Cybersecurity is a hot topic right now and many businesses around the world are waking up to the fact that they must lock down their systems and ensure that they are not hacked. It is for this reason that my good friend and cybersecurity expert Bharat Bhise HNA has been doing a roaring trade with his security business, and especially the ethical hackers who work for him. Bharat saw this opportunity many years ago and since the hacks of Visa and Sony Playstation, his client list has been growing and growing. So what are ethical hackers, what do they do and why do businesses require their services? Let’s take a look.
What is an Ethical Hacker?
Simply put an ethical hacker is someone who knows their way around computer systems very well and knows exactly how to try and break in to them. They are hired by businesses to try and break into their systems. Think of an ethical hacker like a robber who you pay to see if they are able to get past your alarm system.
What do They Do?
Quite simply an ethical hacker will be hired once a company has put its new cybersecurity in place, or by a company who are designing the cybersecurity software. The hacker will then be tasked with posing as a criminal and trying to breach their system or systems. If an ethical hacker is able to get past the system then it the software must be changed, to ensure that no more holes in the software or network exist.
Why Do Businesses Need This Service?
The consequences that a cyberattack can have on a business are enormous and highly devastating. Should a business fall victim to a hack it could have huge amounts of data stolen which include personal information about customers and staff, business secrets and financial accounts. As if this wasn’t enough the secondary issues are that the reputation of a business is destroyed and nobody wants to trust them, not to mention the loss of money in fixing the issue and the impact of lost days on the business as the computer systems are offline.
Businesses will use the services of an ethical hacker to make sure that their security is water tight and to massively minimize the risk of a real hack. It is for this reason that ethical hackers must be very highly skilled as they need to offer the same abilities as those of a criminal hacker. It is far better for a business to realize that there are holes in their system before there is an attack, than discovering after all of their data has been stolen.
Ethical hackers come from a wide range of backgrounds and sometimes they are ex criminals who have decided to use their abilities to do some good, rather than for nefarious intentions. Thanks to these men and women, businesses can be sure that their security systems are up to scratch.
