The term ‘hacker’ is used to describe a person who is skilled in gaining authorized access into the system of a company by exploiting vulnerabilities, weaknesses, and bugs and extracting the data to use them for their malicious benefit. Their main motive is to use their data for mischief, or financial benefit. They may create algorithms that are capable of bypassing the security of the system or use advanced technical skills to penetrate the security of the organization, penetrate the network and disrupt the normal working of the company. One company falls into the trap of ransomware every 11 seconds.

A cyber-attack causes huge financial loss to the company as well as loss of face value. The customers lose trust in the company with their data. If a company falls prey to a cyber-attack, there is no guarantee that the company will ever recover, also the recovery processes take time and money. So, it is better to protect the company from such attacks in the first place by tightening the security of the system. How would a company protect itself from such attacks? Ethical hackers are the person for this job.

There are a number of domains which a student can pursue. Apart from ethical hacking, they can try robotics training, machine learning and AI training, online networking courses with certificates.

What is ethical hacking?

Ethical hacking is the practice of making authorized attempts of bypassing the system to identify the vulnerabilities and threats present in the network. Unlike malicious hacking by black hat hackers, this type of hacking is planned and approved by the organization, so the process is legal. The owner of the system or network assigns this task to cybersecurity experts.

The main target of ethical hacking is to investigate the systems to find out the weaknesses that have the potential to be exploited. After finding out the vulnerabilities, they analyze the information and try to figure out ways in which the security of the system can be strengthened.

To actually eliminate the vulnerabilities, it is equally important for the company to act according to the report and make sure the vulnerabilities have been eliminated properly. Also, ethical hackers have to adhere to specific protocols while working for the company.

Some of the protocols that have to be maintained by ethical hackers-

1)      They have to stay legal. They need to take proper permission before starting their attacks.

2)      Define their scope of work- To remain in the legal grounds, they need to define the boundaries of the assessment.

3)      Report all vulnerabilities- They need to provide a detailed report about the vulnerabilities found and the feedback of the test. Also, they need to find out ways in which they will be able to eliminate the vulnerabilities.

4)      As ethical hackers, they may gain access to sensitive data of an organization. So, it is necessary for them to sign a non-disclosure agreement and other similar terms and conditions and adhere to it.

What are the benefits that an ethical hacker provides?

Cyber-attack causes huge loss of the company, almost $6 trillion loss was faced globally due to cyber-attack. Ethical hacking helps in making the network strong and counteract cybercrimes. A strong network of cybersecurity will cause the attempt of hackers to fail. Ethical hacking is an integral part of the security system of an organization and government. Types of hackers-

There are three main types of hackers-

1)      Black hat hackers– They are the ones with malicious intentions and they hack into systems for personal benefits or for the harassment of their victims. They steal sensitive information from the system and sell them for their financial gains. They do not have to follow any protocols or ethics and their only motive is to benefit from hacking. Their work is completely illegal.

2)      White Hat Hackers– They are good hackers. They try to hack the systems in a similar manner in which black hat hackers would do and find out the weak points in the security of the system. They report these vulnerabilities and try to eliminate them so the system is protected from similar attacks conducted by black hat hackers. They intend to strengthen the security of the organization instead of personal benefit from hacking. Their work is legal as they are authorized to perform attacks on the systems for their purpose.

3)      Grey Hat Hackers– They lie somewhere between black and white hat hackers. They hack into systems without authorization but they are not motivated by financial gains. Often they report bugs of systems and they do not have malicious intentions as the black hat hackers. Still, they are illegal since they do not have permission to perform attacks on the systems.

What is the role of ethical hackers?

Ethical hackers are cybersecurity experts who check the preparedness of the company in case of an attack. The organizations are likely to face attacks from hackers and they may try to extract sensitive information and use them for their own benefits. But not all hackers are bad.

