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Home > Blog > Ethical Hacking and Penetration Testing. Where to Begin.
Looking at the employment landscape, it’s clear that prospects for landing cybersecurity positions are excellent and on the rise, but what about the commercial viability of that “grey side-gig”, ethical hacking and penetration testing? While the notion of “being bad to help the good people” is undoubtedly lucrative and very cool, where can we begin to find such a role? What skillset do you need to cultivate to gather the knowledge required to earn one of the most sought-after positions in cybersecurity?
A penetration tester, or pentester, routinely conducts authorized vulnerability assessment and audit tests on computer systems. This is done in the context of exposing weaknesses in organizational cybersecurity that might be exploited by bad actors in the future. Often specializing in particular systems, like on-prem networks or hybrid environments, pentesters might hold in-house and permanent positions in organizations as part of IT or cybersecurity red teams, they may be freelancers, or they may work for specialized agencies that offer this service to business clients.
A white hat or ethical hacker is an almost identical role to pentester but is a broader and more umbrella term. It is often used to describe lone cybersecurity professionals who are more specialized in bug bounties (where individuals can receive compensation and recognition for reporting exploitable vulnerabilities) and more independent (but legal) work. An ethical hacker reports the identified vulnerabilities to the organization (as opposed to exploiting them), often provides remediation advice, and with the organization’s consent, may re-test networks and systems to be sure any found vulnerabilities have been fully resolved.
In summing up these very similar job titles, Penetration Tester might be how you describe yourself on LinkedIn. Ethical/White Hat Hacker is probably how you’d describe yourself on hackforums.net, and may imply a more ronin attitude (but with the same ethical goals).
The prerequisite knowledge you’ll need to become a pentester or ethical hacker is a solid grounding in security systems and information technology. These are fast-paced and exciting jobs – perfect if you have an interest in IT, cybersecurity, and problem-solving. They can be rewarding, but they do need a certain mindset to stay one step ahead of the issues, vulnerabilities, and bad actors out there.
A strong grasp across the following disciplines is recommended to support your initial steps into pen testing and ethical hacking. Time served in IT support, IT security, or in a junior capacity in a cybersecurity team is a great foot in the door:
Knowing which of these skills you have already, and which you’ll need to address to get yourself a firm foundation for further development, is a great first step on the ladder to the career you want – Ethical Hacker, Penetration Tester, and all ‘round white-hatted digital hero.
Once you have the basics, where do you go from there? If you work in-house then volunteering for red hat exercises or software and security audits is a good way to broaden your skillset.
Expanding your knowledge of the main pen testing management platforms is a distinct advantage, such as Nmap , Wireshark , Kali Linux , John the Ripper , Nessus , Burp Suite , or OWASP ZAP Proxy .
There are lots of great courses out there that you might want to consider, including college and university classes, getting involved in volunteer work, security training providers, and self-study. The web, both traditional and dark, is awash with forums and networks specializing in hacker news, white hat training, and the latest cybersec info. Eventually, you will have to become a part of the hacking community to be aware of new exploits, workarounds, and vulnerabilities, so dipping your toe into this world now will do no harm and will broaden your horizons.
Sites to check out might be Hack the Box , VulnHub , TryHackMe , Cohackers , LetsDefend , PENTESTON , or HackThisSite . For more formal qualifications and the sort of thing you might be able to get your employers to pay for IBM offer professional certification via their Cybersecurity Analyst Professional Certificate , which may be worth considering, as may the Open University BSc (Honours) Cyber Security . Local institutions may offer cybersecurity degrees and general qualifications, but these won’t be as specialized in ethical hacking or pen testing as most of the independent links above.
Once you have the relevant qualifications, how do you get work and experience in pen testing/ethical hacking?
If you choose to look towards agencies for assistance don’t go to a general employment agency. Instead, use a specialized IT recruitment company that will have a better understanding of the role of a pentester. This is not, however, a common first approach, and there are other ways into the market.
