26/01/2014
What is ethical hacking?
-
Ethical hacking and a ethical hacker are terms
that describe hacking performed to help a
company or individual identify potential threats
on the computer or network. An ethical hacker
attempts to hack their way past the system
security, finding any weak points in the
security that could be exploited by other
hackers. The organization uses what the
ethical hacker finds to improve the system
security, in an effort to minimize, if not
eliminate, any potential hacker attacks.
In order for hacking to be deemed ethical, the
hacker must obey the below rules.
1. You have
permission
to probe the
network and
attempt to
identify
potential
security
risks. It's
recommended
that if you
are the
person
performing
the tests
that you get
written
consent.
2. You respect
the
individual's
or
company's
privacy and
only go
looking for
security
issues.
3. You report
all security
vulnerabilities
you detect to
the company,
not leaving
anything
open for you
or someone
else to come
in at a later
time.
4. You let the
software
developer or
hardware
manufacturer
know of any
security
vulnerabilities
you locate in
their
software or
hardware if
not already
known by
the
company.
The term "ethical hacker" has received
criticism at times from people who say that
there is no such thing as an "ethical" hacker.
Hacking is hacking, no matter how you look at
it and those who do the hacking are commonly
referred to as computer criminals. However,
the work that ethical hackers do for
organizations has helped improve system
security and can be said to be quite
successful.
