Ethical Hacking: Legality, Stages And Benefit

Ethical Hacking: Legality, Stages And Benefit

Most of you who are seeking to pursue a career in ethical hacking might be already familiar with these aspects. However, a lot of people, who are either thinking of enrolling in an ethical hacking course or who are thinking of hiring an ethical hacker, might not have complete knowledge about certain important things related to this process. This article will shed light on these areas, so keep reading till the end.

Is Ethical Hacking Legal?

Yes, it is totally legal. However, there are certain legal requirements that need to be met when companies hire an ethical hacker. For example, clearly stating what permissions are being given to the ethical hacker will avoid conflict later. Companies also need to make sure that they are not breaking any law by giving ethical hackers access to any confidential data about their shareholders without their consent. Legality in ethical hacking can take various forms. Full disclosure of all vulnerabilities to the company and non-disclosure of confidential information outside is also contained in the legal agreement. Companies must make sure that when they are hiring an ethical hacker, they are doing everything within legal boundaries.

What Are The 5 Stages Of Ethical Hacking?

The five stages of ethical hacking are as follows:

  1. Reconnaissance: This stage is also called information gathering and deals with collecting all the necessary information about the target before planning an attack.
  2. Scanning: Scanning or foot printing is about scanning the target to know about its network and architecture looking for open ports and various software it uses.
  3. Gaining Access: This stage is where the actual exploitation happens. After gaining all the necessary knowledge, ethical hackers now try to gain access through the vulnerabilities found in the above stages.
  4. Maintaining Access: A hack can take days or weeks depending upon its end goal. It is important to maintain the acquired access for that period.
  5. Clearing Tracks: This is the last stage that deals with clearing the crime scene to cover your tracks, making sure no one can trace the hack back to you.

Another final stage is about assessing the security posture of the organisation after the process is over and preparing a well detailed report about the same. This helps the organisation know exactly where they stand and what they need to do to become more cyber secure.

Benefits Of Hiring An Ethical Hacker

In today’s world, having a defense strategy is not enough to secure your business. Even with all the defense mechanisms in place, there is no guarantee that you will not get hacked. Remember, that ethical hacking is the only true solution to secure yourself against cyber crimes. It is impossible for a company to tackle each and every one of their loopholes through cyber defense. Without ethical hacking and penetration testing, you cannot identify your loopholes, hence, you are always under a looming threat of cyber incidents. Only someone like a CEH professional (Certified Ethical Hacker) can accurately test your system against real life hacking. It is, thus, crystal clear that hiring an ethical hacker is the ultimate cyber security strategy you can implement for your business.

At the end, let’s close this article with the fact that ethical hackers are in hot demand right now, all around the world. 2020 has seen a tremendous rise in cyber crime, and we all know that when crime increases, the need for skilled protectors also increases. Whether you are someone who is interested in becoming a white hat hacker or someone who wants to hire one, be assured that you are making one of the best decisions of your professional life.

Also Read: Mac Productivity Tricks That Every User Must Embrace In 2021

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