethical hackers evaluate the weaknesses. They locate and point them out in order to suggest what changes can be made to avoid black hats. Companies use ethical hackers on a consultant or full-time employee basis. These companies want to make sure that their systems are safe and secure.
Though white hats penetrate computer systems, they are still ethical. They work on the side of good to help create a stronger and safer system. They know how to spot the weak points and places where black hats could penetrate a system. Using that knowledge, they are able to assist companies in creating more protected systems.
If a white hat can break into a computer system and alter its security protocols, then so can a black hat. The main goal of ethical hacking is to figure out how a hacker can cause chaos with the current programs running on a specific computer system. These hackers only do so if they are asked by companies. From there, these hackers can explain to companies how they can upgrade their systems and prevent the wrong people from hacking them.
Most people enter the ethical hacking lifestyle because they are computer savvy, have extensive education in computer science, or for various other reasons. In some instances, people have been recruited as white hats after being black hats. Some black hats may have served jail time for their malicious behavior. After doing do, they may have been hired for more productive uses of their computer knowledge.
As the need for Internet usage increases, security becomes a bigger issue. The need for ethical hackers has grown in order to protect people from unethical ones. Most people involved in hacking have simply learned from experience. As with many subject areas, computer knowledge can also be obtained through formal education. Ethical hackers must be able to discover every outcome that can occur if a system becomes hacked by black hats. They need to be creative and think in innovative ways.