Introduction
Ethical hacking is the process of finding vulnerabilities in an organization’s technology infrastructure, without causing any damage. Ethical hackers use their knowledge and experience to help organizations identify vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by malicious hackers who could cause harm to people or property. The first step to becoming an ethical hacker can be taking an extensive ethical hacking course that will enable you to get deep knowledge about programming languages. Let’s learn about what you need to know to become an ethical hacker and advance your career.
How to Be an Ethical Hacker?
Be Familiar with Networking and Networking Devices
Networking is a vast subject, but there are some very important things you should know. Network topology is the physical layout of your network. It includes how many networks are connected and how they are connected together. For example, there are two separate networks: one for telephones (called our PBX) and another for computers (called LAN). They communicate with each other through a router, which sends messages from one side to the other based on IP addresses used by each device.
The second important thing about networking is knowing what devices are being used on your network, and what their purpose is. We’ll look at this briefly so that you can start thinking about how someone could hack into such equipment if they wanted to do so. The most common type of equipment found in modern networks today include:
Firewalls – These devices prevent unauthorized users from accessing information or resources stored within your system by creating an “air gap” between unsecured computers/devices and those more secure ones.
Routers – Found at every level of communication between different systems or subnets within one large computer network.
Switches – Also used throughout all levels of communication within large computer systems
Web Servers – Servers used by websites hosted online allow users on any device equipped with an internet browser to access pages stored locally on them via a web address
Database Servers – They store information in a structured database format
Application Servers – These are used to host applications that run on top of server operating systems (like Windows or Linux)
Print Servers – Used to manage printers within your network
Laptops, Tablets, and Smartphones – Many people use these to access information stored on servers within your environment
Servers – These are the workhorses of your network, running applications and storing data
Workstations – Also called “desktops” or “PCs,” these are individual computers used by people within your environment
Network Devices – Routers, switches, and firewalls are all examples of network devices that help control traffic flow between systems or subnets
Network devices are used to control traffic flow between systems or subnets. Examples include routers and switches.
The most important thing to remember about network devices is that they’re all part of the same environment. This means that if you have a print server on one subnet and want to add a new printer, you don’t need to create an entirely new print server, you can simply install another instance of the same software on another computer within your environment and connect it via network cable.
In addition, network devices are often used as a way to segment your environment into subnets. A subnet is simply a portion of your overall network that’s used for unique purposes. For example, if you want to create an environment where only certain devices can access the internet while others cannot, but still allow those devices on both sides to communicate with each other, you might use network firewalls to create two different subnets: one for public-facing computers and another for internal systems.
Learn About Databases, SQL and MySQL
SQL stands for Structured Query Language. SQL is a standard database query language that provides an interface for accessing, manipulating and managing data in a database.
The fundamental structure of SQL consists of four commands: Select, Insert, Update and Delete. With these commands you can retrieve records from a table or add new records to it, change the contents of existing records in the table, select all or some rows from a table and delete those which match particular criteria specified in a “Where” clause.
The SQL Select statement is used to retrieve data from a table in SQL. You can use it to retrieve all columns (or just the specific ones) from a table and order them by one or more fields.
Learn Programming Languages like C
C++ is a programming language that is a superset of the C programming language. It’s used for everything from operating systems to game programming and web browsers to graphics applications.
C adds object-oriented capabilities and other advanced features to C, so it’s more powerful than its predecessor. A good knowledge of both languages will give you an edge when looking for a job in ethical hacking or IT security.
C++ is a much more complex language than C, so it will take some time to get used to. It’s important that you don’t just dive in and start writing code; instead, spend some time learning the basics of programming first. You’ll learn how to write programs and make them do what you want them to do by following step-by-step instructions written by other people who already know how.
It’s used for everything from operating systems to game programming and web browsers to graphics applications. C adds object-oriented capabilities and other advanced features to C, so it’s more powerful than its predecessor.
A good knowledge of both languages will give you an edge when looking for a job in ethical hacking or IT security. C++ is a much more complex language than C, so it will take some time to get used to. It’s important that you don’t just dive in and start writing code; instead, spend some time learning the basics of programming first.
You’ll learn how to write programs and make them do what you want them to do by following step-by-step instructions written by other people who already know how.
Be Familiar with Linux Operating System
Linux is a free, open-source operating system for computers. Linux is the most widely used free operating system in the world. This operating system has been developed under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. It is supported by many independent volunteers, who can use it freely on other systems as well. Linux users can run it on almost any machine, such as smartphones and tablets (smartphones), television sets (smart TVs), watches (smartwatches), set-top boxes, game consoles like Wii U or PlayStation 4/5 (PlayStation 4 Pro/5 Pro), laptops/desktops.
The first version was released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds while he was working at University of Helsinki Computer Science department as a computer science student with Minix kernel which was developed from ideas from UNIX kernel written by Ken Thompson at Bell Labs.
IBM PC compatible computers, and many others. Linux is used by many companies, including Google (Android), IBM (z/OS), Intel (Intelix), Oracle Corporation (Solaris) and SAP SE (SAP HANA).
Linux is similar to the Unix, POSIX-compliant operating system developed under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. Linux was developed by Linus Torvalds with assistance from developers around the world. It was initially released as the Linux kernel in 1991, followed by its debut on the larger GNU operating system in 1992 with the release of version 0.01, which was an alpha release.
The Linux kernel has undergone continuous development since its inception. It is developed by volunteers and many of the best programmers in the world, who contribute their time and expertise to the project.
Get Acquainted with Microsoft OS – Windows
Windows operating system is the most used operating system in the world. Many people don’t know how to use it properly, so they face many problems while using it. They don’t know how to install Windows or how to configure Windows 10. So, they face all kinds of problems while using it and hence they can’t perform any task efficiently on their computer or laptop.
If you are familiar with Microsoft OS, Windows then you must be able to install and configure it easily and efficiently on your own computer/laptop without any help from anyone else. You should also be able to troubleshoot common errors occurring in Windows operating systems as well as its applications such as Microsoft Office Word/Excel and PowerPoint etc.
Learn Ethical Hacking from Scratch
In order to become an ethical hacker, you will need to be able to master the following skills. You will also need to learn about how hackers break into systems and their motivations. This will help you understand how important it is for you to have a deep understanding of ethics in this field.
- Learn how to identify vulnerabilities in IT systems
- Learn how to protect against malicious attacks on IT systems via penetration testing or black box testing (or both)
- Learn the tools used by hackers such as: Metasploit, Wireshark, Nmap and more
Conclusion
Ethical hacking is a field that is growing very fast and demands people who have knowledge about it. Ethical hackers are required to have a good understanding of the security measures used by the organizations, so that they can identify loopholes in them and help improve the security level of these organizations. To become an ethical hacker you can start by taking the ethical hacking course by Knowledgehut and advance your career in data security.
FAQs
- Who is eligible for taking an ethical hacking course?
The interested candidate should have passed the 12th grade or equivalent and secure 50% marks to be able to take the ethical hacking course. You must also possess a deep understanding of programming languages.
- How much is the pay for an ethical hacker?
The average salary for an ethical hacker ranges from Rs. 51,000. It can change depending on the experience and knowledge of programming languages.
- How much will it cost to learn ethical hacking?
For pursuing an ethical hacking course at a Bachelor’s level, it can cost between Rs.20,000 – 3,00,000. For a master’s level course, the amount can range from 50,000 to 4,50,000.