Ethical Hacking

Ethical hacking, also known as penetration testing or 'pen testing,' is the practice of legally and with authorization attempting to bypass a system's security defenses to identify vulnerabilities. It's a proactive and authorized attempt to evaluate the security of an IT infrastructure by safely trying to exploit vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities may exist in operating systems, service and application flaws, improper configurations, or risky end-user behavior. The individuals who perform these tests are called ethical hackers or penetration testers. Their primary goal is to think like a malicious attacker and use the same tools and techniques to find and demonstrate the business risks associated with security weaknesses. Unlike malicious hacking, ethical hacking is done with the organization's permission, and the findings are reported back to the organization so that the vulnerabilities can be fixed. The penetration testing process typically follows five phases: 1. Reconnaissance: The information gathering phase, where the tester collects as much information as possible about the target system. 2. Scanning: Using tools like Nmap to identify open ports, live systems, and running services. 3. Gaining Access: The tester tries to exploit the vulnerabilities found in the scanning phase to gain access to the system. This is often done using tools like Metasploit. 4. Maintaining Access: The tester attempts to maintain their access to the system for a prolonged period to see how much data they can extract. This often involves installing backdoors or other persistent mechanisms. 5. Covering Tracks: The tester removes all traces of their activities to avoid detection. By conducting ethical hacking, organizations can get a realistic picture of their security posture and fix weaknesses before they are exploited by real attackers.