With technology progressing by leaps and bounds every day, almost, everything has gone online. This has, definitely, made our lives a lot easier. But, along with the upward graph of technological advancement comes the upward graph of cyber crimes as well.
Cyber crimes are rapidly growing and if you think that you are safe, then my dear friend, I am sorry to say but you are wrong. Hence, in an attempt to bring down the graph of cyber crimes the term ethical hacking or white hat hacking was coined.
An ethical hacker uses his/ her hacking skills to test out a system’s defense and expose the vulnerabilities and loopholes to the client so that they can be fixed. Ethical hacking is a very promising as well as a highly profitable career. No doubt, computer enthusiasts are going for a Certified Ethical Hacking Course.
So, if you are interested in learning ethical hacking, I will recommend going for a course from Simplilearn. But, donning a hat of being an ethical hacker is not exactly the end of the story as sometimes even the most sincere ethical hacker can land himself/ herself in trouble along with the organization.
I recommend keeping the following principles in mind before beginning to practice ethical hacking or white hat hacking.
Are you an Ethical Hacker? Please keep the following Rules in Mind
Ethical hackers are trusted by different organizations and must not give birth to a situation which could land either him or the organization into trouble.
Since the organizations place genuine trust in an ethical hacker who has accredited the certification of being the same; a lot lies on the part of the ethical hacker to understand and follow certain rules before he digs into white-hat hacking:
Rule 1: Get Client’s Permission
You know you are a white-hat hacker. Even the organization knows that you are a white-hat hacker. But, if you gain entry into the organization’s system without getting the required permission (verbal as well as in writing) then, undoubtedly, you are in trouble.
Even ethical hacking without having the required permission to do so is a criminal offense in many nations. So, keep it in mind to have the permission before donning your white-hat hacking skills.
Rule 2: Have Knowledge of Client’s Business System
Ethical hacking is not something which you start immediately after getting the permission. You can’t go into an organization and start your testing in a haphazard manner. First of all, you need to have some information about your client’s business organization and its way of working.
If you don’t have this knowledge then you don’t know where to start testing for bugs and vulnerabilities. It is only if you know the entire system and flow of data; you can actually start testing the system out.
Rule 3: Stay in your limits
A client trusts you and gives you access to the entire network. Your client must have imposed certain limits on how far you can go inside the system for testing purposes. It is very important that you stay within the limits set by the client. This is because your client’s trust is very important and mustn’t be breached at any cost.
Rule 4: Plan in Advance
Ethical hacking without planning in advance wouldn’t let you perform your job in a perfect manner. If you do your job improperly chances are that certain loopholes might be left in the client’s system even after you submit your report.
Remember; time and patience are the two important things which will assist you in doing a good job in strengthening the client’s system. You must ensure that all loopholes are patched.
Rule 5: Be open to the Client
You must provide information to the client regarding your activities as the client must know about the state of affairs at all points. This kind of open communication with the client projects your trustworthiness. All your discoveries must be told to the client so that they can get each loophole patched. Never hide anything from the client.
Rule 6: Remain ethical and confidential after the job
You did your job. Also You fixed all the loopholes in the client’s system. You successfully strengthened the client’s system. Even after doing your job it is not over yet. Post completion of the allotted tasks you must remain confidential with the client’s information.
If you go and share the same with third parties then you are not an ethical hacker. For an ethical hacker; work ethics and confidentiality are always first. You must respect your client and the values of his/ her organization.
Rule 7: Don’t leave any scope of future attack while leaving
It is great that you have penetrated the system and found the loopholes. You have even fixed them. But, you cannot simply exit out of the system straight away. You must do clean-ups before exiting.
You must not leave traces of your path behind. If you do so, unknowingly you are setting up the course of a future cyber attack on the client’s system. Hence, traverse back the way you came in and keep on covering your tracks while backtracking.
I hope that you have understood the mentioned seven rules. Ethical hacking is a very delicate and at times a deadly job. Even the brightest of people can, sometimes, deviate from their path. Hence, it is essential to work as per the mentioned rules as these seven rules serve as dictations for ethical hacking.
So, if you are going to be an ethical hacker then imbibing these rules in your personality is a must as there is a very thin line of difference between white hat hacking and black hat hacking. The key is to be truthful, genuine and always focused on your task.
This way very soon you will become a successful ethical hacker who is trusted by many organizations for getting their job done.
