“I’m sure there are a couple of people in the world that can have that level of genius, but most hackers today tend to fall into two categories,” says Watkins. This doesn’t mean all hackers conform to the Hollywood stereotype of computer geniuses, holed up in secret lairs, and hell-bent on wreaking havoc with a couple of deft taps on a keyboard and the click of a mouse. “From a strategy standpoint, a good hacker is one that can think ahead of security measures and find ways to bypass something,” Watkins says. Watson says that’s very different than using a graphical application for the most part and it helps if you have the kind of mentality that can work with these things. “You need to know what you can do with data packets, and a lot of the tools, I’m going to call them root-level tools, are operated by text-based command lines which can be challenging.”
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“A lot of the tools, even from the criminal side of things, get down into the code and across the data-packet levels of computer technology,” says Watkins. “The security folks have to be successful all the time to prevent something from getting in.”Īccording to Watkins, a good (bad) hacker must be open-minded, be able to think out of the box, and be really systems oriented. “The saying on the cybersecurity side is the hackers only have to be successful once in getting in,” says Watkins. The odds seem to be on the side of the bad guys. “There may be some instances where the security folks have a leg-up because maybe they have implemented something new, but the hackers spend a lot of their time finding their way through security devices and systems.” “It’s always catch-up as far as I’m concerned, says Watkins. The bad news for IT security teams is the criminal elements involved in hacking are nearly always one step ahead of the good guys. “This is what we attempt to do in our roles as ethical hackers within the cybersecurity industry.” “I’m sure there is some quote from some military books about knowing your enemy and if you know your enemy’s tactics, then, of course, you can defend against them,” says Watkins. Watkins explains that ethical hackers defend corporate and government computer systems and networks by learning to think like “the bad guys,” adopting many of the same tools and techniques that criminal hackers use to launch their attacks. “I prefer the term ‘penetration testing’ - but the cybersecurity industry widely uses the term ‘ethical hacking’ to describe a function of IT security based on the perspective of the bad guys.”
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“I have a law enforcement background, so hacking in my world is always bad,” says Watkins.
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Professor Alan Watkins, who teaches cybersecurity classes at National University, isn’t very comfortable with the term “ethical hacking.” So, bearing in mind that hacking is generally considered a bad thing, what exactly is ethical hacking and is ethical hacking a good career choice for someone interested in cybersecurity?
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To the layperson, the world occupied by the hacker is a dark, frightening, and confusing place rife with criminality, corporate espionage, and even state-sponsored cyberattacks from rogue nations. The word “hacking” is generally associated with the criminal act of accessing computer systems or networks with the aim of stealing private data, disrupting a service, or extorting money from an individual or organization.