Ethical hackers perform lawful and comprehensive scans of a company’s information infrastructure. They can choose from various jobs in ethical hacking, including penetration testing, incident response, computer forensics, and security analysis. Penetration testing involves finding vulnerabilities in a company’s systems, while incident response deals with responding to security breaches. Information security analysts and engineers are responsible for protecting a company’s data and finding solutions to security threats.
An ethical hacker usually holds the CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker) certification from the International Council of Electronic Commerce Consultants (EC-Council) and performs lawful and comprehensive scans of a company’s information infrastructure. Professionals with the title can choose from one of many jobs in ethical hacking, including penetration testing, incident response, computer forensics, and security analysis. Ethical hackers often start out as penetration testers and move up to a senior role as an information security analyst or engineer. While penetration testers and incident response professionals have specific tasks, those with more advanced tasks in ethical hacking often perform a wide range of tasks.
Penetration testing is one of the most common basic jobs in ethical hacking and involves performing various scans on network devices, databases, software, computers and servers. The process starts with obtaining permission to test a company’s systems, and the goal of the process is to find any vulnerabilities that could result in harm if a hacker exploits them. A penetration tester maps the company’s network and attempts to gain access to the company’s network devices, including switches, routers, and firewalls, as well as individual workstations and servers. It may also try to break into web applications or databases. The tester reports all findings in a comprehensive report and suggests solutions for discovered vulnerabilities.
An incidence response job is another career option for an ethical hacker and deals with responding to security breaches. Members of this area work to create an incident response plan that provides details for preparing for, identifying, containing, eradicating, and recovering from attacks and other security breaches. Incident responders must stay current with the latest threats, analyze what effect those threats have on an organization, and find a way to prevent as much damage as possible if a breach occurs. They use the information gathered from past incidents to help prevent future incidents and find new ways to deal with similar incidents in the future. Incident response professionals can also perform forensic analysis to gather information from attacks that resulted in a crime.
Ethical hacking jobs also include information security analyst and engineer, both roles with a wide range of roles. These professionals are responsible for protecting a company’s data, configuring security devices, creating security plans, performing risk audits, finding solutions to security threats, monitoring the network and analyzing application code. An information security analyst plays a senior role in the organization and typically has several years of experience in penetration testing, incident response, and general security.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
