6 Skills every Ethical Hacker must have to protect an organization

On a rare occasion do we see a week go past without news of a massive data breach. There is a hacker attack every 39 seconds and a cybercriminals steal on an average 75 records every second. Both small and big businesses are targeted by cybercriminals, creating a need for skilled ethical hackers to protect their systems. Organizations, government and private, now need ethical hackers more than ever.

Who is an Ethical Hacker?

Ethical hackers identify potential vulnerabilities in the system, application or data before they are been exploited by cybercriminals. To protect businesses, organizations prefer investing in trained ethical hackers. These professionals are trained to use methodologies and technologies similar to those used by a criminal hacker.

6 skills that trained Ethical Hackers possess

Organizations are increasingly adopting technical methods and solutions to store their crucial business data and expanding their market. This has equally led to the expansion of a number of cybercriminals.

1. Identify loopholes

Businesses are highly prone to cyberattacks and therefore, organizations require ethical hackers to protect their systems and IT infrastructure. They identify loopholes and vulnerabilities that can be used by cyber attackers to exploit systems and compromised data. They perform tests that are aimed to protect data from getting leaked.

2. Knowledge of penetration testing

Ethical hackers are equipped with the knowledge of penetration testing or pentesting that will help to identify vulnerabilities in the system. An ethical hacking training consists of different penetration testing methods including, targeted testing, blind testing, internal testing, external testing of network servers or DNS servers.

3. Addresses risk of transitioning to the cloud

Transitioning to the cloud is putting a lot many organization’s data at risk. On one side, business data is vast, and it cannot be stored in-house, creating a need for a cloud network. On another hand, the transition involves security risks and a little negligence exposes the data. The demand for ethical hackers is evolving to overcome the challenges of the cloud transition.

4. Prepares for a real-time attack

In spite of being fortified with security measures, cyberattacks are inevitable. Eventually, a cyber attacker attacks the IT systems or applications by exploiting the smallest of the vulnerabilities present in the IT infrastructure. Cyberattacks are evolving and being prepared to handle them is the only solution when an incident happens. Finding vulnerabilities beforehand by ethical hackers is one of the best ways to prepare against a potential attack.

5. Uses real hacking tools carry out the attack

The organization’s staff may be curious about security processes but not every employee will be aware of the real hacking tools. To ensure better protection at the user end, staff members should be trained by ethical hackers on various tools and methods of identifying threats. An ethical hacker knows the use of real hacking tools and advanced methodologies that protects the organization from potential attacks.

6. Reduces loss in the case of an incident

An ethical hacker can identify vulnerabilities faster and suggest mitigation to prevent any ongoing attack. Mitigating an attack reduces the further loss of data, finance, and reputation of the organization.

Though organizations can easily find black hat hackers, finding an efficient ethical hacker ensures a code of ethics. They are now pragmatic in hiring certified ethical hacker as a security measure.

Source: eccouncil.org