Top 12 Ethical Hacking Techniques in 2025

The development of technology can be seen everywhere. No one can deny that technology is growing at a fast rate. However, as there is advancement in technology, technical issues exist. Ethical Hacking is used to preventing threats from unknown sources. There are various types of ethical hacking techniques. One can learn ethical tools and techniques through various online and offline courses. The tools are provided to ensure the security of sensitive information in the network and system.

Ethical Hacking - An Understanding 

Ethical hacking implies a hacking system that depends on ethical or moral values without any wrong intent. Any form of hacking authorized by the target system owner is known as ethical hacking. It is the process of adapting active security measures to defend systems from hackers with foul intentions regarding data privacy. 

Ethical hacking techniques provide security measures a system applies to look for vulnerabilities, breaches, and potential threats to the data. An ethical hacker hacks the system they have targeted before any hacker. For this reason, security patches are applied. This effectively eliminates and reduces the chances for the attacker to execute the hack.

Using ethical hacking tools and techniques PDF, a hacker can surpass the threats by searching for the weak points in the system. These tools can be used to secure the data and systems of the user. They provide security and protection. There are different types of ethical hacking methods. Some of them are as follows 

1. Black-hat hackers 
2. White-hat hackers 
3. Grey-hat hackers 
4. Miscellaneous hackers

White hat checkers are ethical hackers, whereas black hat hackers are called unauthorized hackers or crackers. They use various techniques and methods to protect and disrupt security systems. One can gather as much data as possible about targeted systems and networks through footprinting techniques and Ethical Hacking.

The package for a newbie depends on skill and knowledge. An experienced hacker can earn a good income. There is a huge demand for Ethical Hacking in the market, and it is growing popular. If someone wants to excel in this field, they can choose Ethical Hacking training online.

Top Ethical Hacking Techniques  

Ethical hacking has the potential to test, scan, and secure systems and data. Ethical hacking techniques can be learnt using an ethical hacking PDF and some of the techniques are listed below.

1. Phishing 

Phishing is a cyber-security attack where a hacker sends messages pretending to be a trusted person. These types of messages manipulate a user causing them to perform actions like installing a malicious file and clicking a malicious link.

A phisher uses public resources to collect information about the personal and work experience of the victim. They then use this information to create a reliable fake message.

2. Sniffing 

Sniffing is the process of keeping track and capturing all the packets passing through a given network. This is done using some sniffing tools. It is also known as wiretapping as it is in the form of tapping phone wires and can get to know about the conversation.

A sniffer turns the NIC of the system to promiscuous mode. 

3. Social Engineering

Social engineering is used to convince people to reveal their confidential information. The attacker deceives the people by taking advantage of their trust and lack of knowledge. There are three types of social engineering - human-based, mobile-based, and computer-based. 

Due to loose security policies and the absence of hardware or software tools to prevent it, it is difficult to detect a social engineering attack.

4. Footprinting 

In this footprinting ethical hacking technique, the hacker gathers as much data as possible about a specific targeted system and infrastructure to recognize opportunities to penetrate them. 

The hacker might use various tools and technologies to get information to crack a whole system.

5. SQL injection 

SQL injection is an attack in which the attacker sends a SQL query, a statement, to a database server that modifies it as required. An SQL injection happens when the user input is improperly sanitized before using it in an SQL query.

SQL allows securing a response from the database. It will help the hacker understand the construction of the database, as the table names.

6. Enumeration 

Enumeration also means information gathering. In this process, the attacker creates a connection with the victim to find as many attack vectors which are used to exploit the system in the future.

A hacker needs to establish an active connection with the target host. First, the vulnerabilities are counted and assessed. Then, it is done to search for attacks and threats to target the system. This is used to collect the username, hostnames, passwords, and IP addresses.

7. Penetration Testing

A penetration test, also known as a pen test, is an authorized attack designed to identify exploitable vulnerabilities in a computer system and evaluate its security. Penetration testers use various tools and techniques to demonstrate the system's weaknesses. This test is conducted to determine if the system is robust enough to withstand attacks from unknown sources.

8. Network scanning

Network scanning involves identifying active hosts, open ports, and other vital information within a network. This process helps in assessing network security, detecting vulnerabilities, and maintaining network health and performance. Most network scanning is used to monitor and manage networks. Various tools, including open-source tools and commercial network scanning products, are used for this purpose.

9. Vulnerability Assessment

Vulnerability Assessment testing process is used to identify and assign severity levels to as many security defects as possible, involving both automated and manual techniques. It evaluates a system, assigns severity levels to identified vulnerabilities, and recommends remediation or mitigation. Attacks such as Cross-site Scripting (XSS) and SQL injection can significantly impact systems.

10. Password cracking

Password cracking is the process of recovering passwords using various techniques such as dictionary attacks, brute force attacks, and rainbow table attacks. It involves identifying a password or passphrase by trying different combinations of characters until the correct one is found, thereby gaining unauthorized access. This method enables hackers to access sensitive data, financial information, or personal accounts.

11. Cross site Scripting

These are types of injections where malicious scripts are embedded into trusted applications or websites. XSS attacks typically occur when an attacker sends a malicious link to a web page frequently visited by the user. Vulnerable platforms that commonly experience cross-site scripting attacks include forums, message boards, and web pages.

12. Denial of Service

A Denial of Service (DoS) attack is designed to shut down a machine or network, rendering it inaccessible to its intended users. This type of attack is executed by flooding the target with traffic or sending information that triggers a crash. High-profile organizations, such as banks, government agencies, and trade organizations, are often targeted by DoS attacks.