There are several specialist job boards for roles in cybersecurity, such as Dice or CyberSecJobs.com . Sites like UpWork and Fiver have pen testing categories, and advertising your services in places like this may be worth considering.
If you are looking for potential bug-bounty opportunities, there is an excellent and up-to-date list, care of the Bug Bounty Programme .
Demand for cybersecurity professionals is going to be high and continue to grow for the foreseeable future. There is a current shortage of infosec professionals in all disciplines, which is expected to continue for years to come. If you are thinking about a career in the valuable and lucrative side-gig of ethical hacking and penetration testing, now may well be the perfect time to map out your course and take the plunge.
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What is ethical hacking and penetration testing? Get paid to hack
Did you know you can get paid to hack computers? Ethical hacking involves legally breaking into computers to test an organization’s security defenses.
There is a gap in supply-demand for penetration testing and ethical hacking. With increased concerns for cyber security, the need for professional hackers is growing. Not only is this industry important for the future of computing, it is also a career path that pays well. The average base salary reports at $121,000 per year .
If you’re completely new to the field of ethical hacking, you’re in the right place. I’ll walk you thought the different types of hackers and how to get certified as a pen tester.
Take your first step and learn the best practices for preventing vulnerabilities.
An ethical hacker is an expert in information security who systematically tries to penetrate a network or computer system or network to locate security vulnerabilities that a malicious hacker could misuse. This job requires a similar set of skills as a malicious hacker, such as:
Ethical hackers are usually hired before a new system goes live, and often times, organizations will use a bounty scheme : a financial reward is provided to ethical hackers who demonstrate evidence of a system’s flaw.
Penetration testing is a specific type of ethical hacking that involves hiring a certified professional to asses the strengths of a preexisting system. Usually, pen testers are given privileged information and use it to find exploitable flaws. These tests include:
These pen tests are typically more systematic and implemented at regular, preset times, i.e. before a major change to application is released.
Ethical hacking exists at an interesting legal gray area. Some of the laws on ethical hacking are ambiguous or don’t account for all scenarios an ethical hacker faces.
The main difference between ethical and unethical hacking is consent . A hacker must be authorized to act, and an organization must have customer permission to give out confidential data.
The best way to keep parties safe is to sign a legal agreement that meets the following four conditions:
So, we know that ethical hackers use the skills of a malicious hacker to help a company. But what about other types of hackers? Let’s investigate the different types of hackers out there and learn how they differ from an ethical hacker.
Also called ethical hackers, these are the professional security specialists/analysts, and penetration testers who work with companies, industries, and computer systems to develop more robust security systems. They must understand the methodologies of malicious hackers as well as the legal frameworks in place that define current security protocols.
These are the malicious hackers who exploit weaknesses for gain. These are people we want to stop. They are hackers who look for data breaches with malicious intent, such as malware/virus distribution and malign data mining. Black hat hackers commonly commit banking fraud, extortion, blackmail, and identity theft on network users.
These hackers may not use data for ill ends, but they do use unethical means to make a system safer. Gray hat hackers understand the ins and outs of hacking and may use it for self-serving means. For example, an unauthorized hacker breaks into a website and emails the CTO about the weakness they found. No, they aren’t harming anyone. But yes, they are breaking the law.
These are hackers with limited understanding of the process and may use obvious methods to hack private data and passwords. They will commonly be found on social media, particularly online forums to trap unsuspecting users.
These hackers are usually malicious towards one company or person. Hackers in this group use their skills to exploit specific people for the purpose of retaliating. A blue hat hacker may have political motivations.
These are the vigilante hackers. These hackers try to stop malicious hackers through things like viruses, initiate DoSing, or even destroy a computer from the inside out. Their excessive methods aim to shut down a black hat hacker altogether.
These are hackers who have very limited practical knowledge on hacking but learn how to infiltrate network systems. They may be seeking knowledge on different architectures and rely on prewritten code or software to infiltrate networks.
