Let’s analyze the benefits and profile of the Ethical Hacker in Enterprise Cybersecurity.
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The term “hacker” often evokes negative connotations in our society. The media, in both fiction and non-fiction, and sensationalized social media posts have created a distorted idea about hacking that may not reflect its true meaning today.
Did you know that hackers can also actively fight cybercrime? This is known as ethical hacking, and without a doubt, these professionals are now more in demand than ever.
THE ETHICAL HACKER: A SUPERHERO OF CYBERSPACE
Before we delve into the realm of ethical hacking, it is important to understand what hacking is. In principle, hacking does not necessarily have to be negative: it is the use to which it is put that determines whether it is ethically acceptable or not.
Hacking is a set of techniques by which a computer system is accessed by exploiting vulnerabilities found in its security measures. Hacking refers to the techniques themselves and their use may or may not be criminal.
However, when we add the adjective “ethical” to the term hacker, we introduce a new concept, a new professional profile, one of the most demanded in large companies.
Ethical hacking involves the use of hacking techniques to search for and detect security vulnerabilities in corporate IT systems. However, in this case, the goal is not to exploit these vulnerabilities, but to detect them before the cybercriminals do, in order to fix them before they are discovered by the wrong hacker.
Thus, the “ethical hacker” (also known as white hat hacker) carries out a series of controlled attacks, using penetration testing (pentesting) and constantly verifying the correct functioning of security systems.
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ETHICAL HACKER PROFILE CHARACTERISTICS
In addition to possessing a solid ethical sense in the way he acts, the ethical hacker must meet the following characteristics:
- Thorough mastery of the tools and tactics used by hackers, as well as the ability to put himself in their shoes to understand their motivations.
- Thorough knowledge of the security network of the company in which he/she works.
- Familiarity with the network access privileges of each member of the company and an understanding of how they interact with information, especially sensitive information.
- Internalization of the company’s security policies, procedures and protocols, with a particular focus on cybersecurity.
- Knowledge of and adaptation to the corporate culture.
BENEFITS OF ETHICAL HACKING FOR COMPANIES
Ethical hacking brings a number of benefits to companies, including:
- Increased level of protection of computer systems through constant testing based on multiple forms of attack, both traditional and emerging.
- Compliance with the Data Protection Law within the company.
- Continuous reinforcement of security protocols by identifying obsolete and therefore vulnerable equipment or software.
- Rapid identification of Zero Day vulnerabilities, which are recently reported and do not yet have solutions available, allowing measures to be taken to protect the company’s systems.
Due to the nature of their work, which involves accessing sensitive company data in many cases, reliability is a fundamental premise when hiring ethical hacker profiles. In addition, these professionals constantly face legal dilemmas in conducting their penetration tests, but always under the protection of the company or client they serve. They continuously report on their activity, as well as on vulnerabilities or weaknesses detected through reports.
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While large companies usually have this type of profile on their staff, what about small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)? In most cases, these companies choose to outsource the ethical hacking service due to their resource constraints.
CONCLUSION
Ethical hacking challenges the traditional perception of hacking as negative, showing its importance in the fight against cybercrime. Ethical hackers, with their specialized skills and knowledge, play a critical role in protecting corporate IT systems. By leveraging hacking techniques to identify and fix vulnerabilities before they are exploited by criminals, companies can strengthen their security and comply with legal data protection standards. In an increasingly digitized world, ethical hacking has become a necessity to safeguard the integrity of business operations in cyberspace.
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Some of our contents have been created by ChatGPT, a large language model trained by OpenAI, based on the GPT-3.5 architecture, with the knowledge cutoff date of 2021