Road to Ethical Hacking.

The word ‘hacker' originally defined a skilled programmer proficient in machine code and computer operating systems. Today, a 'hacker' is a person who consistently engages in hacking activities, and has accepted hacking as a lifestyle and philosophy of their choice. Hacking is the practice of modifying the features of a system, to accomplish a goal outside of the creator's original purpose.

“Ethical Hacking” the word itself fascinates us. Many people think that it’s an illegal thing to learn or to practice. Sure it is, but only without any ethics. Now first of all what are ethics ? Basically they are the moral principal which guide our behavior, so our morals should always be positive and never harming. As uncle Ben said once “with great powers comes great responsibilities”. So when you have the knowledge, the power that most of other people don’t have and then if anything goes wrong, it’s because of you. So if you have the knowledge, the experience in this field always guide that towards the betterment of the nation or the people. And if you get all the above points then you are good to go ahead. And if you still have the slightest doubt on your soul about your ethics then you can take a break and then revisit this blog after clearing your mind and ethics.

Now first of all talking about the attraction of this field….

Why this field attracts people? Is it because of it’s "cool to be the so called Hackerman”  or is about the “fear and respect” you create in people’s mind when introducing yourself as a hacker or is it about becoming the guy sitting in the black chair, who knows how to manipulate gadgets by just sitting there ? Well it’s all about the perspective of individuals. And if we are talking about the attraction of this field then there can't be any other best example than the 14 year boy who wrote the whole book on the ethical hacking. Ankit Fadia is an Indian author, speaker, television host, and self-proclaimed "BLACK HAT hacker" of computer systems, whose skills and ethics have been debated. His work mostly involves OS and networking based tips and tricks, proxy websites and making people think that he is a hacker. He said in his one of the interviews that “Initially it was the forbidden fruit that attracted me. I was always attracted to the power of being able to do things that most people could not or the power to access things that most people cannot. So I started hacking into a friend’s computer or snooped on their emails for fun.”In his 11-year career as a consultant Ethical Hacker he has helped intelligence agencies and police across the world — including India’s after 26/11 terror attacks and serial bomb blasts in Ahmedabad in July 2008 — nail cybercrimes. “I’ve traveled to almost 50 countries across the world because of the nature of my job,” says Ankit. His ambition, though, is to travel to all the 195 countries in the world and he is sure he will do it one day.

There's also a 12 year boy living in Austin, Texas who has the skills of the hacker everybody dreams of. Reuben Paul is a  sixth grader and from now he gets the job offers from the tech companies to work for them and secure their systems. He has also given many live conferences about vulnerabilities and how they can be exploited.

Now the person we are going to talk about is the most wanted hacker of all time. Kevin David Mitnick gone in the jail for 5 years combined for his misdeeds in the hacking. Started from hacking his way into a city bus by making false tickets to hacking a research scientist's data he did the unlawful hacking until FBI caught him and sentenced his last 2 years of incarnation. But in all this hacks he did, he never misused the data and never did any wrong to people with the knowledge he had. He only did it for the fun, for his hobby. Currently we runs a firm named mitnicksecurity, where he provides the security to the tech giants and also works with FBI and he also has written many books. Apart from his misdeeds, Mitnick's ethics were never wrong.

   gone

So if I talk about the attraction about this field are the opportunities that we get and the responsibilities that we have to take. 

Types of hackers:

1. Amateurs : 

This are basically kids that get fantasized by hacking and just refer to the methods that are given on the internet and perform attacks. They don’t know how to attack exactly, they only follow the method they found on the internet. They are also commonly known as “Script Kiddies”. In-spite of just performing the attacks with no or little skills by just given methods they too can cause harm unknowingly. The commonly performed attacks by this kids are DOS (Denial of service) and DDOS(Distributed Denial of service).

