Is Ethical Hacking the defense strategy your business needs?

What is Ethical Hacking?

Hacking is a term that is often associated with a negative connotation.  When you think of hackers, you probably envision thieves or criminals who seek to alter, access, or disrupt data illegally. Admittedly, I also had these same preconceived notions about hackers, until I attended a series of talks at DEFCON 26 this past August.  These talks opened my eyes to a new defense strategy that can be incorporated into modern CyberSecurity - Ethical Hacking. While most hackers do have malicious intent, advances in CyberSecurity have led to a defensive hacking strategy known as Ethical Hacking.  Ethical Hacking is performed by CyberSecurity experts who are certified to legally attempt to hack into a system to determine its security status and to see if any vulnerabilities exist. Implementing ethical hacking can provide your business with an added layer of security when it comes to dealing with cyberattacks.

As a modern business owner, your website and data are under constant threat of cyberattacks. People and organizations are seeking to obtain access to your confidential information or to disrupt your daily business.  Over the last several years, various sectors ranging from government, healthcare, and finance have all been victims of targeted attacks by hackers.  These institutions all thought they had the proper safeguards in place, but they failed to defend themselves from being breached.  Employing an ethical hacker to test these safeguards could have saved the data loss and disruption.

Here’s how an ethical hacker can benefit your company:

• Educate: Ethical hackers can provide your IT staff with new knowledge on trends and methods being used within the hacking community. In addition to providing an update on trends, ethical hackers can train your IT personnel to understand techniques that hackers use to acquire illegal access to a system and its data.
• Test: Ethical hackers can test your existing IT infrastructures to determine any vulnerabilities. Then the ethical hackers can work with your IT staff to address these weaknesses before they are exposed.
• Protect: Ethical hackers can assist in protecting valuable information. Your Business deals with client information, personally identifiable information, trade secrets, and other confidential data daily. Ethical hackers can assess the security of your data to ensure that the proper safeguards are being put around your confidential data.
• Prepare: A realization in modern business is “if, not when” a cyber attack will occur.  Ethical hackers can prepare your business to take the proper steps in case of an attack.

Targeted Hacking vs Data Breaches

The important thing to note about targeted hacking attacks is that they are an intentional, criminal, and malicious attack being performed by a group or organization.  These attacks are not the same as data breaches that occur because of institutional mistakes or carelessness.  Hackers are a relentless group who will continue to be persistent with their attacks.  Employing an ethical hacker can help your business even the playing field when it comes to these attacks.  As with any potential vendor, it is crucial that the ethical hacking group or individual contracted comes from a reputable source or organization.  Don’t allow your company to be a victim of one of these attacks.  Hire an ethical hacker and secure your data.