What is ethical hacking? – The Hindu

You must have heard of hacking and how social media accounts, devices and even security systems often get hacked. But did you know there is an ethical side to hacking which helps us all in ways we do not often realise? 

Ethical hacking or white-hat hacking is a legal cybersecurity practice where experts try to imitate cyberattacks to find and fix weaknesses in systems before anybody can exploit them. This practice, vital for modern digital security, helps strengthen systems against real threats like black hat hackers.

Black, white or grey hat!

Hackers are of multiple types, and the main ones are black-hat, white-hat and grey-hat hackers. Do you know why such arose, though? Back in the 1950s, western movies often portrayed the “bad guys” or villains as wearing black hats while the “good guys” or heroes wore white hats. 

The same analogy was picked up while categorising hackers back in the day, leading to white hat and black hat hackers, and later grey, blue, and even red hat hackers as well.

The white hat saviours

Ethical hacking emerged around the 1990s when businesses and organisations recognised a need for proactive security measures to protect their systems amidst rising cyber threats. 

Unlike black-hat hackers who act illegally for personal gain, ethical hackers work with explicit permission and follow strict rules to mirror malicious techniques. Since the aim is to protect rather than harm, it often follows with detailed reports with remediation steps on how to solve the problems. 

How does it work?

Ethical hacking mostly follows a structured five-phase methodology: reconnaissance, scanning, gaining access, maintaining access, and covering tracks — though ethical hackers skip the last two to avoid real damage. 

zIn reconnaissance, hackers gather public data via various tools to profile targets without direct interaction. 

2. Then they scan to detect open ports, services, and vulnerabilities like unpatched software. 

3. After locking a target, they try to gain access through steps like password cracking, privilege escalation, or man-in-the-middle attacks.

4. Finally, they analyse the findings and recommend fixes, ensuring systems are hardened. 

When is it used?

Ethical hacking is used in various industries like finance, healthcare and e-commerce, to even the government services and facilities. Companies often hire or have in-house tech experts who help with ensuring their security system is safe. 

Cyber threats often cost trillions annually, and ethical hacking helps in mitigating this by identifying flaws beforehand. It saves organisations millions in breach recovery while building trust with customers by ensuring their data is safe. Through ethical hacking, all findings remain confidential, and the safety of the system and data is ensured — one of the main differences between white-hats, grey-hats (semi-legal) and black-hats (malicious) hackers.