Tools to Execute Your Perfect Ethical Hacking Techniques

There are a lot of ethical hacking tools available for user convenience to execute ethical hacking techniques. In addition, ethical hacking tools help in security investigations.

1. Ettercap

ettercap-project

Ettercap includes the features of host and network analysis. In addition, Ettercap has got the capability of sniffing an SSH connection. It allows you to create custom plugins using API. Also, it will enable you to inject some characters into the server or the client's network. Ettercap supports a detailed analysis of the action along with passive protocols.

One can apply for a cyber security certificate program online to learn effective security management and control.

2. Netsparker

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Netsparker is the latest web application scanner for security that automatically detects vulnerabilities in web applications. It is available in the form of a SAAS solution. The Netsparker detects dead vulnerabilities using the latest scanning technology. The tool requires less configuration. It can scan more than 1000 web applications in a short time.

3. Burp Suite

LinkedIn

Burp Suite is one of the ethical hacking tools which helps in security tests. This feature is handy for testing web applications. It includes a wide range of tools that help in the testing process.

The Burp Suite tool can detect the spam of around 2000 web applications. It can also scan open-source software applications. They are used to detect bugs and malware accurately with the help of advanced scanning tools.

4. John the Ripper

John the Ripper is one of the most popular password-cracking tools. The tool is used to test the strength of the password. Brute force technology is used by this tool to hack passwords. This tool can auto-detect the encryption type of password. This feature makes it the best among all other password hacking tools.

Algorithms such as MD4, LDAP, DES, and Hash LM are used by this tool.

5. Nmap 

Nmap is an open-source security tool. This tool is mainly used to manage and audit network and system security. Usually, Information Security professionals use this tool to find malware, network audits, network mapping, and more for local and remote hosts. 

6. Wireshark

Medium

Wire shark is used to analyze network traffic in real time. The technology used is sniffing. This tool is open-source for ethical hacking. Different features like power GUI and packet browser are included, resulting in other formats. In addition, the tool supports various types of protocols.

It is available for different OS like Windows, Mac, etc.

7. OpenVAS

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OpenVAS is used for detecting vulnerabilities on different hosts. It is one of the open-source network scanners. Different features like a web-based interface, scheduled scans, and multiple hosts scanning at a time are included in this tool. In addition, the OpenVas is integrated with Nagios monitoring software.

8. Angry IP scanner 

The Angry IP scanner does not require any installation. The tool scans local as well as web networks. Angry IP is provided with the best scanning techniques. The tool is open-source and free, which supports different platforms.

The tool helps hackers with exclusive support.

9. Iron was

The Iron tool is helpful for web application malware testing. It is open-source and free. In addition, the tool is an easy-to-use GUI-based tool. Programming languages like Python and Ruby are supported by it. Reporting in different formats like HTML and RTF are provided by this tool.

Nearly 30 web applications can be checked by this tool.

10. Acunetix

Acunetix

Acunetix tool is a fully automatic hacking tool. This tool stays ahead of any intruders. Complex issues related to the web and network are audited in the tool. Various features include scanning different variants like SQL injection, XSS, etc. They are available on premises as well as on cloud platforms.

Types Of Ethical Hacking

Below is the list of different types of Ethical Hacking.

1. Web application hacking

Web application hacking exploits applications through Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) by manipulating the application through its graphical web interfaces. This tampers the Uniform Resource Identifier or exploits HTTP elements. The methods used to hack the web application are SQL injection attacks, Cross-site Scripting, Insecure Communications, etc.

2. Social engineering 

Social engineering is used to convince people to reveal their confidential information. The attacker deceives the people by taking advantage of their trust and lack of knowledge. There are three types of social engineering - human-based, mobile-based, and computer-based. Due to loosening security policies and the absence of hardware or software tools to prevent it, it is difficult to detect a social engineering attack.

3. System hacking 

System hacking is the sacrifice of computer software to access the targeted computer to steal their sensitive data. The hacker takes advantage of the weaknesses in a computer system to get the information and data and takes unfair advantage. System hacking aims to gain access, escalate privileges, and hide files.

4. Hacking wireless networks

Wireless hacking attacks wireless networks or access points that offer confidential information such as authentication attacks, admin portal access, WiFi password, and other similar data. It is performed to gain access to a private WiFi network.

5. Web server hacking 

Web content is generated as a software application on the server side in real time. This allows the hackers to attack the webserver to steal private information, data, passwords, and business information by using DoS attacks, port scans, SYN flood, and Sniffing. Hackers hack web servers to gain financial gain from theft, sabotage, blackmail, extortion, etc.

How Much Does an Ethical Hacker Earn?

A certified ethical hacker earns $71,000 on average globally. The average salary ranges somewhere from $ 24000 to $ 100,000. The salary also depends on the skills and experience. A hacker practicing Ethical Hacking from scratch to advanced technique gets a raise in salary. 

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Conclusion  

The above article discusses the idea, types, and techniques needed for ethical hacking. Many ethical hackers are available nowadays. Therefore, the demand for ethical hackers is on the rise.

Many government organizations also need ethical hackers. As hacking techniques are increasing, there remains a serious issue of threat. Sensitive issues and data can get lost; therefore, all these require strong protection.

The field of ethical hacking is in demand, and anyone interested in hacking should join it. One can join an ethical hacking online training program to excel in this field and enhance knowledge and growth in their career. KnowledgeHut’s Ethical Hacking training online program provides an interactive and hands-on learning environment.