CAREER GUIDE Hack For Good: Ethical Hacking By — Nitya Sai Saumya Recently, 21 websites, including a budget website that belongs to the government of Andhra Pradesh were hacked by a team of hackers.This incident gained attention because the websites belonged to the government. Everyday, somewhere in the world, the security of some website, network or email account is at stake. It may belong to a government organisation, bank, IT company, telecom company or an individual. Such incidents lead to serious deliberation on the safety of our networks in the cyber world. A well accepted solution to this challenge is to apply ‘ethical hacking,’ to increase the safety ofnetworks. Ethical hacking, in simple terms is hacking, but for good reasons. Ethical hackers or ‘white hats’ do the same job as hackers - spot a minute loophole to breach the security of the most secure networks. Other hackers take advantage of security loopholes and steal confidential information, intercept critical data, spread virus, add or delete data, masquerade identity or cause damage. However, ethical hackers report the loopholes in the security system to the owners and provide solutions to protect the network. In other words, ethical hackers try to penetrate networks, detect the vulnerabilities in the security systems and fix them before any miscreant can take advantage of it. Career:Learning from experien-ces of others and their own, today, many organisations are recruiting ethical hackers into their IT teams to protect network security. Others are hiring ethical hacking companies to conduct audits and suggest fixes. So, ethical hacking as a career option is definitely a promising bet. According to a survey conducted by the International Data Corp, there is a demand for over 60,000 information security personnel worldwide. It is estimated to grow to over 77,000in India and 188,000 worldwide in next few of years. In India, Wipro, Dell, Reliance, Google, Accenture, IBM and Infosys are some organisations hiring ethical hackers. Jobs:Ethical hackers can find employment in ethical hacking and information security companies. Primarily, the job would be to use hacking tools, techniques and tactics to breach security protocols, evaluate security of networks, applicationsand website, and implement measures to prevent intrusions. IT firms are another popular option. Based on academic background and work experience, ethical hackers can don the roles of network securityadministrators, network defence analysts, web security administrators, application security testers, security analysts,forensic analysts, penetration testers and security auditors. Database developers, software developers and web designers are some more options. Typically, the job role would be to develop and test IT products and services of organisations and ensure that they are as secure as possible. Secure programming, authorised hacking and network security surveillance are specialisations in this domain. Incredible ! North East The North-Eastern States of Indiaare indeed incredible in terms of their diversity, natural beauty and rich cultural heritage. However, they lag behind in economic development. There is need to channelize the vast resources for the overall growth and development of the region. Employment News is launching a new feature ‘Incredible ! North East’from the issue dated 28.04.2012. The major objective is to strengthen human resources specially of youth to make them skilled and employable. ‘Incredible ! North East’will appear in the last issuesof Employment News every month. It will look at the employment opportunities in each state and provide information on upgradation
Posted on: Tue, 02 Jul 2013 08:08:17 +0000