What Is Ethical Hacking and How Can It Foil Cybercrime?

By Dr. Andre Slonopas  |  10/14/2024

Legally, ethical hacking is the process of trying to bypass a security system to find potential data breaches and security flaws in a network. By contrast with malicious hacking, ethical hacking is carried out by ethical hackers who ask for the permission of the owner of a computer system to proactively assess risks and reinforce the network’s defense system. Professional ethical hackers use the same techniques and tools as malicious hackers.

Cybersecurity threats continue to morph, according to Cyber Magazine. Consequently, ethical hacking remains an important part of the cybersecurity world.

Organizations around the world depend on technology to drive their businesses forward. As a result of this dependency on computers and networks, cyber attacks on organizations' security flaws have escalated in volume and sophistication.

With the aid of ethical hackers, businesses have discovered vulnerabilities in their cybersecurity before an attacker uses them and can then be proactive in guarding against sensitive data exposure. Ethical hacking allows companies to test current security policies, understand areas that need improvement, and close any open holes before any damage is caused.

Cybersecurity requirements are set very high, so the security for computer systems must conform to industry standards. Whether organizations are concerned with finance, healthcare, or any other field, ethical hacking by cyber security professionals is a way to protect against security breaches that often lead to financial losses, lawsuits, and reputation damage.

Ethical Hacking and Cybercrime

Ethical hacking is a different world from cybercrime, though both entail using tools to gain access to protected areas and bypass security systems. The motives for hacking, however, are completely opposite from one another.

A cybercriminal exploits a system's weakness with malicious intent, such as stealing sensitive data, causing damage, or asking for ransom. On the other hand, an ethical hacker discovers and reports security vulnerabilities before they could even be penetrated by an attacker.

Ethical hackers have been given permission to conduct tests and work with the express permission of the system owner. These ethical hackers focus their efforts on hardening networks from a malicious hacker, rather than compromising them.

Ethical hacking is mainly carried out to enhance an organization's infrastructure security. The ethical hacker imitates a malicious user and goes through a variety of tools and techniques generally used by the malicious hacker to identify vulnerabilities in various security protocols.

After sniffing out vulnerabilities through penetration testing, many ethical hackers produce reports recommending ways to strengthen an organization’s defenses. As a result, an organization can be proactive and stop unauthorized user access, data leakage, and other related problems with security systems.

Ethical hacking is also very important in regulatory compliance, as several industries require regular security assessments to meet their standards. Ethical hacking is not just about finding weaknesses through penetration testing, but using any vulnerabilities discovered to make continuous security system improvements in an ever-changing threat landscape.

The Types of Hackers

In the field of cybersecurity, there are malicious hackers determined to cause harm, ethical hackers who work to stop malicious hackers, and others who operate in a grey area. Understanding these distinctions is critical for grasping the diverse roles that hackers play in cybersecurity.

White-Hat Hackers

Ethical hackers, also called white-hat hackers, are the guardians of the cyber world. Current laws permit these cyber professionals to use their knowledge and skills to intrude into computer systems to identify security vulnerabilities that need repair. Mostly working on a permission basis from the system owners, these hackers ensure that an organization's defenses are reinforced to avoid potential cyberattacks.

White-hat hackers are hired by organizations for performing penetration tests or security assessments. They may work in cybersecurity companies, corporate information technology departments, or government institutions to ensure that sensitive information, networks, software, and hardware are not vulnerable to cyber threats.

These computer professionals discover vulnerabilities and exploit them in an artificially created environment to develop security measures for closing any loopholes. They are entrusted with the responsibility to keep companies compliant with security regulations and industrial standards by periodically testing security protocols and advising business leaders on how to enhance their security posture.

Black-Hat Hackers

Black-hat hackers are cyber-crime villains who exploit vulnerabilities for ulterior motives, often with malicious intent. They gain access to an organization's networks to steal critical information, disrupt employee activities, and destroy networks. Their motivations may be financial theft, corporate espionage, or ideological reasons, such as hacktivism or chaos.

