Consider this. Eminent IT companies and banks are employing hackers to ensure network security. Sounds incredible? Well, it’s true. These hackers carry the tag of being "ethical" from the police. To test a security system, ethical hackers use the same methods as their ‘less-principled’ counterparts. The only difference is that instead of taking advantage, they highlight the problem areas.
Ethical hacking, also called intrusion or penetration testing, is a concept fast catching up, considering the increasing instances of cyber crime worldwide. In India alone, around 2,000 cases of cyber crime have surfaced in the past one year.
An ethical hacker is sometimes called a "white hat," a term that comes from old Western movies, where the "good guy" wore a white hat and the baddie wore a black hat.
Explaining the job, Ashish Pathak, director of Eta Net Serve, a security company in the city points out, that an ethical hacker is a computer expert, certified and trained to find out the vulnerability of networks. He enters into a legal contract with a company and "hacks" into a security system with the permission of his employers. He seeks vulnerabilities in the server that a black or illegal hacker could exploit. He then submits a report on what is to be done to make the security of the company foolproof. All tests and reports are kept confidential.
"India is a major outsourcing hub now and data of many foreign clients are entrusted with IT companies. Ethical hackers ensure network security of IT companies. Companies like Wipro, Delloite, Satyam, TCS, and IBM are reportedly employing ethical hackers, who show the companies how their database can be hacked. These ethical hackers or security analysts undergo a class module and take an online test. After verifying the background of the hackers, police certifies them," informs Mr Ashish, whose company is also coming up with India’s first network security magazine Hackin9.
Gowtam N., a certified ethical hacker, says that not only do they check internal servers for vulnerability, but also conduct penetration testing without being present on the spot to track whether a particular computer is being hacked. They also help in de-bugging networks and even assist police to trace Internet Protocol address.
"Some time ago, a woman had run away from her house. She used to keep in touch with her parents only through email. The cyber police took our assistance to trace her location. The cyber café from where she used to send emails was traced and she was brought back home," says Gowtam about the breadth of their works.
From tracking fugitives to checking online frauds, ethical hackers are in demand everywhere. Says V. Dinkar, who works as a project analyst at a multinational organization in the city, which makes use of services of ethical hackers, "Recently, at a nationalized bank near Begumpet airport, a clerk, who had some knowledge of IT, hacked into the passwords and transferred money from different accounts into his own. Had the bank employed ethical hackers, they could have kept a tab on intruders in their networks."
Such instances show how essential it is for online transaction companies, banks, BPOs and IT companies to beef up network security by taking help from ethical hackers, concludes Dinkar.
Ethical hacking, also called intrusion or penetration testing, is a concept fast catching up, considering the increasing instances of cyber crime worldwide. In India alone, around 2,000 cases of cyber crime have surfaced in the past one year.
An ethical hacker is sometimes called a "white hat," a term that comes from old Western movies, where the "good guy" wore a white hat and the baddie wore a black hat.
Explaining the job, Ashish Pathak, director of Eta Net Serve, a security company in the city points out, that an ethical hacker is a computer expert, certified and trained to find out the vulnerability of networks. He enters into a legal contract with a company and "hacks" into a security system with the permission of his employers. He seeks vulnerabilities in the server that a black or illegal hacker could exploit. He then submits a report on what is to be done to make the security of the company foolproof. All tests and reports are kept confidential.
"India is a major outsourcing hub now and data of many foreign clients are entrusted with IT companies. Ethical hackers ensure network security of IT companies. Companies like Wipro, Delloite, Satyam, TCS, and IBM are reportedly employing ethical hackers, who show the companies how their database can be hacked. These ethical hackers or security analysts undergo a class module and take an online test. After verifying the background of the hackers, police certifies them," informs Mr Ashish, whose company is also coming up with India’s first network security magazine Hackin9.
Gowtam N., a certified ethical hacker, says that not only do they check internal servers for vulnerability, but also conduct penetration testing without being present on the spot to track whether a particular computer is being hacked. They also help in de-bugging networks and even assist police to trace Internet Protocol address.
"Some time ago, a woman had run away from her house. She used to keep in touch with her parents only through email. The cyber police took our assistance to trace her location. The cyber café from where she used to send emails was traced and she was brought back home," says Gowtam about the breadth of their works.
From tracking fugitives to checking online frauds, ethical hackers are in demand everywhere. Says V. Dinkar, who works as a project analyst at a multinational organization in the city, which makes use of services of ethical hackers, "Recently, at a nationalized bank near Begumpet airport, a clerk, who had some knowledge of IT, hacked into the passwords and transferred money from different accounts into his own. Had the bank employed ethical hackers, they could have kept a tab on intruders in their networks."
Such instances show how essential it is for online transaction companies, banks, BPOs and IT companies to beef up network security by taking help from ethical hackers, concludes Dinkar.
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