Ethical hacking, penetration testing or white-hat hacking is a sub-field of cybersecurity that involves purposely finding weaknesses in computer systems, networks, or applications. Ethical hackers use the same techniques and tools that evil hackers (also known as black-hat hackers) would use, but their goal is to identify and fix those vulnerabilities before anyone can exploit them. Imagine you have a house with locks on all the doors and windows to keep it secure. Now, imagine you want to ensure your house is safe from thieves, so you hire someone to try and break into your house without causing any harm. This person, in layman's terms, is an ethical hacker.
Confusion arises regarding cybersecurity and Ethical Hacking, but while these terms are interrelated, they’re poles apart. Ethical hacking involves following strict rules and guidelines while conducting tests. Ethical Hackers always seek permission from the system owner they are testing and only try to access the system within the boundaries defined by the owner. Their main objective is to uncover vulnerabilities and report them to the owners so that they can be fixed and make the system more secure.
Ethical hacking, penetration testing or white-hat hacking is a sub-field of cybersecurity that involves purposely finding weaknesses in computer systems, networks, or applications. Ethical hackers use the same techniques and tools that evil hackers (also known as black-hat hackers) would use, but their goal is to identify and fix those vulnerabilities before anyone can exploit them. Imagine you have a house with locks on all the doors and windows to keep it secure. Now, imagine you want to ensure your house is safe from thieves, so you hire someone to try and break into your house without causing any harm. This person, in layman's terms, is an ethical hacker.
Confusion arises regarding cybersecurity and Ethical Hacking, but while these terms are interrelated, they’re poles apart. Ethical hacking involves following strict rules and guidelines while conducting tests. Ethical Hackers always seek permission from the system owner they are testing and only try to access the system within the boundaries defined by the owner. Their main objective is to uncover vulnerabilities and report them to the owners so that they can be fixed and make the system more secure.