Ethical hacking is a process that seeks to identify any vulnerabilities in hardware, software and networks. An ethical hacker, also known as a white hat hacker is a cybersecurity expert who can legally hack into their client’s systems to reveal any flaws or gaps in the security infrastructure and suggest ways to solve them.
The five phases of ethical hacking
While ethical hacking is a mindset thing, there are also special tools required and used for it. Still, below are the common phases of ethical hacking:
- Reconnaissance: Here, the hacker collects information about the target.
- Scanning: This phase involves analyzing data and choosing a suitable method for the hack.
- Gaining access: Here, the attack is launched and usually gains access to the client’s system.
- Maintaining access: This phase involves setting up continued access to the client’s system for future purposes without the client’s knowledge.
- Covering tracks: The hacker will now try to erase any traces of them ever hacking the system to throw off law enforcement that may be looking.
