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Ethical Hacking and Hackers
By Agraza
Growth of the internet has contributed to the growth of other malicious activities operated by the internet. One of such acts is hacking. In the traditional term hacker was defined as “A person who enjoys learning the details of computer systems and how to stretch their capabilities—as opposed to most users of computers, who prefer to learn only the minimum amount necessary.” But the very act of hacking has itself evolved into what is called ethical hacking and the traditional under the cover hacking. These terms are safely used as white cap hackers and black cap hackers and somewhere between these two are grey cap hackers.
what is ethical hacking?
Ethical hackers—which are more popularly known as white hats—are information and cyber security specialists who are well-versed in system examination, penetration testing, and many other network analysis approaches that guarantee the safety and integrity of many a company’s information system.
The Ethical Hacking Council defines it like this: “The goal of the ethical hacker is to help the organisation take pre-emptive measures against malicious attacks by attacking the system himself; all the while staying within legal limits.”[1]
These white hackers may also work in groups or a collaborative effort. When such a grouping of ethical hackers is formed, they are called with various names such as ‘sneakers’, ‘tiger teams’ or ‘red teams’.
White hate hackers and Black hat hackers
A white hat hacker is an individual who uses hacking skills to identify security vulnerabilities in hardware, software or networks. However, unlike black hat hackers, white hat hackers respect the rule of law as it applies to hacking.[2]
Unlike black or grey hat hackers, white hats disclose all the vulnerabilities they find to the company or owner who is responsible for fixing the flaws so the issues can be fixed before they are exploited by malicious actors.
Grey hackers
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. The ethical practices of a gray hat hacker may also vary depending on their perception of the values of the individuals or organizations they are hacking. A grey hat might coordinate disclosure of a vulnerability with a company or government agency whose actions they support, while they might share the vulnerability with other hackers when the flaw affects organizations they don’t support.
Legality of ethical hacking in India
Constitutionally hacking is in direct contradiction to article 21 which talks about the Right to life and personal liberty. Furthermore, after the Right to privacy judgement there has been no scope left to justify hacking where an intruder enters the private space of an individual with a malicious intent. Hacking can be categorised as a crime in the present statute when we look at the broader view of section 441 of Indian Penal Code which talks about trespass.
But what makes the difference here is the word ‘ethical’. When we say a person is an ethical hacker we take away the one important constituents of a crime i.e. intention. Since the intention of the ethical hacker is not malicious, ethical hacking is not construed as a crime.
Moreover, over the period of time ethical hacking has emerged as a full fledged profession where courses are provided for the same and government entities themselves hire these individuals to safe guard their sensitive information.
[1] https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/magazine-features/license-to-hack-ethical-hacking/
[2] https://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/white-hat
Google trends link
https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=IN&q=ethical%20hacking
Ethical the term we generally used to describe some process or manner which is in legal way, and hacking means unauthorized access on a system without any permission and the process by whom the is performed is known as hackers. so according to me Ethical Hacking means to gain an unauthorized access of a system with legal permission and the process is done by the White hat hackers.
Ethical hacking is basically to used to improve the security of the network by fixing the defaults found during testings. As, the way the author has explained it really praiseworthy.
Grey hackers are somewhat considered to have an edge towards black hat hackers as they are not governed by rigid rules which basically gives them the freedom to act outside the boundaries of ethical standards without having to worry about any future consequences.
Also hacking has become extensive in the recent times which van be curbed by setting boundaries.
One of the constituent element of crime is the intention (mens rea) to commit the crime. Hacking is intruding in someone’s privacy or gaining their personal information with an intention to benefit oneself by the means of computers or software or any other operating system in which hackers are specialized, which is against article 21 (right to privacy) of Indian Constitution. But, what makes Hacking constitutional is Ethical Hacking that is hacking without the intention to commit any crime or hacking within the legal limits. Ethical Hacking is basically preventing someone to hack your personal software, it is proactive in nature so that we are already prepared for any future problems.
Very informative article about ethical hacking. It has Cleared all the point which were there in my mind.
This article was very informative any very new for me because I have never read about ethical hacking before and as a first timer I was able to understand it in one read only and I must say that the writing and explaining skill of the author are really praise worthy.
Well written and comprehensive article. Very few people are aware of ethical hacking and this article explains it perfectly.
Ethical hacking helps to prevent cybercrimes and it’s a legal concept. For spreading the awareness of ethical hacking this article is perfect.
Very beautifully written about ethical hacking….
Ethical hacking is indeed leading towards a new job sector altogether. It is yet to be a full fledged and recognised sub section of cyber security authorities, but the government agencies or those organisations concerned about their security are realising the need of this position. Its scope and limitations should be assessed and defined.
Captivating
Hacking has both pris and cons .ethical Hacker means white hats hackers no should be increased tremendously to restrain unethical hacking.whuch is also punishable under sec.72 of IT act and 66.D,f,c of it act also 416.IPC and also under sec 43(c) of IT ACt and the punishments should be more severe to reduce no of future attacks
Very informative Article about Ethical Hacking.
Thanks, Great Article.
I really like your Article.
Very informative article about ethical hackers. It clears all my misconceptions.
In recent times hackers have given a serious place in the society. They have being popular thanks to evergreen technology and more advancing techniques. There reach and thier capability had now increased a hundred times from the old days. Hacking is interesting and a very fascinating regime with endless opportunities , it depends upon the individual how he/she takes them . It is basically having a superpower, the information contained here in the article is very basic and most probably most of the readers might have come across the terms , there is not much details as to how hackers use thier skills to reach anyone at anytime and anywhere at thier will.
well structured article with great information about ethical hacking . Though hacking has both pros and cons, Ethical hacking helps to prevent cyber crimes and it’s a legal concept. For spreading the awareness of ethical hacking this article is a masterpiece.