Educative’s Practical security course teaches you the main forms of cyber attacks alongside five simple, yet effective, techniques to improve your application security. Learn the best practices with hands-on projects.
Ethical hacking represents a wide field of responsibilities. Like every field, there are multiple domains that can take years to master. For example, some ethical hackers focus on vulnerability assessment (VA) while others focus on penetration testing.
In general, the following are some of the most common responsibilities that an ethical hacker will have:
Want to learn more about the most common breaches, attacks, and vulnerabilities? Check out our Guide to Cyber Security
for an introduction.
Other than basic programming skills, there are hundreds of tools that ethical hackers use to test sites and applications. Many of the most popular tools are open source and require advanced programming skills. Let’s take a look at the top tools used by ethical hackers.
Programming languages: As an ethical hacker, it’s important to know multiple languages. The most popular for hacking are HTML, Java, JavaScript, Python, PHP, SQL, C/C++, and Ruby.
Code security and analysis: Kiuwan is a common application security too used to analyze code and code security. For example, you can use this to create action plans for remedying a vulnerability.
Create custom plugins: Ettercap is a cross-platform tool for creating custom plugins. This helps with overall network security for man-in-the-middle attacks.
Port scanner: Nmap is a security and port scanner that can be used to explore networks. It is popular for detecting hosts on a network and any packet filters.
Mimic a hacker: Netsparker is ideal for ethical hackers. It mimics a hacker’s move to identify SQL injections and cross-site scripting.
Vulnerability management: Acunetix can identify over 4,500 web application vulnerabilities. It is a web crawler that can integrate with other tools and platforms.
Scan a web server: Nikto can be used to scan a web server for dangerous files, version issues, and more. It can check for over 6,700 dangers.
Password cracker: The most popular password cracker is Jack the Ripper. It detects weak UNIX passwords and can perform dictionary attacks.
So, we know what an ethical hacker is, and we understand what the job entails. But how do you actually become an ethical hacker or pen tester?
Here’s what you’ll need at a glance:
To become an ethical hacker, you need to know multiple programming languages, understand computer networking, OS, databases, and system design concepts.
To be a white hat hacker, you need a strong grasp on networking concepts, network architecture, internet protocols, and ports.
It’s important to have a solid understanding of MySQL and SQL. Start by making your own database.
Linux is the most common operating system for hacking. Most hackers use the Linux kernel. Without learning UNIX/LINUX, it is not possible to become a hacker.
Once you get the computer science basics down, you should move onto cryptography, such as encryption and decryption. These are essential processes for any hacking job. To be a good hacker, you need to deeply understand how cryptography works. You also need knowledge of cybersecurity, such as concepts like TCP/IP, proxies, and UDP protocols.
Ethical hackers use a lot of software and hardware. It’s important to have knowledge of these tools. I mentioned a few above. Explore online courses and sites that allow you to explore these tools with hands-on practice or games. Some practice environments are Burp Suite, Ettercap, Wireshark, DVWA, and Linux Distro.
The main certification you’ll need is the CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker). You can take online classes for this certificate, and the actual test takes around 4 hours. You usually don’t need prerequisite knowledge of ethical hacking.
This is commonly compulsory for applying to an ethical hacker or pen tester position. Other, more specialized certifications are:
Once you get your CEH V9 or CEH V10, you can apply for pen tester or ethical hacker jobs. There is a wide variety of jobs out there for ethical hackers and pen testers. Take a look at a few:
Congrats! You’ve just learned the basics of ethical hacking and penetration testing. You’re ready to move onto the next step. Where you go next largely depends on what knowledge you already have.
If you are new to programming, I recommend learning a programming language like Python, HTML, JavaScript, or Java. Educative’s blog has many free beginner guides to most of these languages. Take a look to get started.
Or, if you already know some popular languages, get started with a cour
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