Published on

Ethical Hacking | Types of Ethical Hacking | Types of Hacker

ethical hacking

What is ethical hacking?

Ethical hacking is an authorized practice of bypassing system security to identify potential data breaches and threats in a network. The company that owns the system or network allows Cyber Security Engineers to perform such activities in order to test the system's defenses. Thus unlike malicious hacking, this process is planned, approved, and more importantly, legal.

Ethical hackers aim to investigate the system or network for weak points that malicious hackers can exploit or destroy. They collect and analyze the information to figure out ways to strengthen the security of the system/network/application.

Ethical hackers are hired by organizations to look into the vulnerabilities of their systems and networks and develop solutions to prevent data breaches.

Now, as you have an idea of what is ethical hacking, let's learn about the types of ethical hacking.

Types of ethical hacking

  1. Web Application hacking: Web application provides an interface between the web server and the client to communicate. Web pages are generated at the server, and browsers present them at the client side. The data is passed between client and server in the form of HTML pages through HTTP protocol.

There are client-side vulnerabilities and server-side vulnerabilities which lead to a web application attack.

  1. System Hacking: Hacktivists gain access to personal computers over a network through system hacking. Password busting. privilege excalation, milicious software construction. and packet sniffing are the defensive measures that IT security experts can use to combat these threats.

  2. Web Server Hacking: An application software database server generates web information in real-time. So attackers use Gluing, ping deluge, port scan, sniffing attacks, and social engineering techniques to grab credentials, passcodes, and compnay information from web applications.

  3. Hacking Wireless Networks: Wireless networks are a popular medium for data transmission. Hackers use wireless attacks to steal data from wireless networks.

  4. Social Engineering: Social engineering is the act of exploiting human weaknesses to gain access to personal information and protected systems. Social engineering relies on manipulating individuals rather than hacking computer systems to penetrate a target's account.

Types of Hacker

A hacker is a person who solves a technical issue by using a computer, networking, or even other abilities. Anyone who uses their skills to gain access to a system or network in to break laws is referred to as a hacker.

There are different types of hackers:

  1. White Hat Hackers: this types of hackers are also known as Ethical Hackers. They are the ones who are hired by organizations to look into the vulnerabilities of their systems and networks and develop solutions to prevent data breaches.

  2. Black Hat Hackers: these hackers are the main perpetrators of cybercrime. The majority of the time, agenda of a Black Hat Hackers is monetary. These hackers look for flaws in individual computers in businesses and banking systems. They can hack into your network and gain access to your personal, business, and financial information by exploiting any loopholes they find.

  3. Grey Hat Hackers: Grey Hat Hackers fall in between white and black hat hackers. Grey hat hackers may not use their skills for personal gain, they can however have both good and bad intentions. For instance, a hacker who hacks into an organization and finds some vulnerability may leak it over the internet or inform the organization about it. Nevertheless, as soon as hackers use their hacking skills for personal gain they become black hat hackers.