What is ethical hacking?
Ethical hacking or penetration testing refers to the exploitation of an IT system with the permission of its owner in order to determine its vulnerabilities and weaknesses. It is an essential process of testing and validating an organization’s information security measures and maturity. The results of ethical hacking are typically used to recommend preventive and corrective countermeasures that mitigate the risk of a cyber attack.
An ethical hacker is an individual who is trusted to attempt to penetrate an organization’s networks and/or computer systems using the same knowledge and tools as a malicious hacker, but in a lawful and legitimate manner.
Attacking and defending
Protecting current systems and networks requires a broad understanding of attack strategies, and in-depth knowledge of the hacker’s tactics, tools and motivations. Effective ethical hacking is based on knowledge of the system network, equipment, user interaction, policies, procedures, physical security, and business culture. The increasing use of social engineering attack methodologies demands that every tester is also aware of the organization and habits of its IT users (staff).