Ethical hackers replicate the attacks that are used by a black hat, or malicious hackers and try to gain unauthorized access to the system. They analyze the system and try to find the vulnerabilities and weaknesses that are present in the system and create a report on the basis of the analysis and submit them to the authorities. They target the vulnerabilities and the weakness that can be the entry point of the hackers into the systems and it is the job of the ethical hackers to find and eliminate those vulnerabilities and make the system more secure.

What does it take to become an ethical hacker?

You need to train yourself to be able to think like a hacker. That is why people who were black hat hackers once are very good at this job. They are already familiar with the specifics of the field. There are people who want to leave the path of crime and get to the ethical hacking world. They just need to learn the law and ethics related to this field.

New students of ethical hacking need a lot of dedication to be able to gain enough knowledge of programming and networking. They can get help from a professional if they need it. Having a good grasp of the concepts of ethical hacking is important for them to start a career in this field. There is a lot of certification course that is available for the aspirants of this career. There are many ethical hacking course online to choose from. Taking a certification course is necessary because many IT companies have a mandatory criterion of having a certificate to be able to start working. You can just search cybersecurity certificate programs near me and find the best security certifications online. They also provide master certificate in cyber security which adds value to you credibility. After certification, you can apply for positions like intrusion analyst, security professional, etc.

A certificate course only is not enough. Hackers are coming up with newer and better algorithms every day and ethical hackers need to update themselves regularly to be able to protect the systems from hackers.

Some must-have skills for an ethical hacker-

Some of the skills that ethical hackers should have are expertise in database handling, operating system and must be able to communicate properly with their employers, so they must have a certain amount of soft skills too. Their other areas where need a certain amount of expertise, like Network traffic sniffing, exploit Buffer overflow vulnerabilities, SQL injection, DNS proofing, Password guessing and hacking, session hijacking and spoofing, and many other related topics. Also, they need to be creative and have the ability to think like a hacker. This is a very necessary skill that is needed to be able to detect the weak points that can act as the gateway for expert hackers into the systems. They should make the system so strong that the hackers fail to hack into the systems in case they try to hack into the system.

9 Reasons You Should Choose Ethical Hacking Course in 2021-

1)      Generous salary package-

Some recent breaches in privacy have made clear the importance of cybersecurity and ethical hacking. Companies are willing to pay a greater amount for the protection of the companies’ data from potential cyber-attacks. According to the INFOSEC Institute, the average salary of ethical hackers is $71,331 per annum. These companies are willing to pay a handsome salary to the cybersecurity experts who will be able to protect the companies’ data from the black hat hackers.

2)      Greater sense of achievement-

The main task of an ethical hacker is to protect. The whole idea of providing protection to the data of numerous people itself gives an immense sense of satisfaction. Black hat hackers are active round the clock, trying to hack into systems of companies and extract the data and use them for their own malicious benefits. It is the ethical hacker’s job to protect the companies’ data and defend the system of the organization against such crimes. Your work has the ability to make a difference.

3)      The thrill of hacking never gets boring-

The job of the ethical hackers is to try and hack into systems by exploiting the vulnerabilities in the systems and report them to the authorities or come up with probable fixes, unlike black hat hackers who use the vulnerabilities for their own personal benefit. Ethical hackers get the thrill of hacking into systems as well while working to prevent the data breach in case of an attack. The job never gets boring. Hackers use every possible tool to hack into systems and each day they come up with a number of new tools. Ethical hackers need to constantly update themselves in order to be able to protect the system’s data. The hackers only have to succeed once in order to hack the system, the security experts have to succeed every time in order to protect the data of the organization.

4)      Good for learning new topics-

There are a variety of subjects that needs to be mastered before being introduced to ethical hacking. Some of these subjects are programming, scripting, web technologies, cryptography, networking, etc. Also being a professional ethical hacker takes a lot of work in keeping themselves updated on the new techniques of attack, new vulnerabilities and their exploits, new frameworks, new bypasses, the earlier mitigations, etc. This is the perfect job for people who loves challenges.

