How To Learn Ethical Hacking

How To Learn Ethical Hacking

In today’s highly digitized business environment, the need for cyber security and ethical hacking has never been higher. As more and more businesses are moving their operations online, cybercrime has become an enormous problem. If cybercrime were measured as a nation, it would be the world’s third-largest economic power, after the United States and China, by 2021. Globally, cybercrime costs over $6 trillion every year.

Over the next four years, global cybercrime costs are expected to rise at a rate of 15% each year, reaching $10.5 trillion every year by 2025. That’s up from $3 trillion in 2015. This represents the most significant transfer of economic wealth in world history, jeopardizing innovation and investment incentives. Cybercrime is also ten times larger than natural disasters’ damage in a year and will be more lucrative than the entire global trade of all major illegal drugs put together. To put it delicately, ethical hackers and cyber security specialists are in very high demand.

MyComputerCareer is an Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training (ACCET)-accredited organization that offers you a variety of IT security programs such as the Information Technology Security and Administration (ITSA), Cyber Security Specialist (CSS),  Cyber Security Engineer (CSE), and the Associate of Applied Science in Network Administration and Cyber Security. These will prepare you to earn top certifications from organizations such as Microsoft, CompTIA, Cisco, Linux, and the EC-Council. If you’re interested in how to learn ethical hacking check out their IT certification programs here.

What Is Ethical Hacking?

Ethical hacking is a type of penetration testing which involves breaking into a company’s network, just like malicious hackers would. But unlike a black hat hacker (malicious hackers), a white hat hacker (ethical hacker) penetrates an organization’s systems legally. Ethical hackers are employed by legal bodies and commercial enterprises to determine flaws in a system and track its vulnerability. The duty of an ethical hacker is to find a system’s vulnerability and create a barrier against outside intrusion.

The ethical hacker is a computer security specialist who understands the ethical implications of their work. They make sure that their actions are not harmful to other people and don’t violate laws or company policies. And they get paid generously for doing so.

To become an ethical hacker, you need to have knowledge in many fields like programming, networking, computer system administration, and more. It’s also important to know about security risks and how to protect against them. The path towards becoming an ethical hacker is not easy, but the rewards for doing so are well worth the effort.

MyComputerCareer is an accredited educational institution that provides you with the knowledge and skills necessary to become a Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) and a key resource for the success and security of any worthwhile organization in the United States or the world.

What Are the Roles and Responsibilities of Ethical Hackers?

A professional penetration tester or an ethical hacker has a broad range of responsibilities. However, there are some skill sets that the person must master.

An ethical hacker should avoid going outside the boundaries of legality and think and act as a black hat hacker. To find and repair the flaws in a computer system so that intruders are unaware of their presence, hackers should always work within the confines of the law. As a result, an important aspect to consider when discussing ethics and professionalism is the judgment and professionalism of an ethical hacker.

An ethical hacker should be able to breach systems, understand the root causes of concerns, and repair them. For this, they must know how to learn ethical hacking from beginning to end.

In ethical hacking, the goal is to mimic an attacker while assessing a company’s IT assets’ security. They seek assault paths against the target. The aim is to gather as much information as possible during the reconnaissance stage. Once they’ve collected enough data, they’ll use it to look for flaws in the asset. Even sophisticated systems may have intricate countermeasure mechanisms that could be vulnerable.

They don’t simply identify security flaws. Ethical hackers utilize exploits to show how malicious cyberattacks might exploit the vulnerability. The following are some of the most prevalent vulnerabilities identified by ethical hackers:

  • SQL injection attacks
  • Broken authentications
  • Cybersecurity misconfigurations
  • Personnel using components with known vulnerabilities
  • Sensitive data exposure

Following the testing time, ethical hackers create a detailed report. This documentation includes procedures for breaching and repairing any vulnerabilities discovered during the test.

What Are the Basic Skills of Ethical Hackers?

To be considered for this position, one must have a solid grasp of ethical hacking fundamentals, fulfill basic educational criteria, complete the required ethical hacking training and certification programs, and acquire job experience. This entails an in-depth understanding of IT and computer technology. To be a skilled, ethical hacker, you must master the following skills.

Technical Skills

  • Cybersecurity Concepts & Technologies
  • Networking skills
  • Cryptography
  • Cloud computing
  • Web Application
  • Scripting
  • Kali Linux Operating System Skills
  • Wireless network technologies
  • Advanced TCP/IP
  • Wireshark or Tcpdump
  • Virtualization
  • Database skills
  • Digital Forensics

Soft Skills

  • Problem-solving skill
  • Creative thinking
  • Communication skills
  • Analytical skills
  • Persistence
  • Patience

Leveling Your IT Career Up To Ethical Hacking

Patience is a trait you’ll need to develop if you want to pursue a career as an ethical hacker. You can’t expect to get an excellent ranking position and make a decent living right away, but there’s still a lot of potential for both in a short amount of time. While nobody can become an ethical hacker overnight, the path to getting there is one of continuous improvement and financial benefits.

Getting Started

If you want to learn ethical hacking, the first step is usually to obtain a computer science degree. An A+ certification (CompTIA) is also an option that entails taking and passing two separate tests. These exams assess a person’s understanding of the PC components and their ability to disassemble and reassemble a PC.

To pass the test for this credential, you must have at least 500 hours of professional computing experience. At this level of your career, you may anticipate making an average annual salary of $44,000. However, before you can progress in your profession, you must first gain expertise and obtain a Network+ or CCNA certificate. The Network+ certification validates basic networking knowledge at the foundation level, including management, maintenance, installation, and troubleshooting. The CCNA certification ensures that you possess the same skills and goals.

Network Support & Engineering

After you’ve completed your training, you’ll be able to move on to the next stage of your career: network support. You’ll conduct activities like monitoring and updating, as well as deploying cybersecurity software and testing for vulnerabilities here. You’ll get experience in the field of network security, and your aim should be to obtain a job as a network engineer.

You can anticipate making around $60,000-$65,000 per year once you’ve worked in network support for a while! You’ll be creating and strategizing networks instead of simply maintaining them from now on. Your approach to becoming an ethical hacker should include more emphasis on Security.

Now is the time to start working on security certifications, such as Security+, CISSP, or TICSA, for example. The Security+ accreditation is recognized by the US Department of Defense and covers access control, identity management, and cryptography.

Breaking Into Information Security

This is a crucial step on the road to becoming an ethical hacker since you will be dealing with Information Security for the first time. The median income for someone in this position is $69,000. An information security analyst performs penetration testing and strives to implement security measures. It would be best to concentrate on penetration testing to gain practical experience with some of the ethical hacking tools available to perform this task.

At this point in your career, you should be aiming for a Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) certification from the International Council of Electronic Commerce Consultants (the EC Council). The education you get will cover all you need to know about becoming an efficient, ethical hacker.

The ethical hacking course will immerse you in a hands-on setting where you’ll go through the steps of hacking into a network and finding any security concerns that exist, and learn all about the ethical hacking tools at your disposal. You may begin marketing yourself as an expert ethical hacker once you’ve received this certification.

With MyComputerCareer, you will learn the ethical hacking course step by step, get the ethical hacker certification and get your dream job. Our cyber security training program will be sure to teach ethical hacking using real-time examples. Contact us today and let’s get started!

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