Removing Every Doubt: Undergoing Ethical Hacking

So what actually is Ethical Hacking?

While ethical hacking can sometimes garner a reputation as an individual rogue hacker, this form of cyber security is a great tool when it comes to assessing your systems through your hacker’s eyes.  Otherwise known as penetration testing, ethical hacking takes place when an information security expert systematically attempts to penetrate your computer system, network, infrastructure or other computer resources in order to seek out vulnerabilities in your systems, which malicious ransomware or cyber attackers could potentially exploit. Demonstrating methods used by cybercriminals, and exposing weaknesses in your infrastructure, ethical hacking explores every possibility, making sure your systems are as impenetrable as possible. In this way, ethical hacking can help you prevent a data breach from happening in the first place, as well as dealing with the repercussions if a cyber attack was to strike.

Interested in finding out more about our very own PEN testing model? Take a look at the CIS:Cybotfor security that never lets your systems go unguarded.

What’s the process?

There are many ways in which data security experts can carry out ethical hacking. Techniques include scanning open ports in your infrastructure to search for vulnerabilities, performing network traffic analysis, attempting to move past your intrusion detection and prevention systems and even making use of social engineering. The biggest ransomware threat to your business comes from employees unwittingly opening phishing emails; by testing every possible route cyber-criminals could go through in order to manipulate your systems, ethical hacking experts make sure you and your team are as prepared as possible for an attack.

The Benefits

• Understanding your attackers: Knowledge of the hackers’ methods

Tapping into your hacker’s mindset is crucial to understanding what their next move might be. Perhaps the most obvious benefit of this form of network security, ethical hacking can help your business learn how to spot the signs of a potential data breach, making it much easier in the future to prevent cyber attacks from taking place. Stepping away from your business allows you to see your infrastructure through your hacker’s eyes; in this way, ethical hacking can open up new possibilities in your entire network security strategy.

• Patching every gap: Identifying vulnerabilities in your infrastructure

Once ethical hacking has flagged up the weaknesses within your infrastructure, you can take steps to fix up any potential holes in your systems. Carrying out regular assessments through ethical hacking makes sure you and your team can be safe in the knowledge that you’re constantly protected from damaging threats, with systems that stop any type of ransomware breaking through. This has the additional benefit of giving you a heads up about the state of your systems; while regular checks are taking place, you’ll have the peace of mind that your security solutions are always best placed to alert you to potential threats.

• Constantly aware : Preparing yourself for a cyber attack

You probably know how important it is to secure your systems against potential cyber threats, but did you know that the average cost of a malware attack on your company is £2.4 million? Taking steps to ensure your infrastructure is protected from threats is not only crucial for maintaining GDPR compliance, it will drastically reduce the potential expenditure your business will face if you’re struck by a data breach. That’s where ethical hacking comes in; working with security professionals will make sure you’re best equipped to deal with a cyber attack, giving you the tools and knowledge you need to spot the warning signs.

Looking to implement ethical hacking within your own business’s IT systems? Alongside the most impenetrable security solutions, our knowledgeable team will scope out every potential threat to your infrastructure. Take a look at our security pages to find out more about methods like ethical hacking that will prevent the cyber attackers from getting their hands on your data.