5)      Get good recognition globally-

To become a certified ethical hacker, one will have to go through a CEH exam and get certified. This exam will test your understanding of the fundamentals of ethical hacking. This certificate will increase your market value considerably and help you get a job anywhere in the world. This course will also help you to fulfill your dream of working in the fortune 500 companies. This job has no restriction in terms of sectors, be it tech giants like Google, or fashion companies, every sector needs the security of the data. So, you will be able to apply for job in any company you want.

6)      Opportunities are ever-growing-

It is already discussed that there is no limitation of job availabilities of ethical hackers. They are needed in all the sectors. There is a huge number of opportunities in ethical hacking because of the lack of skilled professionals. Also, as long as there is technology, there will be vulnerabilities that will be targeted by malicious black hat hackers for their personal benefit. The hackers will keep updating their tools and come up with new tools and techniques to get unauthorized access to systems. The need for highly skilled ethical hackers will never go down, and it is a good career to be chosen by students.

7)      Understand the hacker’s mindset-

The primary threat that an organization faces is black hat hackers trying to get into the system and extracting data and using them for their own personal benefit. A benefit of learning ethical hacking is to understand the mindset of the hackers from whom you will have to protect the company. You will have to think like a hacker and run attacks to gain unauthorized access to the system. You will have to find the vulnerabilities that may be used by hackers to gain unauthorized access to the system and find a fix to those vulnerabilities. Though it is not possible to completely nullify the chances of a data breach in case of an attack, it can surely reduce the chances of a successful attack by a hacker to a great extent. You will have to develop the hacker’s mindset through training.

8)      Highly in-demand skill-

The number of enthusiasts of cybersecurity was less in number as the companies neglected this aspect. It was not until recent years that the demand for cybersecurity enthusiasts bloomed. This was caused due to some famous cases of cyber-attacks and data breaches of big companies which provided services like web hosting, cloud storage, etc. This trend of demand caused a huge gap between the need for skilled professional ethical hackers and the number of such professionals. According to the Economic Times, 30,000 unfulfilled post of cyber-security is present currently in India.

9)      Help in creating a secure internet for all-

Only big companies are not the only target of cyber-attacks. Every individual who accesses technology in any form is at high risk of being a victim of cyber-attacks. We regularly come across phishing emails and SMS stating that the user has won a large sum of money and tries to lure the victim to provide important credentials and information. Basic knowledge of cybersecurity is an absolute necessity for every user of technology to be able to keep themselves safe from such attacks. The ethical hacking course will surely make the internet secure for everyone.

What are the steps in which you can become an ethical hacker?

Ethical hacking itself needs proficiency in a lot of topics before one can start working as an ethical hacker-

• They need to have good programming knowledge to start ethical hacking. Also, they need knowledge of multiple operating systems since they need to be able to work in different operating systems like Windows, Linux, macOS, etc.
• Next they need proficiency networking- Many attacks target the networks of the system. SO knowledge of the devices that are present in the system is needed to identify their weaknesses and know if they are compromised and be able to protect them.
• A good knowledge of scripting is also desired as it helps in dealing with different types of attacks like network-based and host-based attacks.
• They should also be able to understand the database. Hackers target the database of a system to extract sensitive information. So the ethical hackers need knowledge of database management like SQL to be able to inspect the operations that are carried out in the database and look for compromises and weaknesses.
• They should also have some knowledge servers and search engines.
• They also must keep themselves updated with all the new tools that are available in the market and also new tools and techniques used by the hackers.

To start as an ethical hacker, one can join a training program where they can enhance their skill and gain real-world experience. There are many such courses that have been launched seeing the high demand in this field.

Certification is also important as it adds value to your knowledge. Also, some companies have mandatory criteria of having a certification in one of the ethical hacking courses to be able to apply for a job. After taking up a course, you will have to work dedicatedly to gain fundamental knowledge in the field. You will also need a set of qualities like creativeness, logical thinking, observation, and problem-solving skills. They should have resourcefulness, patience, and the will to learn new skills. This is a perfect job for challenge lovers.