2. Organized hackers: 

This category of the hackers include the whole organization of cyber criminals, hacktivists(which is generally a group of people which hacks for the motives to fulfill society agenda or to promote a social change), terrorists and state-sponsored hackers(hired by the state or the nation).

3. Black hat hackers: 

This are the personalities which you hear about in the news which rob the banks or the organizations on behalf of their weak security. They are also known as “Crackers” as they crack different security systems in order to fulfill their moto. The surprising truth about their methods of attack is that they often use common hacking practices they learned early on.

4. Gray hat hackers : 

Nothing is black or white. There is always a gray part in it. Gray hackers don’t steal money or information to fulfill their soul motive. They are like the moles that are always there in an organization. The most part of the hacking world comprises of them, though the spotlight is always stolen by the black ones.

5. Green hat hackers:

These are those noobz that we talked about which do not have much skills but they are very much eager to gain it. They ask the questions in the hacking committee and when answered they hear the things with the same curiosity as a small child does when hearing the bed time stories.

6. Red hat hackers: 

They are like the “Dark Knight” of the hacking world, they are basically “White hat”, but they are the nightmare for the black hats. Instead of reporting a hackers malicious activities they deal with them personally. They generally corrupt their computers and destroy it from inside out. They leverage multiple aggressive methods that might force a cracker to need a new computer.

7. Blue hat hackers: 

If a noob comes in a revenge mode, then he/she becomes a blue hat. They seek vengeance on those who they are angry on, like their teacher for punishing them, or some kid who bullies them many reasons can be behind their motive.

8. White hat hackers:

 A 15 year kid who looks like a noob, seriously very clumsy, and then he grabs his favourite chair, runs some green scripts and takes down whole the organization….. Gives much of a Hollywood vibe, but this is not how the hacking world works. Hacking is the more of an art which is way beyond this imaginations. When you pursue this art or have mastery always remember the uncle “Ben’s” words. So a white hat hackers are the ones who prove that this art of hacking is not only for the fun or to take revenge or to be a vigilante, it is more of a responsibility. They are the people who helps organization to secure their systems and helps other people too. They proceed with the legal terms of hacking, take a legal course or the certifications to learn hacking. They are a.k.a "ethical hackers" which we are discussing in this blog. So choosing any path rather than the white hat hacker would lead you to the black hat hacker. I hope you understand what is a hacker.

Who are eligible for becoming a hacker?

There is basically no eligibility for this field, cause there are the plethora of options available to learn online through the videos, courses or the reading materials. There is only one eligibility, that you keep your heads up always for the new tech coming and also you be aware about the ethics of this field. A person with good and enough knowledge in programming and networking may go a long way in the field of white hat hackers. This is best for individuals who work as forensic or intrusion analysts, security professionals, or individuals aiming to take these job roles. If you are genuinely interested in computer technology and in keeping the digital world secure, ethical hacking should be the ideal program for you.

These are some eligibility to work on for becoming a good ethical hacker:

• Bachelors or Master’s degree in either computer science, IT or computer engineering.

• Knowledge of programming languages such as C, C++, Python, Ruby etc.

• Understanding of popular operating systems such as Windows, Linux and Macintosh

• IT professional concerned about integrity of a systems and network infrastructure

• Design and implementation of firewalls, IDS, wireless security, Cryptography, Linux security and Windows security

Specialization in the field of hacking: 

Although the field of ethical hacking is still in its nascent phase in India, the pace at which security threats to computer systems is expanding, it has already given rise to several specialization options. The key specializations among them are:

• Secure Coding – Developing programs that are not vulnerable to cyber security threats.

• Malware Analysis- Analyse evolving security threats and develop counter measures to overcome them.

• Network Security – Strengthen network systems against threats and vulnerabilities.

• Cryptography – Develop crack-proof security systems for safeguarding important data and information.

Required skills for ethical hacking.

• Strong knowledge of networking, and computer systems.

• Understanding of current security protocols for regularly used operating systems like, Linux, Windows, and Mac.

