Digital innovation offers companies several advantages, ranging from greater profitability and lower costs to increased employee productivity and the ability to provide better customer service. That said, more digital solutions increase the size of an organisation’s attack surface – giving cybercriminals more options for breaching their IT infrastructure and compromising sensitive data and assets. In light of this, it’s not enough for companies to merely react to the growing number of cyber threats they face – they need to get ahead of them – making the importance of ethical hacking greater than ever.
Ethical hacking is the process of attempting to breach a system or network to evaluate its existing cybersecurity measures and determine ways to improve them. Subsequently, an ethical, or “white hat”, hacker is a cybersecurity professional with the skillset of a cybercriminal – but uses it to help organisations prevent cyberattacks instead of carrying them out.
Let’s look at how to become an ethical hacker, the most important skills they possess, and the best ethical hacker certifications.
What role does an ethical hacker have?
An ethical hacker’s role is to legally break into a company’s IT infrastructure, which enables it to identify its vulnerabilities and, subsequently, determine the most effective ways to improve its cybersecurity posture. By attempting to breach a network using the same tools and methods as cybercriminals, companies benefit from understanding their infrastructure from a hacker’s perspective – and can stay a step ahead of threat actors.
Sometimes, a company will retain an ethical hacker as a full-time employee. This allows the hacker develop a deeper to understanding of the organisation’s applications and systems than an independent consultant.
However, in most cases, ethical hackers are brought in as a freelancer, providing a company with a fresh perspective and set of eyes that allow it to identify vulnerabilities that its in-house cybersecurity personnel overlooked. Because independent ethical hackers work with a wide range of clients, they often have a broader skillset than their counterparts who only work for a particular company.
An ethical hacker’s responsibilities typically include:
Threat modelling
This is the process of strengthening an organisation’s cybersecurity posture by identifying vulnerabilities and determining the most effective policies and controls to mitigate the variety of cyber threats they face. This requires:
- Identifying and inventorying data and assets.
- Determining what different applications do with said data and assets.
- Identifying potential cyber threats and discovering the extent of an organisation’s attack surface.
- Prioritising potential cyber threats with respect to the likelihood of their occurrence and their severity should they occur.
- Deciding on the most important cybersecurity measures to implement to best mitigate risk.
Effective threat modelling should help decide where to direct their finite resources, i.e., budget and workforce, for maximum impact.
Security assessments
A security assessment analyses a company’s current cybersecurity posture and where it can improve it. This involves scanning the network for vulnerabilities and providing recommendations for their mitigation.
Vulnerability assessments
Part of an overall security assessment, a vulnerability threat assessment (VTA) identifies specific weaknesses in an organisation’s network and links them to specific cyber threats. Subsequently, security assessments evaluate a company’s overall cybersecurity posture, while a VTA focuses on cyber threats. An ethical hacker’s job is to identify, catalogue, and rank infrastructure vulnerabilities so security teams can prioritise their mitigation – ensuring they address the most significant threats first.
Report writing
It’s essential for an ethical hacker to clearly communicate their discoveries during security and vulnerability assessments to an organisation’s CISO, security personnel, management and other relevant stakeholders. Reports are typically the basis on which senior management justifies the budget for increased cybersecurity expenditure, so an ethical hacker must know how to present their findings in terms non-technical can understand to ensure the necessary approval.
How to become an ethical hacker: the essential skills
Now that you better understand an ethical hacker’s role and responsibilities, let’s move on to the most essential skills for how to become an ethical hacker.
Linux
Learning to use the Linux operating system is one of the most crucial skills for ethical hackers for several reasons:
- Though most employees within organisations use Windows, most servers run in a Linux environment. A key reason is that Linux is among the most secure operating systems (OS) and more resistant to security breaches.
- Linux is open-source – so it’s free and customisable.
- Consequently, the fact Linux is open source lends itself to a large user community that consistently strives to improve it and offers ethical hackers a support system for troubleshooting and professional development.
- The majority of ethical hack tools are developed specifically for Linux.
- The Linux kernel, i.e., the core program that controls an OS, is lightweight and efficient, making it ideal for low-spec Internet of Things (IoT) devices. This is increasingly important as organisations integrate more embedded devices into their IT ecosystems. Additionally, Linux’s modularity makes it easier for ethical hackers to detect security flaws and remediate them accordingly.
It’s especially important for ethical hackers to learn key command line skills for Linux to expedite their workflow, including those to:
- Manage and navigate the file system
- Add and remove applications
- Set and modify access control permissions
Although there are many popular versions of Linux, such as Red Hat and Ubuntu, it’s vital for ethical hackers to get to grips with Kali Linux. This is due to the fact that it’s made specially for ethical hackers, and cybersecurity professionals in general, offering an abundance of ethical hacking tools that assist with penetration testing, cyber forensics, and other facets of security and vulnerability assessments.
