How to Become a Proficient Ethical Hacker?

Key takeaways

Ethical hackers operate with authorised access to improve system security against cyber threats.
Different types of hackers include White Hat, Black Hat, Grey Hat, and Green Hat, each with distinct roles.
Understanding the differences between hacker types is crucial for anyone pursuing a career in ethical hacking.

Ethical hackers are the good people of the internet who penetrate systems and datasets with legitimate reasons with authorised accessibility. They basically understand the vulnerabilities in a targeted system and try to find solutions to prevent them from attackers. In this article, we are listing the ultimate guide that will help you to get started in your hacking career.

1| Understand The Basics

The term hacking can be a controversial one if one does not understand the role between the various types of hackers. Ethical hackers are different from other hackers because they have official certification and permission to access and hack targeted systems. There are various types of hackers like:

White Hat Hackers: They are ethical hackers who have authorised access. They can be enrolled in jobs like penetration tester, security analysts, network support, security specialists, network engineers, etc.
Black Hat Hackers: They are the cybercriminals who get into a targeted system without any prior authorisation. They are often responsible for data breaching, malware creation, etc.
Grey Hat Hacker is a person who gets unauthorised access to the targeted system but reveals the weakness to the company.
Green Hat Hacker is a person with limited knowledge of the subject but with each step, tries to understand what they are doing and learn from it.

The ethical hackers basically identify the faults in computer security for an organisation, business, etc. in order to protect them from those who have negative intentions. To be a proficient ethical hacker, one must first try to become a skillful Penetration Tester or Pentester where you will recognise the vulnerabilities in a system and shield it in order to protect from attackers.

2| Skills And Academics

To become a proficient ethical hacker you need to learn and understand the basic networking concepts as well as different protocols to connect a system remotely. There are various options where one can enroll into for attaining a degree in hacking. Institutional departments such as Computer Science, Computer Information Systems, Information Sytems, etc. provide such options.

3| Understand The Coding Platform

Before learning the code, one must have the basic knowledge of operating systems such as Windows, Unix, Linux, etc. and it also crucial to understand the OS level operations of the language you are working with. A need for a strong foundation in coding or scripting language is a must in this field. If you are working on a mobile application platform, you must have knowledge on Java, C# or Swift and if you are working on a web application platform, then you must have knowledge on Python, HTML, PHP, etc.

4| Understand the Technical Issues

There are various technical glitches and issues that can occur on a network in an organisation such as lack of encryption, improper DMZ setup, poor logical server grouping, improper firewalls, etc. Sometimes, a number of hacking techniques are needed in order to solve one specific goal. It is then important to think laterally and apply multiple solutions to attain a specific goal.

5| Get Certified

Many organisations are providing certifications for teaching ethical hacking courses along with hands-on practices. Certifications in basic networking concepts, security practitioners, security professionals, etc. will help you to step ahead of your hacking career. As we know “Practice makes a man perfect”, the best way to learn “hacking” is to spend more time in practising the exercises which will help you to learn, improve as well as implement new techniques. Besides, this, there are events like MachineHack or other hackathons where one can hone his/her knowledge and skills. You can practice your skills here as well.

Step-By-Step Guide To Becoming A Proficient Ethical Hacker