Many times, this type of malicious hacker introduces malware to computer systems, gets information through phishing scams, and uses other tricks to gain unauthorized access and compromise networks and systems without the owner's knowledge or permission. After gaining access to a network, they may exfiltrate data, install ransomware, or create backdoors in operating systems and other systems for future attacks. Most of the cyberattacks blamed for compromising businesses, government agencies, and individuals around the world are caused by these malicious hackers.

Gray-Hat Hackers

Grey-hat hackers fall between the two extremes of white-hat and black-hat hackers. Typically, their actions are neither precisely ill nor thoroughly moral.

Like black-hat hackers, grey-hat hackers break into systems without permission but without the intent of causing harm. Instead, they may report vulnerabilities to the system owner once found and sometimes leave behind a reward or recognition, such as a file commonly referred to as a flag, for their findings. Ethical hackers who leave behind traces of themselves confirm to the owner that the gray-hat hackers found a vulnerability.

Grey-hat hackers do not exploit security vulnerabilities for personal gain or cause damage to systems. However, their actions are still illegal because they carry on their activities without obtaining permission from system owners.

Grey-hat hackers indirectly help in increasing cybersecurity by highlighting vulnerabilities that probably would have otherwise remained unknown. Some grey-hat hackers sometimes turn white-hat and start assisting in bringing improvements in the security of a system in a legitimate, ethical manner.

Ethical Hacking Tools

Ethical hackers use a wide array of tools for locating, testing, and exploiting vulnerabilities that may exist within systems. Some of these ethical hacker tools include Nmap® (also known as Network Mapper) and Metasploit®.

Nmap: The Network Mapper

Nmap is one of the most famous tools used in ethical hacking. This open-source utility is used to access computer systems and scan networks for potential vulnerabilities.

It offers a critical mapping of topography in networks and discovers living hosts, open ports, operating systems, and running services on a computer network. The information Nmap provides gives ethical hackers a proper understanding of a system’s cybersecurity and enables a vulnerability assessment to be conducted.

Nmap is used by ethical hackers to conduct port scanning, which determines which network ports are open and might be vulnerable to attack. It shows ethical hackers the existence of weak points, so those security problems can be fixed before malicious hackers take advantage and cause a security breach.

Nmap also supports a number of advanced features for an ethical hacker, including identifying running services and their versions on a network. Nmap is capable of performing operating system fingerprinting and identifying the location of firewalls and intrusion detection systems. These capabilities make Nmap an essential tool for assessing and securing networks.

Metasploit: A Framework for Exploitation

Another powerful tool used in ethical hacking is Metasploit, which is also a way for ethical hackers to exploit vulnerabilities within systems. The primary job of Metasploit is to enable ethical hackers to test the efficiency of security defenses by staging real-world attacks.

This open-source penetration testing framework provides the ethical hacker with a wide variety of pre-built scenarios – such as commands, tools, techniques, and procedures – needed for the exploitation of specific vulnerabilities within networks, applications, and services. Any vulnerabilities that are discovered by an ethical hacker could then be targeted with an attack using Metasploit, which mimics how a target system would behave when there is an actual threat.

For example, if Nmap determines there’s an open port with outdated software running on it, that vulnerability could be exploited using Metasploit to get access to the system. With this information, ethical hackers can identify flaws in a system and recommend certain software patches and other security enhancements.

Cybersecurity Degrees at American Military University

For IT professionals interested in who are aspiring ethical hackers, want to become penetration testers, or who are interested in acquiring the knowledge to seek roles in other areas of cybersecurity, American Military University (AMU) offers several degree programs:

• An online associate degree in cybersecurity
• An online bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity
• An online master’s degree in cybersecurity studies

Courses taught in these programs include from topics such as hardening operating systems, red and blue team security, and cryptography concepts. Other courses involve topics such as security risk management, intrusion detection and incident handling, penetration testing, and computer forensics. All of the courses in AMU’s programs are taught by experienced professionals with a deep knowledge of cybersecurity.

For more information about AMU’s cybersecurity degrees, visit our information technology degree program page.

Nmap is a registered trademark of Insecure.com, LLC.
Metasploit is a registered trademark of Rapid7, LLC.