Hacking techniques
Naturally, to bypass a company’s cybersecurity measures and breach its network, ethical hackers need to know how to hack! To be most effective, it’s critical that ethical hackers learn a wide array of hacking techniques and methodologies to test IT infrastructure thoroughly.
Important hacking skills include:
- Reconnaissance
- Network scanning
- Password cracking
- Session spoofing and hijacking
- Network traffic, i.e., packet, sniffing
- Denial of service (DoS) and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks
- Exploiting buffer overflow vulnerabilities
- SQL injection attacks
- Cross-site (XSS) scripting attacks
- Malware distribution and analysis
- Cryptography attacks
Additionally, ethical hackers must stay up-to-date on new and emerging hacking techniques and tools if they hope to stay ahead – or at least abreast of – cybercriminals.
Programming languages
Learning at least one programming language is important for all cybersecurity professionals, in general, but especially for ethical hackers. A strong coding foundation enables ethical hackers to write scripts that automate tasks like network scanning, malware analysis, server access, and testing web applications. Just as importantly, knowing programming languages allows ethical hackers to analyse the code used by adversarial hackers during malicious activity.
Here are some of the best languages to learn on the path to becoming an ethical hacker:
1. Python
Python is a popular and commonly used programming language because it’s easy to learn and has a large community of developers. Python’s vast collection of code libraries allows ethical hackers to rapidly write powerful scripts to automate key vulnerability assessments and application testing tasks. Perhaps most importantly, Python is often used by cybercriminals to create malware, so it’s crucial for ethical hackers to develop a deep of the language to analyse malicious code.
2. C
Often called “the mother of modern programming languages”, C is a fast, low-level programming language that’s a highly useful component of the ethical hacking toolkit. As a low-level language, C enables ethical hackers to directly interact with a machine’s hardware and configure components like CPU and memory. Consequently, most operating systems, including Windows and Linux, are written in C, which allows ethical hackers to create custom commands.
3. JavaScript
Much like Python, JavaScript is relatively easy to learn, has a variety of useful code libraries and frameworks, and a huge development community. Most importantly, however, a large number of web applications are written in JavaScript, so malicious actors write scripts in the language to exploit front-end and back-end vulnerabilities, e.g., through XSS attacks. As a result, ethical hackers must be proficient in JavaScript to detect and exploit vulnerabilities during web application testing and suggest appropriate remediation measures.
4. SQL
Structured Query Language (SQL) is the language of databases, allowing users to add, retrieve, delete, organise, and manipulate the data they contain. This makes knowledge of SQL a fundamental skill for ethical hackers, so they can query a company’s databases during security and vulnerability assessments – and effectively defend against attacks like SQL injections.
Networking concepts
One of the most critical elements for how to become an ethical hacker is a strong understanding of networking architecture and technologies. To successfully navigate a company’s network and discover its security flaws, an ethical hacker must know how it’s constructed, how its different applications and systems interact, and how data flows between them.
Perhaps even more importantly, savvy malicious actors will understand network architectures and how to traverse them to achieve their nefarious objectives – so it’s imperative that ethical hackers possess the same knowledge and skills.
Some of the most important networking concepts for an ethical hacker to understand include:
- TCP/IP Networks, i.e., public and private IP addresses, IP4 vs IP6, etc.
- Subnets, network masks and Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR)
- Samba and Server Message Block (SMB) protocol
- Domain Name Service (DNS)
- Simple Mail Transport Protocol, i.e., mail server management
- Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
- Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)
- Network traffic analysis
- Wireless (e.g., Wi-Fi) and Bluetooth Networks
- SCADA systems and Modbus
Exploiting vulnerabilities
In order to effectively use their hacking prowess and thoroughly test an organisation’s IT infrastructure, ethical hackers must know the most common vulnerabilities within an IT ecosystem and how to best exploit them. The four main types of vulnerabilities are network, operating system (OS), process (or procedural), and human.
- Network vulnerabilities are weaknesses within an organisation’s IT infrastructure that permit malicious actors unauthorised access, such as:
- Lack of network segmentation
- Hardware and software misconfigurations
- Unsecured APIs
- Instances of Shadow IT
- Outdated software and/or firmware
- Operating system (OS) vulnerabilities enable hackers to perpetrate malicious activity on any device that contains an OS, which includes:
- Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks
- Unpatched and outdated software network.
