As businesses started moving to online platforms for data storage, operations, and even sales, there is an increased concern about security. The intruders are always looking for a vulnerable network where they can peek in and turn their data theft intentions into a success. So, to safeguard the network, the companies require network security experts. No company would be able to make the most of the technical advancements without the help of security experts.
So, if you are interested in building a career in cyber security or ethical hacking, you are in for a treat! In this article, you get the ethical hacking roadmap, from knowing everything about this field to taking the certification course and finally starting your professional hacking journey.
What is Ethical Hacking?
When we hear the word hacking, the first thing that strikes our mind is data threats or frauds. However, the term 'ethical' changes the entire perception. It makes it the technology niche that allows you to assess a network that belongs to someone else but with permissions. You have all the permissions to peek into the networks, provided it is for the right cause.
There are special permissions that defence organizations get to intrude into the foreign network to identify any potential troubles. Similarly, the ethical hackers working in the IT department are also allowed to do ethical hacking to protect their networks from intruder attacks. Professionals working in the cyber security field often join the certified Ethical Hacker training program to scale professionally and grab the best job opportunities. The salary packages you can get if you have expertise in the field are attractive, and the increasing demand will ensure that your entire future gets secured.
The fundamentals of ethical hacking are as follows:
- First, you should take legal permissions before accessing a private network for any purpose.
- Keep clarity about the work scope, ensuring everything stays within the legal limits, and neither the hacker nor the company gets into any legal trouble.
- Identify the vulnerabilities in a network and report them to the concerned authorities with the remedial options.
- If you see any data sensitivity in the network, report it to the concerned organizations. Furthermore, an expert ethical hacker will also have to stay within the contract rules or non-disclosure agreement.
Why Do You Want to be an Ethical Hacker?
The ethical hacking field is fascinating, but there are many other reasons behind taking it up as a career. Different people may have varied reasons for joining the ethical hacking niche. Some may choose it for the attractive salary packages, while others may like this job's challenges. Before discussing the roadmap for ethical hacking, let us discuss the reasons to build a career in this niche.
Growing Opportunities
Regardless of the niche, every organization plans to switch to cloud networks. While some have already started working on the cloud, others will join the wagon. So, you can expect a sudden spike in the job opportunities in this industry. If you have the expertise level required by the organizations, you will never see a lack of options.
Attractive Salary
It is a high-paying profession where you can expect to get around 10 LPA at the beginning itself. As you gain more expertise and get hands-on experience in the field, your salary will keep growing. Furthermore, if you find a job in the defence sector or other public or government organizations, expect to get countless additional perks.
Challenging Industry
There will be new projects and challenges each day, so you will never feel bored or experience monotony at work! In addition, technology changes every day, so you will always have to be on your toes to keep up with the changing trends and deliver the best results. So, if you wish to be active and face new challenges each day, hacking is an ideal option.
Job Security
This industry will only see a rise in demand in the coming years, so choosing ethical hacking can secure your career. Companies will never stop using online networks for improved performance, and they will always need security professionals to help them keep the network safe.
There are countless other reasons to join ethical hacking as a career. All you need to do is take up a professional certification course and gain expertise in the field to deliver the best results to every organization. Moreover, as technology and its features are ever-changing, you should stay updated with the latest trends and keep up with the changing dynamics to prove your worth.
What is the Attraction of an Ethical Hacking Career?
Ethical hacking is a fascinating career that people with having technical background usually choose. The field is challenging with new projects and tightly secured networks to crack. So, it will be a new challenge every day that will keep your interest in the work alive. There will never be a dull moment or monotony. Moreover, if you work for the best organization, you will get additional perks along with an attractive salary.
Another highlight of the ethical hacking career is job security. The demand for cyber security and secure network is high, and it will keep increasing in the coming years. So, if you join the field, you can rest assured that your job and career are secured.
How to Become an Ethical Hacker: About CEH Exam
Now you know all about the ethical hacking industry. Let us discuss the roadmap to becoming an ethical hacker. You need to be from a technical background to be eligible to become a hacker. There is also a dedicated exam for becoming a certified ethical hacker, which every professional must clear before beginning their career in the field.
CEH is an industry-grade certification that trains professionals to practice ethical hacking. It makes the professionals aware of hacker attacks and security vulnerabilities of the network and teaches the latest techniques to protect the network from attacks. The course and the exam version keep updating from time to time as technology is ever-changing. So, to stay in the game, the experts must learn the latest ways. Therefore, if you have plans to become an ethical hacker, it is essential to give this exam and the certification.
You can join different online cyber security courses with certificates to learn the concepts and qualify to start a professional journey. You will get access to the best study material and training from qualified professionals, and once you have the certificate, you can grab the best opportunities.
Objective of CEH
CEH stands for Certified Ethical Hacking. It is an exam that professionals take to learn the ethical hacking practices. The exam aims to train the professionals, and the hiring organizations consider it a qualifying mark before appointing the hackers. The fundamental objectives of CEH are:
- Establish the standards for information security and credentialing the professionals working in this field.
- Reinforcing ethical hacking as a unique profession in the information security field.
- Train the professionals to tackle all kinds of cyber security threats and work under the ethical standards set by the EC council.
Exam Overview
It is the most trusted industry-grade exam which every professional working in the field takes up. There are multiple-choice questions that you will have to answer. All questions are related to ethical hacking techniques, security vulnerabilities, and the cyber security field. If you have taken the course classes seriously, you will not find it challenging to clear them. Some of the features of the CEH exam are as follows:
- There are 125 questions in total, and to qualify for the exam, you would have to answer at least 70 percent right.
