By: Gaurav Patankar
Introduction:
Ethical hacking in short means organization hires a certified person for hacking their own networks, systems and technologies to discover vulnerabilities and then create patches or security measures. This ensures that there will be no attack from outside which can cause data leakage, systems get compromised and so on. Hacking is ethical when the hackers are hired for particular tasks by permission of the System Owner. The ISMS (Information Security Management System) is used in companies where employees ensure that they have their information secured. They have many policies included in ISMS. The organizations take care of their Information Security by conducting ISMS audits internally or getting it done from vendors. The ISO 27001 stipulates the measures to take care of Cyber Security. Also, there is other certification named SOC. It contains two types – SOC1 and SOC2. SOC1 Certification is for finance system. SOC2 Certification is for Information Security Management System. The other requirement in today’s world is VAPT i.e. Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing.
Ethical Hacking:
Hacking was not a wrongdoing when genuine hacking was connected with contemplating programming dialects and PC frameworks with the expectation of making new developments. It shouldn’t be viewed as wrongdoing if it is lawful, approved, and adequate. To start with, hacking was viewed as a type of fiddling. It was a procedure that included making changes to something to create something new. Notwithstanding individuals’ observation and inspiration about hacking have changed throughout the years, at first, programmers were individuals who sought to find alternative solutions to problems on their PCs. These arrangements and exercises realized advancement and mechanical forward leaps. Programmers were liable for pretty much every development, innovation, and mechanical achievement. They were answerable for the development of PCs and even the World Wide Web.
These exercises don’t violate laws since genuine programmers’ line up with the code of behaviours and guidelines. The inspiration of programmers was basically about remodelling existing project codes and making them increasingly proficient. Thus, not all types of hacking are illicit. For example, you own a car, you have lost ignition key, you try to start the engine by inserting other keys or just pulling out switch wires and connecting them directly to start ignition. Here, intention is not of theft but of trying other solutions.
In simple words, when you are dealing with software and information of your own PC or with PC of other with his/her consent and approval to find new solutions or new gateways, it is ethical hacking. But if you are handling PC or website or devices without permission of the owner and trying unauthorized to extract information or to avail utilities of the system (like withdrawing money from ATM using clone card or hacking pin) it is a crime.
One could likewise compare some hacking procedures for downloading. The web has billions of clients getting to it routinely. There are billions of PCs and systems associated with the web. There is individual online access to a great many sites and a large number of programming.
Everybody online appears to be occupied with one type of downloading or the other. Some type of downloading has been considered as illicit yet that doesn’t imply that downloading ought to be viewed as a wrongdoing. Individuals everywhere throughout the world visit google.com consistently scanning for data. On the off chance that data gathering was wrongdoing, Google would not be in presence today.
Not all type of hacking is violations because not all cases are destructive. Moral hacking should not to be viewed as wrongdoing since it isn’t hostile. It is completed by moral programmers that don’t utilize their hacking aptitudes for damaging, hostile or destructive purposes. Or maybe they utilize it for cautious purposes like precautions taken by Government or Administration for prevention of crimes or for study of modus operandi of cybercrime. Such programmers are known as white caps. They are not quite the same as dark caps, green caps, blue caps, self-destruction programmers, and content youngsters who are occupied with vindictive assaults. Instead of utilizing their hacking mastery for underhand purposes, they use it to ensure frameworks and clients. They are proficient and moral programmers.
The red cap programmers utilize their hacking aptitudes for rendering consultancy and administration, for example, infiltration tests and weakness evaluations. They are like white cap programmers. They shut down the exercises of dark caps or malignant programmers. Ethical hacking ought not to be viewed as wrongdoing. Moreover moral hacking exercises do exclude unlawful procedures, for example, illicit benefit heightening, unapproved assaulting, illicit extraction of information and unapproved covering track.
Day by day increasing attacks on networks compels organization to make their network secured. They have to remain updated with network security and keep on checking whether network is secured from the attackers. The organizations get themselves ISO certified to ensure about security measures taken from their side are absolute as per norms.
Cyber Security:
Cyber security or information technology security are the techniques of protecting computers, networks, programs and data from unauthorized access or attacks that are aimed for exploitation.
The elements required for organization to ensure the Cyber Security are: [1]
- Application Security
- Information Security
- Disaster Recovery
- Network Security
- Endpoint Security
- Data Security
- Identity Management
- Database and Infrastructure Security
- Cloud Security
- Mobile Security
To ensure that all these elements are in order, the organizations need to get the systems certified from authorised bodies. They need to do compliance of their Information Security System. There are certifications as ISO 27001:2013, SOC1, SOC2 and other. Cyber Security is about ensuring CIA (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability) of information assets. SOC1 certification is mainly for financial domains and SOC2 certification covers security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality of the information and privacy of personal information.
These are common types of cyber threats:
- Malware
- Ransomware
- Phishing Attacks
- Social engineering
- Advance persistent threat
The pandemic hitting all over the world has evolved chances of occurring cyber threats over the internet to many organisations and individuals as well. These cyber threats include financial losses to company or individual, loss of information by malware or ransomware attacks, etc. People need to remain alert about phishing emails. They must keep their antivirus and machines updated with patches and need to take care about the threats turning up over the internet. Organisation must also ensure that their network is secured from cyber threats.
Application Security:
The application security means to check that applications are running in secured way as required. There are multiple weaknesses in application, viz. Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs), SQL injections, plain text authentications, etc. This is a vast subject and cannot be covered in brief.
Information Security:
Information security, sometimes abbreviated to infosec, is a set of practices intended to keep data secure from unauthorized access or alterations, both when it’s being stored and when it’s being transmitted from one machine or physical location to another. [2]
It works on three principles:
- Confidentiality
- Integrity
- Availability
The CIA is the main ingredient of Information Security. These are carried out in all the organisations. They have ISMS policies in role for covering the CIA. It helps organisation to be safe.
Disaster Recovery:
It is a process in which the organisation remains ready for any disaster taking place. Disaster can be any, viz. natural calamity, fire, cyber-attacks etc. The Disaster Recovery includes analysing risk assessment, establishing priorities and planning strategies to recover in case of any disaster.
Network Security:
The components for Network Security are:
- Antivirus
- Hardware and Software Firewall
- IPS (Intrusion Prevention System)
- VPN (Virtual Private networks)
These components keep the network secured and free from the cyber threats.
Cloud Security:
Cloud security is a set of control-based safeguards and technology protection designed to protect resources stored online from leakage, theft, or data loss. [3]
The main security risks in cloud are:
- Data leakage
- Unauthorized access
- Access rights and permissions
- Malicious attacks (DOS, DDoS or malware)
The key security strategies are:
- Encryption
- Identity and access management (IAM)
- Firewall
- Security Rules
- Backups
Conclusion:–
The complexity of internet world and ever expanding cyber threats make it compulsory for every organisation to be vigilant and proactive. There are very few personnel conversant with this branch of knowledge and skills. Hence, this field also can be attractive option for the persons seeking challenging employment or freelance profession. The above discussion and information makes it clear that in the modern world scenario no organisation can do without Ethical Hacking and Cyber Security.
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Resources:–
- https://digitalguardian.com/
- https://www.csoonline.com/
- https://phoenixnap.com/