- Lack of or infrequent updates
- Unpatched software
- Zero-day vulnerabilities
- Process vulnerabilities are created when a company has insufficient – or non-existent – cybersecurity procedures and policies, such as:
- Insufficient identity and access management
- Poor backup and recovery procedures
- Poor incident response procedures
- Lack of continuous monitoring
- Poor data sanitisation
- Human vulnerabilities are user errors that can expose sensitive data, systems, and hardware to malicious action, with examples being:
- Lack of cybersecurity awareness
- Accessing the internet through unsecured networks
- A lack of understanding of the shared responsibility model for cloud environments
- Weak passwords
- Stolen credentials
Understanding how the dark web works
The dark web is a hidden section of the internet where criminal activity – including cybercrime – takes place. Cybercriminals can learn skills, acquire tools and resources (such as malware), buy and sell stolen data (such as individual’s personally identifiable information (PII) and liaise with other malicious actors.
An important factor in how to become an effective ethical hacker is knowing how to navigate the dark web. This allows them to obtain up-to-date threat intelligence, such as the latest strains of malware – so they can analyse it. In some cases, an ethical hacker may learn of upcoming cyberattacks against their client or employer, which enables them to suggest the appropriate mitigation measures.
Networking with other ethical hackers
A good ethical hacker understands the crucial importance of constantly updating their skills and threat intelligence; establishing their own network of other ethical hackers is an effective way to achieve this. This allows them to learn from their peers and, in turn, offer advice and solutions to those who need it. Methods of networking with other ethical hackers include joining online communities, connecting with them on social media (LinkedIn, X, etc.), and attending cybersecurity conventions.
What are the key protocols ethical hackers follow?
An important factor in how to become an ethical hacker, and what separates them from their “black-hat” equivalents, is the protocols they follow during the course of the assignments. Here are some of the most important conventions ethical hackers abide by.
Staying within legal parameters
Black hat hackers typically breach company networks for financial gain – or, in the case of hacktivists, for instance, other personal motives. Although less common, grey hat hackers may infiltrate IT infrastructure without a company’s permission to forcibly highlight its security weaknesses or merely to practice their skills for their own amusement. Ethical hackers, in contrast to both, always get an organisation’s expressed approval before accessing their network and performing any assessments, thereby ensuring they comply with the law.
Understanding the importance of data sensitivity
A key part of the ethics of an ethical hacker is respecting the confidentiality of the sensitive data they may access during the course of working with an organisation – particularly if they’re an independent contractor. Subsequently, some companies will ask the ethical hackers to sign a non-disclosure agreement to legally restrict them from discussing the data they come across.
Understanding the scope of the assignment
There are typically three kinds of assignments that ethical hackers engage in:
- White box: they’re given as much information about the infrastructure as possible, allowing them to delve deep into the network in search of as many vulnerabilities as possible.
- Black box: where the ethical hacker is provided with no information about the network and has to determine potential attack vectors themselves.
- Grey box: somewhere between the two types of engagements described above where a hacker is given limited information. These assignments are especially useful for determining how much access a user with extensive privileges has and the extent of the damage they could cause. This makes them a good simulation of insider threats or in a situation where a malicious actor has breached the network.
The 4 best certifications for becoming an ethical hacker
To round things off, here are four of the most widely recognised certifications for how to become an ethical hacker.
CompTIA PenTest+
The PenTest+ is a certification from CompTIA, which also offers the respected A+, Security+, and Network+ certificates. Enrolees will gain hands-on skills within cloud, traditional on-prem, and hybrid environments while learning to penetrate networks, OSs, web servers and applications, and IoT devices.
While there are no specific prerequisites to take the CompTIA PenTest+ exam, enrolees should ideally have the CompTIA Network+ and CompTIA Security+ certifications alongside 3-4 years of industry experience.
Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) Certification
Accredited by the EC Council, the CEH certification is designed to help candidates develop the mind and skill set of an ethical hacker, focusing on skills such as penetration testing, attack methodologies, detection and prevention. Experienced cybersecurity professionals can take the exam without completing the training courses – but they have to submit a verifiable record of at least two years of cybersecurity experience.
Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP)
The Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP) is a practical penetration testing certification that’s widely considered the most difficult ethical hacking certification. The certification centres on penetration testing but also covers subjects like network and web application security. Enrollees must demonstrate their ability to perform in-depth penetration tests on large networks and complex infrastructures.
While the OSCP has no particular prerequisites, its recommended enrollees have knowledge of and experience in networking, Linux, Python, and bash scripting.
GIAC Penetration Tester (GPEN)
The Penetration Tester (GPEN) certification is offered by the Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC), with a strong emphasis on practical hands-on testing and applying the skills within to real-world scenarios. The GPEN covers a wide array of topics, starting with fundamental security concepts all the way up to advanced hacking techniques and cyber attacks, such as man-in-the-middle attacks, DoS and DDoS attacks, and social engineering methods.
It’s recommended that those who intend to study for the GPEN have at least two years of industry experience in the field.
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