• Ability to hack into networks or systems on permission, to assess vulnerabilities.

• Able to perform preventive, corrective and protective countermeasures against malicious attempts.

• Should be proficient in identifying and cracking multiple types of passwords.

• Know the phases and methodologies of ethical hacking.

• Should know how to erase digital evidence of networks and system intrusions.

• Understand encryption techniques and cryptography.

• Adhere to the code of ethics and perform hack under professional conduct.

• Should be aware of common cyber-attacks like phishing, social engineering, Trojans, insider attacks, identity thefts, etc., and should know how to undertake appropriate evasion techniques and countermeasures.

Certifications and training for the ethical hacking:

This is a qualification obtained by evaluating the security of computer systems, using penetration testing methods. This certification qualifies an individual as a certified ethical hacker. It helps you think like a hacker. There are multiple benefits of holding an ethical hacking certification:

• It helps understand risks and vulnerabilities affecting the organizations on a daily basis.

• It shows the tools of trade. Your misconceptions about hacking will definitely be solved. That is, after this certification, you will get a general idea about how and what a white hacker’s job role will be.

• Also, you’ll understand that the concept of hacking is much more than just merely hacking into another individual’s Facebook or email accounts.

• Through this certification, you will learn various types of foot-printing, countermeasures and foot-printing tools. You can also discover what packet sniffing methods are and how to shield against sniffing.

• This cert will teach you the network scanning and enumeration techniques as well as network scanning and enumeration countermeasures. As an ethical hacker certification holder, you can also develop your skill in Trojans, Trojan countermeasures and Trojan analysis.

• You will develop your knowledge in the field of system hacking and hijacking methods, steganography, steganalysis, covering tracks, virus analysis, the working of viruses, malware analysis procedure, computer worms and countermeasures.

• And finally, you’ll learn how the exploits evolve.

There are different certifications and the information is given about them below:

1. Certified Network Defender Certification

The Certified Network Defender (CND) certification program focuses on creating Network Administrators who are trained on protecting, detecting and responding to the threats on the network. Network administrators are usually familiar with network components, traffic, performance and utilization, network topology, location of each system, security policy, etc. A CND will get the fundamental understanding of the true construct of data transfer, network technologies, software technologies so that the they understand how networks operate, understand what software is automating and how to analyse the subject material. In addition, network defence fundamentals, the application of network security controls, protocols, perimeter appliances, secure IDS, VPN and firewall configuration, intricacies of network traffic signature, analysis and vulnerability scanning are also covered which will help the Network Administrator design greater network security policies and successful incident response plans.

Preferred institute : EC-Council.

Preferred course : CND

You can check the fee structure at the official website of EC Council.

2. Certified Ethical Hacking Certification

CEH is one among the oldest, most popular and superlative certification programs that can be provided for ethical hackers. A person who has acquired a certificate in this course would be a skilled professional who can understand on how to look at vulnerabilities and weaknesses in target systems and uses the identical knowledge and tools as a malicious hacker but in a more legit and lawful manner so as to evaluate the security posture of a target system.

The CEH qualification confirms that individuals as certified in the specific network security discipline of Ethical Hacking from a vendor-neutral standpoint. It informs the public that the certified individual meets minimum criteria. It also helps reinforce ethical hacking as an exclusive and self-regulating profession. This course will help you to think into the mindset of a hacker. After all, if you need to be a hacker, you need to think like one! This will enable you to defend against future attacks. This course will put you in a control with hands-on environment with a systematic process. You will definitely be exposed to a totally different way of attaining optimum information security posture in their organization. That is by hacking it. You will be taught the phases of hacking as mentioned earlier. And the objective of this course is to assist you to grasp the ethical hacking methods that can be used in a penetration testing or ethical hacking situation. Earning this internationally recognized cert means obtaining ethical hacking knowledge and skills that are in high demand now.

Preferred institute : EC Council.