Job profiles that one can get after cybersecurity course-

• Information security analyst
• Information Security Manager
• Security Consultant
• Penetration Tester
• Certified Ethical hacker

All job profiles are bonded by the same motive of making the security of the system better and difficult to be hacked. The target is to secure all the sensitive information in the database of the organization.

Areas of job availability as a cyber-security specialist-

1)      Incident Responder-

These people have the responsibility of the resolving threat issue quickly and also take steps to prevent such attacks in the future.

2)      Security administrator-

Have the responsibility of running the security of the system running optimally. He installs and operates the security systems of the organization.

3)      Security Auditor-

They have the same responsibility as any other auditor. They audit the security system of the company to protect it from attacks.

4)      Forensic experts-

They analyze attacks and find out the cause due to which it happened.

5)      Vulnerability assessors-

They find out vulnerabilities that may be in the system.

6)      Security manager-

They delegate the authority and the resources to other employees.

7)      Cryptographer-

They are experts in cryptography who secures the system using cryptographers or creates new security software.

8)      Chief Officer of information security-

This is a high level of management position responsible for the entire infrastructure of information security.

Benefits of ethical hacking-

1)      Growing and never-ending demand for ethical hackers in the industry.

2)      Not a conventional path followed, so has a high potential of earning

3)      Helps to fight cyber terrorism which is a big issue in the world that is slowly moving towards the digital world. It will surely help in preventing cyber breaches.

4)      Helps in building hack-proof systems which is able to stop all kinds of attack by hackers.

5)      Banking and other financial establishments can be secured through this.

Disadvantages of ethical hacking-

1)      The authorized penetration, if goes wrong, can cause the data of the organization to corrupt.

2) ethical hackers may have the access to sensitive information of the company. So, the ethical hackers must be trustworthy to be on ethical grounds and have the only motive of strengthening the security of the company.

3)      The process of hiring ethical hackers puts a financial burden on the company. So many small companies and start-ups neglect this aspect and increase the risk of falling prey to cyber-attacks performed by hackers.

4)      Privacy is compromised during this process as the ethical hackers perform similar attacks as the black hat hackers and gain similar access to the system. The sensitive information gets exposed and can be used for malicious purposes instead.

Future of ethical hacking-

The world is shifting towards using digital media. The black hat hackers are constantly creating new and advanced tools and techniques for attempting attacks on systems. Both of these facts indicate that this field of ethical hacking is likely to see exponential growth in the near future. All sectors will need cybersecurity specialists in order to increase the security of the systems. So it is a great opportunity for young students to explore this field and have a great career.

About IEMLabs-

IEMLabs was established in 2016 with the vision of providing cybersecurity to the digital space. IEMLabs provides various cybersecurity the best quality services like VAPT with the vision of providing cybersecurity.

Gradually they widened their vision to providing education in the field of cybersecurity to turn young enthusiasts into cybersecurity experts. IEMLabs provides various courses to educate enthusiasts. The fields of courses further expanded to fields like Android Applications, Security Products, Artificial Intelligence (AI) Products, etc.

Why choose IEMLabs?

IEMLabs aims at delivering the best quality cybersecurity services to the client. They also have experienced faculties for all the courses they provide and aim at making the students a better professionals in their field. There are all kinds of courses for the enthusiastic students. IEMLabs is the best website to learn ethical hacking which provides the best ethical hacking course online.

There are various other domain which are taught here at iemlabs. You can join the network security certification online courses which offers network+ certification training. IEMLabs also provides online networking courses with certificates, network plus certification, comptia network+ course.

There are other domains such as robotics for enthusiasts. Our robotics certificate program provides online course on robotics, robotics training. We also provide online course where you can learn robotics online.

IEMLabs also teacher Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning enthusiast. The faculties are trained with the knowledge of how to learn artificial intelligence. We have courses for advanced ai learning, ai and advanced machine learning, machine learning and ai training.