The Ethical Hacker (white Hat) Download

A white hat hacker -- or ethical hacker -- is an individual who uses hacking skills to identify security vulnerabilities in hardware, software or networks. However, unlike black hat hackers -- or malicious hackers -- white hat hackers respect the rule of law as it applies to hacking. Many white hat hackers are former black hat hackers. The terms come from old Western movies, where heroes often wore white hats and the bad guys wore black hats.

White hat hackers only seek vulnerabilities or exploits when they are legally permitted to do so. White hat hackers may do their research on open source software, as well as on software or systems they own or have been authorized to investigate, including products and services that operate bug bounty programs. These types of programs reward individuals with money for disclosing security flaws.

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Unlike black or gray hat hackers, white hat hackers fully disclose all the vulnerabilities they find to the company or product owner who is responsible for fixing the flaws so the issues can be resolved before they are exploited by malicious hackers.

Where white hat hackers disclose all the vulnerabilities they find to the party responsible for the system -- usually, the company or vendor that makes the affected product -- a black hat hacker has no qualms about selling vulnerabilities and exploits to the highest bidder.

Gray hat hackers fall between white and black hats on the moral spectrum. Gray hats generally consider themselves good guys who are more flexible about the rules under which they operate. For example, a gray hat hacker may be more likely than a white hat hacker to access systems without getting permission or authorization from the owners but would be less likely than a black hat hacker to cause damage to those systems.

In late 2018, when cryptocurrency was just starting to gain mainstream momentum, a gray hat hacker in Russia automated the process of breaking into MikroTik manufactured routers across the internet and proceeded to patch a discovered exploit that enabled black hat hackers to turn the hardware into a crypto mining bot. While unauthorized access did occur, the gray hat did seemingly have good intentions when he broke into and patched more than 100,000 vulnerable devices.

White hat hackers, especially those performing external penetration tests (pen tests), use the same hacking techniques and tools as black hat hackers. But white hat hackers do so with the intent of helping an organization improve its security posture. Common examples include the following:

Some white hat hackers used to be black hat hackers who became more ethically attuned as they matured; others were caught and then decided to take the ethical hacker path to pursue their interests without the threat of prosecution.

Undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science, information security or mathematics are good backgrounds for white hat hackers to have, though having a genuine interest in and passion for security is the biggest asset.

Other big names in white hat hacking include Jeff Moss, who founded the Black Hat and DEFCON security conferences; Dr. Charlie Miller, who hacked for the National Security Agency for five years; and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

The differences between a white hat hacker and a black hat hacker come down to permission and intent. White hat hackers do not hack systems without written permission from the company to test its defenses, and they disclose vulnerabilities responsibly. However, the white hat hacker and the black hat hacker use similar tools and techniques. This can lead to complicated legal situations for ethical hackers.

For instance, in order to thoroughly test a company's security, an ethical hacker has to try to gain access to the company's systems not just directly, but also through its business partners. If the company that requested pen testing does not also get consent from its business partners, the white hat hacker could end up illegally penetrating the business partner's systems.

Additionally, if ethical hackers are able to access sensitive data, their duty is to report it to the company responsible for that data. This, however, does not necessarily mean the customer will be notified that its information was exposed. It also means the ethical hacker has personally viewed the data.

A white hat (or a white-hat hacker, a whitehat) is an ethical security hacker.[1][2] Ethical hacking is a term meant to imply a broader category than just penetration testing.[3][4] Under the owner's consent, white-hat hackers aim to identify any vulnerabilities or security issues the current system has.[5] The white hat is contrasted with the black hat, a malicious hacker; this definitional dichotomy comes from Western films, where heroic and antagonistic cowboys might traditionally wear a white and a black hat, respectively.[6] There is a third kind of hacker known as a grey hat who hacks with good intentions but at times without permission.[7]

One of the first instances of an ethical hack being used was a "security evaluation" conducted by the United States Air Force, in which the Multics operating systems were tested for "potential use as a two-level (secret/top secret) system." The evaluation determined that while Multics was "significantly better than other conventional systems," it also had "... vulnerabilities in hardware security, software security and procedural security" that could be uncovered with "a relatively low level of effort."[10] The authors performed their tests under a guideline of realism, so their results would accurately represent the kinds of access an intruder could potentially achieve. They performed tests involving simple information-gathering exercises, as well as outright attacks upon the system that might damage its integrity; both results were of interest to the target audience. There are several other now unclassified reports describing ethical hacking activities within the US military.

By 1981 The New York Times described white-hat activities as part of a "mischievous but perversely positive 'hacker' tradition". When a National CSS employee revealed the existence of his password cracker, which he had used on customer accounts, the company chastised him not for writing the software but for not disclosing it sooner. The letter of reprimand stated "The Company realizes the benefit to NCSS and encourages the efforts of employees to identify security weaknesses to the VP, the directory, and other sensitive software in files".[11]

The idea to bring this tactic of ethical hacking to assess the security of systems and point out vulnerabilities was formulated by Dan Farmer and Wietse Venema. To raise the overall level of security on the Internet and intranets, they proceeded to describe how they were able to gather enough information about their targets to have been able to compromise security if they had chosen to do so. They provided several specific examples of how this information could be gathered and exploited to gain control of the target, and how such an attack could be prevented. They gathered up all the tools they had used during their work, packaged them in a single, easy-to-use application, and gave it away to anyone who chose to download it. Their program called Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks, or SATAN, was met with a great amount of media attention around the world in 1992.[9]

These methods identify exploit known security vulnerabilities and attempt to evade security to gain entry into secured areas. They can do this by hiding software and system 'back-doors' that can be used as a link to information or access that a non-ethical hacker, also known as 'black hat' or 'grey hat', may want to reach.

The United States National Security Agency offers certifications such as the CNSS 4011. Such a certification covers orderly, ethical hacking techniques and team management. Aggressor teams are called "red" teams. Defender teams are called "blue" teams.[8] When the agency recruited at DEF CON in 2020, it promised applicants that "If you have a few, shall we say, indiscretions in your past, don't be alarmed. You shouldn't automatically assume you won't be hired".[16]

A good "white hat" is a competitive skillful employee for an enterprise since they can be a countermeasure to find the bugs to protect the enterprise network environment. Therefore, a good "white hat" could bring unexpected benefits in reducing the risk across systems, applications, and endpoints for an enterprise.[17]

According to Salary.com the average salary for an ethical hacker is $105,973 as of June 26th 2023. The salaries vary between $95,137 and $119,413 depending on experience, certification level and additional skills.

Ethical hackers may get involved in tactics beyond penetration testing. For example, they might choose to test defenses against social engineering techniques by encouraging employees to reveal sensitive business data or log-in credentials.

CrowdStrike commissioned a review of 900+ job adverts on Indeed to identify what employers are looking for when it comes to ethical hacking roles. Below you can see the most in-demand skills, certifications and education levels for employment as an ethical hacker:

Cloud knowledge is the most commonly cited by employers. Cloud computing is transforming business operation in the modern age. And as more and more businesses shift to a cloud-based model, it becomes a bigger target for increasingly sophisticated attacks. All ethical hackers, therefore, should have advanced knowledge on cloud security.

Research skills are the most important soft skill. Threat actors are constantly evolving their techniques and targets to evade detection, monetize on attacks and cause the widest disruption possible. Therefore, ethical hackers will need to be as equally up to date to protect their clients or organizations. e24fc04721