Preferred course : CEH

You can visit the official site for more information regarding CEH.

3. Global Information Assurance (GIAC)  Certification Penetration Tester

SANS GPEN is another type of certification provided under ethical hacking. SysAdmin, Networking, and Security (SANS) is an institute which offers multiple course and certifications with GIAC Penetration Tester (GPEN) being the most popular one. It mainly covers in-depth technique approaches to verifying the entire way up through reporting and scoping. The main objectives to learn under GPEN are attacking password hashes, advanced password attacks, initial target scanning, exploitation fundamentals, pen-testing foundations, vulnerability scanning, moving files with exploits, penetration testing using the Windows command line and power shell, reconnaissance, and web application attacks.

Preferred institute : SANS institute

Preferred course :  SEC560 course 

4. Offensive Security Certified Professional

OSCP has been only about 10 years, but it has already gained good reputation for durability and toughness. It contains practical training and exam. The Offensive security certified professional course teaches how to attain, alter and apply public exploit code. This course also offers advanced pen testing exams and courses such as wireless, web, advanced Windows exploitation. OSCP is designed to show the students’ practical, accurate, precise and clear understanding of the penetration testing process and life-cycle through a strenuous 24 hour certification exam. So, to conclude, this certification proves that its holder is able to recognize vulnerabilities, generate and alter exploit code, exploit hosts, and successfully accomplish tasks on the compromised systems over several operating systems.

Before considering the OCSP certification, understand that the coursework requires a solid technical understanding of networking protocols, software development, and systems internals, specifically Kali Linux, an open-source project maintained by Offensive Security. Most students enrolled in this training program will take the course online; classroom training is only offered in Las Vegas.

The OCSP exam is conducted on a virtual network with varying configurations. The test-taker is tasked with researching the network, identifying vulnerabilities, and hacking into the system to gain administrative access within 24 hours. At the end of the 24 hours, the Offensive Security certification committee must receive a comprehensive penetration test report for review. They will review the findings in the report and determine whether to grant the certification. 

Preferred Institute : Offensive-security

Preferred courses : There are many courses offered by the offensive-security which includes PWK(Penetration Testing with Kali Linux) , AWAE( Advanced web attacks and exploitation), CTP (Cracking the perimeter), AWE (Advanced windows exploitation), Wireless attacks(WIFU). By doing this all courses you’ll get the eligible knowledge to go for tests.

5. Foundstone Ultimate Hacking

A division of McAfee is teaching IT professionals how to think like hackers and attack their own networks in a new course that lets network managers earn a popular certification for ethical hacking.

McAfee’s Foundstone Professional Services is responding to a market need by offering the Certified Ethical Hacking course, says Bill Hau, the head of Foundstone, noting that clients have been asking McAfee to provide this certification.

The course is intensive, lasting five days from 8:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., with an exam on the sixth day. IT pros learn the basics on how to hack into a system in a hands-on lab environment.

Foundstone Ultimate Hacking is the next best certification. This is the practical penetration course available. Additionally, Foundstone proposes a various training options further than just writing testing inclusive of forensic and incident responses, and also provides learning of how to hack Internet of Things also known as IoT, firmware, RFID and Bluetooth. Under this course you’ll discover how hackers and evil-minded malefactors analyse and develop target vectors directed at your critical assets, cultivate the policy underlying the search for flaws before they become a security threat, and help to expand the mind-set of a malevolent attacker and recognize the actual risk posing to your organization. You will also learn how to apply the tools and methodologies using by hackers in a controlled and secure environment as well as how to promote your own security toolkit from previously tested tools.

Foundstone’s course is based on standards and guidelines from the International Council of Electronic Commerce Consultants’ (EC-Council), which created the Certified Ethical Hacker exam certification.Ethical hackers are similar to penetration testers, and commonly have jobs within large organizations where they are trusted to uncover weaknesses by penetrating internal networks and computer systems using the same methods as a hacker, according to the EC-Council.

