The world is dependent on digital marketing, and with this, data privacy and network security concerns are on a surge. There is an evident cybersecurity skill gap leading to a rise in sophisticated but malicious cyberattacks. Even after taking all precautions, perpetrators can’t be kept up with. The best-case scenario to fix vulnerabilities in the network is to hire Certified White Hat Hacker. Ethical hackers to the information security world are the same as undercover agents to law enforcement agencies. The idea of ethical hacking is rarely understood. A Certified Cyber Security professional‘s job is to use hacking methods for the identification and fixing of security vulnerabilities.
An ethical hacker is someone who legitimately hacks into systems with a guided intention of protection from black hat hackers. As technology is growing, so are threats of a cyber breach. Businesses are turning towards hackers to help them create them better and more secure products. The demand for ethical hackers has grown because of increasing cyber threats. Continue reading to discover the reasons!
Learning of the Blog
- Ethical hackers
- Recent Data breaches
- Reasons to hire CEHs
- Conclusion
If you are new to the concept and skills of ethical hackers, check out ethical hacking training.
Ethical Hackers
It takes a thief to catch a thief- this is the rationale behind ethical hacking. The knowledge that hackers get through exploitation can furnish them with skills not possible to gain by any formal education. Businesses and governments are now hiring ethical hackers to prevent data theft. These are white hat hackers. The hackers are paid for digging into systems of significant companies and find flaws in their security measures. Google, Pinterest, and Western Union are some companies enlisting professional hackers’ help.
Moreover, Apple hired hackers who created MacBook’s first virus to make its products virus resistant. Companies struggle to find applicants with cybersecurity analyst certification and necessary experience. Since there is a shortage of cybersecurity experts, companies continue to hire even black hat hackers for the foreseeable future. Thus, it is essential for cybersecurity professional training to focus on general, offensive, and defensive cybersecurity. Hackers play a vital role in the cybersecurity force in the present.
Recent Data Breaches
Here is a list of instances that proves the intensity of a cyber threat situation:
MyFitnessPal
It is a website and mobile application that was acquired by Under Armour in 2015. In February 2018, around 150 million user accounts were lost because of a data breach. The usernames, email ids, and passwords of the users were hacked.
TicketFly
It is a ticket distribution company owned by San Francisco based Eventbrite. In June 2018, 27 million accounts, their data, including phone numbers, email addresses, and usernames, were illegally accessed. The breach affected nationwide ventures based on digital ticketing.
British Airways
There was a data theft for over two weeks in 2018 from the mobile application and website of British Airways. At the time of the hack, hackers made changes in bookings and stole personal financial data of customers. The data included names, email addresses, billing addresses, and bank card details of 3,80,000 transactions. A sophisticated group of hackers was blamed.
Reasons to Hire CEHs
There are many good reasons for an organization to hire Certified Ethical Hackers (CEHs) if the data is considered critical, and network security is of utmost importance. Let’s have a look!
Defensive Strategy
As we know, under ethical hacking, a system is secured by duplicating the actions and intent of spiteful hackers. An ethical hacker looks for vulnerabilities and drawbacks of the existing network structure to fix them. This way, offensive operations protect the company’s crucial entities and data by defensive strategies. A hacker does so by intruding web applications, servers, devices, and systems and forming a defense layer. This layer enables constant surveillance of suspicious activities and also looks after anti-malware, firewall, and other security significant software. Thus, the main goal is to strengthen the defense without compromising data.
Cloud Transition
IT and the virtualization of data have become common trends. With these trends and transition to the cloud, malicious hackers have found new entry points and ways of misusing the vulnerabilities. An ethical hacker can keep the network secure and protect data during cloud transition. As businesses have embraced the cloud, virtualization has increased the threat level demanding services of ethical hackers. Enterprises are facing significant challenges due to technological advancement and complex security requirements. The dawn of the cloud has led to an increase in security awareness and defensive tactics.
Limit Liability
Ethical hackers also reduce the risk liability that arises from a breach. A Certified White Hat Hacker committed to security helps build trust between the clients and the company as the organization’s liability is limited. In case of a data breach, an organization is held responsible as per GDPR, but hiring a professional is a sign of commitment towards network security. With a professional, critical data is not compromised at the time of the attack, and less pushback is faced.
Loss reduction
As per a 2017 Norton report, 978 million people across countries were victims of cybercrime, collectively losing 172 billion dollars. An ethical hacker can save an organization and reduce losses by locating vulnerability in standard time and preventing the attack. Also, a hired professional can help with insurance coverage and reimbursement of damages.
Legal structure
It’s easy to find a hacker to test the system. However, it is preferable to hire a CEH for greater assurance of adherence of ethics as following the code is a part of the certification process. The finding is available to the employer. A CEH understands the latest technologies and methods and, thus, brings in expertise.
Conclusion
The idea of having an ethical hacker in the team has been widely accepted as a security practice. Many organizations prefer white-hat hacker certification to ensure that an individual is trained on off-the-wall hacking techniques. If you are interested in this rewarding career, join the ethical hacking certification training today!