How to Become a Qualified and Professional Ethical Hacker
In the last few decades, there's been an increasing demand for ethical hackers (also known as white hat hackers) as they protect the computer systems from dangerous intrusions. Ethical hackers are technically skilled IT pros with a strong desire to solve problems and prevent malicious hackers from causing damage to network systems.
To be a professional ethical hacker you require motivation, dedication, initiative, self-education and formal training in ethical hacking.
Steps
1
Know about the pros and cons of different types of hackers, such as White Hat, Grey Hat and Black Hat hackers. Newbies who are keen to become a Black Hat need to keep in mind that "A day of glory is not worth years in prison".
2
Seek out job opportunities for ethical hackers. There are lucrative jobs available in government organizations, banks, financial institutions, military establishments and private companies.
3
Analyze the basic requirements to become an ethical hacker. Try to find out the areas where will you need to work really hard.
4
Decide the area where you would prefer to work primarily with hardware or software. Do not think of specializing in both the areas. Though knowledge of both is required but the decision will help you to know where to begin. You must be aware of every function, every component of computer on which you will have to work on.
5
Evaluate your strengths and interests and gain some programming knowledge such as C, Python or Java. These programming languages can be learned by taking formal programming courses and reading books. It will help you to read and write code.
6
Learn the UNIX operating system as it is regarded as the original operating system built by hackers. Also learn about Windows and Mac OS.
7
Take a professional course. There are a wide variety of courses available for IT security professionals in "Ethical Hacking” or “Internet Security” which would help you to expand your knowledge in ethical hacking.
8
Do the experiments on your own to know the actual happening of a situation.
9
Start experimenting with hardware and software to learn how to take control of the situations and how to prevent a computer from getting hacked.
10
Read on your own to know what are the areas where you need to improve and what need to be learned to refine your focus. Technology changes rapidly, and a good ethical hacker must be willing and eager to keep up with the new technological developments.
11
Get certified as it would help you to succeed in the vanguard of your profession.
12
Stay connected to the hacker community by sharing technical information and ideas.