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A brief insight into the world of hacking

February 3, 2021

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One of the greatest inventions of mankind has been the internet. Electronic data transmission has today become pivotal in the world of communication. While the internet has helped individuals and companies to network with the outside world, it has also exposed them to cybercrimes like privacy invasion, data theft, and fraud.

The vulnerabilities present in information security pose a threat to sensitive data which can be exploited with criminal intent. Hacking can be defined as the process of identifying bugs in a computer system or network and exploit them to gain unauthorized access.

Organizations face losses of millions of dollars every year to cybercrimes caused by hackers. No enterprise is infallible to hacking, and even with the best security set-up in place, human error can lead to breaches. Hackers can use many processes to gain access to private data including Footprinting, Steganography and Worms.

According to the Ninth Annual Cost of Cybercrime Study released in 2019 by Accenture and the Ponemon Institute, cybercrimes are on a rise, taking more time to resolve, and are more expensive for organizations. Security researchers are also selling software vulnerabilities to the highest bidder in the hacking ‘grey’ market. It’s a space filled with government contractors who, acting with great secrecy, buy exploits to bolster their state’s capabilities.

So, is hacking all bad? Not exactly. Before we draw any conclusions, let’s briefly know about different types of hackers. They can be broadly classified into three types of categories.

Black Hat: 

As the name suggests black hat hackers are motivated by malicious intentions. They infiltrate computer systems or networks for either financial gains or to intrude on someone’s privacy. From banks to enterprises, Black Hat hackers have robbed them of their money and invaluable private data.

Grey Hat:

Grey Hat hackers like Black Hat Hackers exploit vulnerabilities of computer systems and networks to gain unauthorized access but their intentions are not malicious. Such hackers highlight security loopholes present in a computer system to enterprises or government agencies so that a solution to rectify such breaches can be developed. Grey Hats often expect companies to hire their services to address the security weakness that they have identified in a system or a network.

White Hat:

A White Hat hacker also referred to as an ethical hacker is the ‘hero’ in the hacking domain. He finds out weaknesses in a computer system or network as part of assessing their vulnerabilities. Most importantly White Hat hacking is legal as it is performed with the permission of the system’s owner. A White Hat hacker is legally permitted to find out weaknesses in a network so that such frailties can be fixed before they are exploited for malicious reasons. A large number of corporations hire White Hat hackers to maintain a robust network framework that is impregnable against all other types of hacking. That’s why certified ethical hackers are in great demand both in the private as well as government sectors.

How to become a White Hat hacker? 

To establish yourself as a professional ethical or White Hat hacker, you need to have strong motivation, basic self-education, and thorough ethical hacking training with a dedicated learning approach.

One can become a White Hat hacker by simply attending seminars on hacking or through independent sources. However, Fortune 500 companies and government institutes looking to find out vulnerabilities in their existing networks like to only depend on a certified ethical hacker.

The average reward for discovering cyber vulnerabilities has jumped 70% worldwide in two years to $3,380, as per the U.S. based HackerOne. Its 2019 Hacker Report says that by the U.S. in 2018 alone, hackers earned over $19 million in bounties. The U.S. and Canada-based organizations comprise the lion’s share of bounties, followed by the U.K., Germany, Russia, and Singapore, all contributing significant bounty awards.

So, if you are looking at an ethical hacking course that can expose you to immense career opportunities, you should carefully opt for a course. Unlike vendor-specific certification programs, the vendor-neutral approach covers the subject matter more broadly as it doesn’t focus on covering a specific vendor’s technology in great detail.

The accredited course provides advanced hacking tools and techniques used by hackers and information security professionals alike to break into an organization. As rightly put, “To beat a hacker, you need to think like a hacker”.


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RohitKaul

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