- The total time duration for the exam is 4 hours.
- You can apply for the exam through an online web portal, and if you pass it, you become a certified professional.
- If you fail to clear the exam on your first attempt, you can go for the retakes. All you need to do is, send an email to the e-council manager with the scanned copy of your previous score and pay the exam fee again.
- You must maintain the certification by renewing it every three years. It is possible by earning 120 EC council continued education credits.
It is the basic information about the CEH exam. Anyone planning to sit for it should have this information and know about the eligibility criteria.
Eligibility Criteria for CEH
You need to qualify the eligibility criteria to be able to take up this exam, no matter how fascinated you are with this field. There are two ways to get the certification, one with training and another without any formal course. The eligibility criteria for both these ways are as follows.
With Training
In this, you need to attend the official training program approved by the EC council training partners. If you are a professional already working in the cyber security industry, you can go for online classes. There are training programs where you get to choose the time as per your convenience and start your journey towards becoming a certified ethical hacker. Once you take the professional training, you become eligible to sit for the CEH exam.
Without Training
If you need the voucher to sit for the CEH exam, you should enrol for the approved training course. You need a minimum of two years of experience in the field of information security. Moreover, you would have to apply for the exam by paying the exam fee and proving your eligibility. Once you complete the application process, you get the voucher with which you become eligible to sit for the exam. There are many certified courses like the KnowledgeHut certified Ethical Hacker training. You can choose the one that will be right for you and prepare to qualify for the certification exam.
Role of an Ethical Hacker
An ethical hacker is a cyber security professional who has permission to breach the security systems. They keep a close watch on the online network, ensuring no intruders ever get the chance to harm the data or operations. Additionally, they also have the right to intrude into other networks with an intention to identify and fail their attempts to affect them. The perfect example of this is a defence organization. They hire professionals to encode the planning of other organizations and stay prepared for it. Listed below are the roles and responsibilities of an ethical hacker for a better understanding.
- Scanning the network thoroughly to identify any vulnerability that can give intruders a chance to enter the confidential area.
- Prepare a strong, protective layer around the network to fail every cyber attack attempt.
- Engaging in social engineering methodologies and using the right ones in the organizational network.
- Legally access the foreign networks to collect the required information to create effective cyber security plans.
There are many other responsibilities or job roles that an ethical hacker can get. However, the job is to work around the network security world. If all of this seems like an attractive career option to you, refer to this roadmap to ethical hacking and stay prepared to grab the best job opportunities.
Skills Required
Ethical hacking is a field of Information Technology, so it goes without saying that you need to be from a technical background to become a certified ethical hacker. Other skills required for it are:
Basic Computer Skills
You need the fundamental computer skills to start the journey. These skills include OS, file management, database storage, MS office, emails, and social media management, and the list is never-ending. In addition, you require familiarity with all the computer operations so that you do not feel like a stranger when you start working on the machine.
Computer Networks
Networking skills are mandatory for an ethical hacker. You need to have a thorough knowledge of networks like DHCP, subnetting, host connections, and managing the interconnection of different computers on a single network. So, it is helpful if you have a networking background.
Coding Skills
An ethical hacker should have programming skills and a deeper understanding of at least one programming language. Some of the languages that prove significant and helpful for hackers include SQL, Python, C-Programming, JavaScript, Ruby, PHP, and a few more. Moreover, there are tool packages that an aspiring hacker looking for an ethical hacking roadmap on GitHub can use to gain coding expertise.
Hardware Knowledge
It is better to understand the hardware well to ensure perfect network connections. In addition, you should know about different parts of your machine and how you can use them in the network setup or security operations. Though you will learn all this during the training program, it is great to have prior knowledge.
Database Management
One of the prime reasons for network switches is proper database management. Hence, the skill that you need to learn is database organization and storage. So, sharpen your DBMS skills and be ready to manage the data, keeping it safe from intruder attacks.
Problem Solving Skill
The security challenges are intense, and if you do not have the problem-solving skills, you may not be able to create your own mark in the industry. So, work on your problem-solving skill, and you will see yourself grow in the field well.
These are the fundamental skills that every aspirant planning to become a qualified hacker should possess. If you lack these skills, you should start preparing for them and gain the expertise level to ensure efficiency in your work. Understand that you get the best opportunities only when you have the required skill and qualifications.
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Benefits of Ethical Hacking
Ethical hacking is a much in-demand and highly-interesting field of IT that benefits individuals and organizations alike. The companies get qualified professionals to deal with the security requirements, and the individuals get attractive salary packages and job security. Some of the benefits of ethical hacking are:
- It helps keep the data and the network secured and safe from intruder attacks.
- You can identify the probable risks well on time and prepare your network to avoid the risks.
- Prepare an effective network strategy to help organizations make a smoother transition to the cloud networks.
- A professional opting for the ethical hacking profession gets job security for a lifetime as this IT field will expectedly grow in the coming future.
- A qualified expert can expect to get attractive salary packages in this profession.
There are countless other benefits that ethical hacking offers. However, you only ripe all these perks if you are a qualified professional or have hired the best hacker with proven expertise.
Conclusion
There are countless training programs and endless opportunities in the cyber or network security field. The only thing required is a person with proven expertise. So, if you think you have what it takes to be an excellent hacker, CEH is your calling.
We have covered the detailed ethical hacking road map that aims at clearing every doubt and confusion around becoming a certified ethical hacker. You can start by joining a professional training program, learn the skills that an ethical hacker requires, and apply for the exam. Give your best, and once you qualify for the exam, there is no looking back! After that, you would only have to keep working on the projects and update your certification every three years to ensure you are well-versed with changing technology trends.
