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Ethical Hacking Overview

Chapter Introduction

After reading this chapter and completing the exercises, you will be able to:

Describe the role of an ethical hacker

Describe what you can do legally as an ethical hacker

Describe what you can’t do as an ethical hacker

The term “ethical hacker” might seem like an oxymoron—sort of like an ethical pickpocket or ethical embezzler. In this chapter, you learn that ethical hackers are employed or contracted by a company to do what illegal hackers do: break in. Why? Companies need to know what, if any, parts of their security infrastructure are vulnerable to attack. To protect a company’s network, many security professionals recognize that knowing what tools the bad guys use and how they think enables them to better protect (harden) a network’s security.

Remember the old adage: You’re only as secure as your weakest link. The bad guys spend a lot of time and energy trying to find weak links. This book provides the tools you need to protect a network and shares some approaches an ethical hacker—also called a “security tester” or a “penetration tester”—might use to discover vulnerabilities in a network. It’s by no means a definitive book on ethical hacking. Rather, it gives you a good overview of a security tester’s role and includes activities to help you develop the skills you need to protect a network from attack. This book helps you understand how to protect a network when you discover the methods the bad guys (hackers) or the good guys (ethical hackers) use to break into a network. It also helps you select the most appropriate tools to make your job easier.

Understanding what laws can affect you when performing your job as a security tester is important, especially if you use the testing methods outlined in this book. Also, understanding the importance of having a contractual agreement with a client before performing any aspects of a security test might help you avoid breaking the law.