上QQ阅读APP看书，第一时间看更新

Penetration testing

Sometimes during an interview, the management team may ask the interviewee, Why would we hire a hacker? Management, at times, thinks a person with the skillset of a hacker will be a huge security risk, which is accurate. However, another question arises: why wouldn't they hire a hacker? A person who has the skillset of the hacker and the mindset of a good individual can use their knowledge to help prevent both internal and external security threats and discover any hidden flaws within the organization’s systems and network infrastructure.

An ethical hacker, or a white hat hacker, is often someone who uses their information-security expertise and the ability to penetrate an organization’s system and network. The ethical hacker, or penetration tester, identifies hidden vulnerabilities and simulates real-world attacks to test an organization's security systems and mitigation controls. However, an ethical hacker/penetration tester must obtain legal permission from the client and necessary authorities before preceding with any sort of security testing.

White hat hackers, ethical hackers, and penetration testers are the same; the terms are used interchangeably.

Why would someone conduct a penetration test on a network or system? Many organizations think their network and assets as safe from the bad guys (hackers) but in reality, they are not. As the former Executive Chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems once said: "There are two types of companies: those that have been hacked, and those who don't know they have been hacked." Often, many organizations are not aware of a security breach on their network and the time of detection is usually months after the attack. By this time, the attackers probably were able to steal a lot of data, create new backdoors, and plant advanced persistent threats (APTs) in the company.

To beat a hacker at their game, you must think like one. This is where the role of a penetration tester comes in. The penetration tester would discover regular and hidden vulnerabilities that may be missed by the in-house security team and conduct simulated real-world attacks on the organization’s system and network to exploit any vulnerabilities found. Finding the flaws and weaknesses before a malicious hacker can give the organization the upper hand in implementing preventative and mitigation techniques and controls on the networks, which reduces the attack surface of the organization.