Hacking is currently a trending topic among many people. Who are these hackers? Is Hacking a Good Thing? Why do people hack? Actually, hacking is one of the best job opportunities in the world right now. When it comes to hacking, there are three categories: white hat hackers, black hat hackers and gray hat hackers.

First, let’s see who are these white hat hackers?

White hat hackers can be called ethical hackers. Or they can be known as penetration testers. White hat hackers are the ones who find out what is wrong with the system and protect the system from external attacks. They provide great support to maintain the company’s system security. Therefore, white hat hackers are trained to detect errors in the system. A certificate course has even been introduced for their skill.

Next, let’s see who these black hat hackers are. We can call them unethical hackers. Because they do not get any permission to enter the system. Black hat hackers can damage the system a lot. We may lose our national data. Even if an attack by a black hat hacker comes to our system, we may have to pay a ransom for them to get our old data back.

Next we will talk about gray hat hackers. Who are these gray hat hackers? They also fall under the category of unethical hackers. Because they also log into the system without permission. But what they are doing is a good thing, if a problem is detected in the relevant system, they will give a notice, But the problem is that if a black hat hacker sees this notice, there will be a big issue for the system.

If you are interested in hacking as a job, the best option is to become a white hat hacker. Because then you are an authorized hacker. Or if you hack unethically and get caught, you can get heavy penalties from the law.

Next you have a question, how to become an ethical hacker? What kind of things does the job industry expect from an ethical hacker? When it comes to the job industry, becoming an ethical hacker is not an easy task. Because you have hard skills and soft skills that you need to develop. First, let’s talk about those hard skills.

Hard skills

 

What are these hard skills to become a hacker?

Hard skills are indispensable for an ethical hacker or a penetration tester. Simply put, a penetration tester should have a big idea about how to practically use the technology to be hacked. When it comes to cyber attacks, not all attacks come in the same way. Because technology is something that changes quickly, along with that change, attackers find new ways to attack. So if you want to become an ethical hacker, you should know the basic IT technology. Now let’s talk about the basic things you need to know.

• System and database administration

System knowledge and database administration knowledge are essential for an ethical hacker. Also, the more you know everything about the system and database, the easier it will be for you to work on your path.

The highest level in Windows is the administrator level, in Linux it is called the root level. If a hacker comes into our system and attacks the administrator level or the root level, it can be a big issue for us. So if you can protect the system before such a thing happens, you have a great chance in the job industry as an ethical hacker.

According to Jim O’Gorman, the president of Offensive Security, which is at the top of the cyber security side, you must know things like Unix, Linux, Windows administration, SQL, database interactions to come to the hacking side.

• Scripting

What is this scripting? Scripting is a method that we use to do something automatically in a Linux or Unix environment. As an example, we can use scripting methods to automatically manipulate something, or if we talk about the cyber side, if the load on one server increases, we can use scripting methods to automatically run on another server. To come to the hacking side, you must know a little bit about scripting.

• Coding and software development

Coding and software knowledge is a side that you must know to become an ethical hacker. Because of the errors in the coding and the lack of security, our system can be attacked in different ways.

At that time, no matter how many hacking tools we have, the code we use our coding knowledge to get the job done can be very important. To go to the ethical hacking side, if you have good coding and software knowledge, it is very easy to answer the questions from the attacks.

• Networking

Next, we will see how the networking side is imported to an ethical hacker. Networking is a basic knowledge that everyone on the cyber side should have. Basically, you need to know what a network is, networking types like LAN, MAN, VAN, Ip address, subnetting, TCP/IP.

According to Colin Gillingham, director of Professional Service at NCC group, if you want to be an ethical hacker, you must have a great knowledge of protocols and operating systems used in network layers. Also, according to Yaroslav Babin, head of Positive Technology SWRM team regarding Web application security, to be an ethical hacker, knowledge about the internet network, network principles and active directory features is essential. Because currently, the infrastructure of many companies is built on Microsoft Windows. Therefore, we can introduce networking as one of your main skills to get to the ethical hacking side.

• Web application design and vulnerabilities

For a pen tester, web application knowledge and knowledge and experience about vulnerabilities are essential. There is no single flow in hacking. As an example, the database can be accessed due to SQL injection, and the command can be executed remotely by the hacker. So, to respond to these attacks that are updated with technology, you must have knowledge of Web application design and vulnerabilities. You need to know about things like HTML, java script, PHP, Perl, SQL on this side. We cannot get 100% knowledge about all these things at once. First of all, learn a language properly. After that, learning other languages is not a big deal for you.

• Hacking tools

Hacking tools are indispensable for an ethical hacker. As far as hacking tools are concerned, there are many free open source tools available today. Nmap, Wireshark, Nikto2, and Ncat are hacking tools that can be used like that. If you are a person who is eager to become an ethical hacker, then the knowledge of these tools is essential for you. Before using many hacking tools, we need to configure them correctly. Because otherwise it may be difficult to do what we want. According to Daniel Kirchenberg, a cybersecurity specialist, newcomers to the hacking industry waste a lot of time because they don’t do this confining properly. So if you want to become an ethical hacker, have a big idea about these tools before using them. Because it can save a lot of your time.

Soft Skills

 

What are these Soft skills to become a hacker?

Soft skills are some of the necessary things that should be present in any job. Because of things, you should be able to work with good discipline and restraint. So let’s see what soft skills you need to be an ethical hacker.

• Passion

Passion is something that anyone who works has to have. If you have a good passion for your job, it is easy to work on your path. On the hacking side, it is difficult for us to get results in some things at once. Sometimes you have to wait for days and hours. So if you have a good passion at that time, you can stay in the industry without getting bored.

• Cleverness

Cleverness is a must for a hacker. Because hacking is something that is always updated with new technology. Therefore, those who want to attack our system come looking for new technology and methods, so as an ethical hacker you have to look for new things to face the new technology. That’s why cleverness is very important for you as an ethical hacker.

• Communication and collaborate

In the IT field, you have to work with a team for a long time. At that time, you must have good communication skills to collaborate with them and listen to what they say. If not, it will be difficult for you to stay in the industry. When you work as an ethical hacker, you don’t know everything. Then some things you do may be wrong. At such times, you need the discipline to discuss with the team members and clear the things you don’t know.

• Ethics

Ethics is a necessary thing for a person doing a job on any side. Because if you really look at it, a pen tester has a big responsibility regarding security. If you can’t do this responsibility properly and if you use it wrongly, you can cause a lot of damage. Therefore, as an ethical hacker, you need to know how to maintain ethics properly.

Now we talked about a lot of hard skills and soft skills needed for the ethical hacking side. So if you want to become an ethical hacker, definitely add these things to your life. If that happens, you will be able to go a long way on this side.