With the increase in the number of cyber crimes across the globe, there is also an increase in the number of cybersecurity jobs and the role of an Ethical hacker tops the list.
let’s get started and explore the world of Ethical hacking. Let’s begin with a few facts. Did you know that by the year 2021, there will be 3.5 million cybersecurity job openings, there is a huge number isn’t it.
And also, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, there will be 20% increase in the number of jobs from 2016 to 2026. For information security analysts, which includes Ethical hackers, this proves that there is a great demand for Ethical hackers at the moment.
As I mentioned earlier, the number of cyber crimes across the world will increase as the digital era will only continue to grow. organizations will be on the lookout to hire professionals who can fight the cyber crimes and protect the company’s data.
And to fight these cyber crimes, We will require individuals who can think like a hacker and who is that well to do this job we have Ethical hackers as you might be knowing an Ethical hacker is trained to discover system vulnerabilities and Ethical hacker is also known as a white hat hacker.
He or she is given authorization from the company to perform security assessments, And at the end, an Ethical hacker would have to report the findings back to the company so that the vulnerabilities can be fixed.
An Ethical hacker performs these security assessments with the help of various hacking techniques and tools. Let’s now move on to our next topic that is the steps to become an Ethical hacker.
How to Become An Ethical Hacker?
You might wonder how to start your Ethical hacking career right? Well, I will take you through that step by step. Firstly, the candidate must have a computer science or an information technology bachelor’s degree,
it is also possible to become an Ethical hacker without these degrees, but provided you have the required skill sets and experience.
The next requirement to be an Ethical hacker is that the candidate must have a minimum of two years of experience in the information security field.
You have to start your career with a software or a networking job and only then can you move on to the Ethical hacking field.
You have to start your career with a software or a networking job and only then can you move into the Ethical hacking field coming to the certifications. It is necessary for the candidate to hold various cybersecurity certifications certifications play a vital role in the field of cybersecurity.
Your job opportunities can solely depend on these certifications, To become an Ethical hacker, you can start off with the foundational level certifications, such as the CCNA and CompTIA security plus certifications.
Finally, the last step to become an Ethical hacking is to clear the Certified Ethical Hacker examination, it certification is provided by the EC Council.
It trains the candidate to protect a company’s network by using the same tools and methods that a hacker would use.
The CEh exam will have a duration of four hours with hundred and 25 number of questions. If the candidate clears this exam, then he or she will become a Certified Ethical Hacker.
Ethical Hacker Skill
Now that you know the steps to become an Ethical hacker, let’s look into the skill sets which are required to help you achieve these steps. First and foremost, an Ethical hacker needs to have an in depth knowledge of the workings of the operating systems.
Knowledge of Windows, Linux and Macintosh operating systems is required for penetration testing creating exploits and bug hunting programming will be important so knowledge of programming languages such as
- C
- c++
- HTML
- Python
- PHP
will be very helpful, basic knowledge of networking TCP IP protocols and OSI model is necessary as networking is the foundation of cybersecurity for securing databases knowledge of SQL no SQL PostgreSQL is necessary.
cryptography is used to secure information it is the process of converting data from a readable format to a non readable format and vice versa
Cryptanalysis is decryption without a secret key in most cases Certified Ethical Hacker would need to perform cryptanalysis hence, Ethical hacker has to be comfortable with cryptography and cryptanalysis.
Ethical hackers should be proficient in network security control measures such as intrusion detection and intrusion prevention techniques.
Responsibilities Of an Ethical hacker
Now let’s move on to the responsibilities which are taken care of by an Ethical hacker. Let’s have a look at these responsibilities.
An Ethical hacker is responsible for scanning systems open and closed ports using tools like nessus and an Nmap, Threats are identified by doing this
In addition to scanning for vulnerabilities, they also Such the deep corners of the network to spot critical information such as passwords, which can make the organization vulnerable to an attack.
In addition to building and maintaining IDs, IPS and firewalls, they also try to evade these security measures to gauge the performance of the systems.
a lot of times accompanies online fraud or online theft incidents are looked into by an Ethical hacker and Ethical hacker also checks for sniffing networks and hijacked web servers and applications.
Different Job Roles of An Ethical Hacker
Now let’s look into the various job roles and Ethical hacker can apply for it is a misconception that an Ethical hacker will perform only penetration testing when there are a number of other jobs and Ethical hacker can apply for the different job roles such as that of a
- Penetration Tester
- Information Security analyst
- Security Consultant
- Information Security Manager
Let’s have a look at each of these job roles one by one.
Penetration Tester
A penetration tester performs the typical responsibility often Ethical hacker, that is he or she tries to exploit a security systems wonder abilities,This is carried out using different hacking tools and techniques
Information Security analyst
An Ethical hacker can also apply for the role of an information security analyst, There is a difference between the job roles of a penetration tester and that of an information security analyst.
Here the candidate will be required to primarily design and protect the organization’s network from various cyberattacks.
Finally, the candidate is also required to document the identified security breaches so that it can be omitted the next time.
Security Consultant
the responsibilities of a security consultant is more or less similar to that of an Information Security Analyst that we saw previously.
As a security consultant, you will be responsible to design implement and maintain various security architectures.
In addition to this, you’re also required to upgrade the security systems as and when required, Finally, an Ethical hacker can also apply to the role of an Information Security Manager.
As the name suggests, this role will require the candidate to possess managerial skills as an Information Security Manager is responsible to head the it and the information security team.
Compaines hiring Ethical Hackers
Now that we have seen the responsibilities, the skills and the steps to become an Ethical hacker, let’s have a look at the different companies hiring Ethical hackers,To name a few. We have
- Bank of America
- Earn and young
- KPMG
- urban pro
- IBM
Salary Structure of an Ethical hacker
Let’s now look into the salary structure of an Ethical hacker, Well, in India, the average annual salary of a Certified Ethical Hacker is nearly 476,222 rupees and in the US the average annual salary of a Certified Ethical Hacker is $91,000.