Preferred institute : McAfee

Preferred course : McAfee’s training for Foundstone which you can find more on their official website.

6. CREST

CREST attempts to build quality penetration testers in cyber security with competence and consistency. CREST focuses on the best practices of security for the growth through the method of research.

You can find more on the official website of the CREST about this.

7. EC-Council Licensed Penetration Tester (LPT) Master

Licensed Penetration Tester Master is an expert-level EC-Council certification (by comparison, CEH is considered core, or beginner). Unlike the CEH certification, LPT Master doesn’t have a predetermined eligibility criteria for candidates. Re-certification is required every three years.

The purpose of LPT Master is, in the words of EC-Council, “to differentiate the experts from the novices in penetration testing.” Accordingly, the exam itself is 18 hours long. Here’s an overview of the exam:

• You progress through three different levels, each containing three challenges, in real-life scenarios involving a hardened infrastructure. Each level is a six-hour exam
• You have a limited time to work against a multi-layered network architecture that has defense-in-depth controls
• You must make multiple decisions related to what exploits and approaches to use as you maneuver through the network and Web applications in an attempt to ex-filtrate data

You can find more information regarding this on EC Council’s website.

8. Certified Information System Security Professional ( CISSP)

A rather advanced certification, the CISSP deals with information security. The certification course builds professional that are adept to develop, guide and manage security standards methods and policies. The certification is for the experienced IT professionals who can attest for their experience and knowledge in at least two of the (ISC) 2 right body of knowledge domain.

CISSP Eligibility: Candidates looking to take the CISSP exams must have five years of cumulative full time work experience in two or more domains required under the ISC2 CISSP CBK (listed above). ISC2 provides a one year professional experience waiver if the candidate possesses a four year college degree in the same field, its regional equivalent or educational eligibility as recognized under the ISC2 list.

Candidates without the experience may also take the exam, but they won’t immediately be rewarded the CISSP tag. They will be given an Associate of ISC2 certification, and once they do earn the required work experience (in the following six years), they can then earn the CISSP credential. 

You can take the course for CISSP on cybrary.it, more information provided on this website.

9. CompTIA Security +

CompTIA Security + is a vendor neutral certification. Security+ accounts for an in depth knowledge of the professional in terms of technical and various security related disciplines. It is necessary that a candidate has the Network+ certification and at least two years of experience in Network security in order to be eligible for the Security+ certification. The certification qualifies the candidate in fields of cryptography, threat management, security system, security risk identification and mitigation, security infrastructure and network access control. This certification is achieved by experience not any course, though you can take the training from the cybrary.it

And if you want to verify yourself that you are eligible to be declared as an ethical hacker or not then you can get official verification from the EC Council , one of the most reputed organization in the field of the cyber security, even pentagon of USA is using the security provided by the EC Council. This organization invented the famous certification for ethical hacking CEH (Certified ethical hacker) which is one of the greatest discipline of this field.

Attempt without official training

C|EH can be attained without attending official training by fulfilling the following requirements –

• Produce two or more years of documented information security experience.
• Submit C|EH Exam Application with employer’s verification.
• Remit a non-refundable application fee of $100.
• Upon submission, EC-Council will confirm your eligibility via email.

Conclusion:

So, these were some options for the training and certifications for the ethical hacking. They all are not mandatory, you can choose one certification program or you can choose more than one but the thing is that you’ll only be expert in this field when you practice more and more. Cause the ethical hacking is the art which you can achieve mastery in only by years of practice. You just need to explore new things, stay updated, research for the resources from which you can learn and main important thing, always keep your attitude positive and your morals right cause this field demands a great patience and practice or many years to master and even if you master it and your morals are not sane, you are no less than a criminal and all your knowledge goes in vain when you choose the path of darkness. So keep light upon you folks, be curious and have patience.

Be Positive😃 And Stay Amazing 😎

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