Ethical Hacking

Ethical Hacking is mentioned with increasing frequency in the press and elsewhere, but what does it actually mean? Here is our explanation for this term:

One of the best ways to measure your vulnerability to malicious attack is to have independent computer security professionals, such as ourselves, attempt to break into your systems and bring out the vulnerabilities inherent in the design or implementation of your security policies. In industry jargon, these are "ethical hackers". They deploy the same tools and techniques as a malicious attacker, but ensure that they do not damage your systems.

Successful ethical hackers need to possess a variety of skills. Beyond everything they must be completely trustworthy. They will have strong programming and computer networking skills and have been in the computer and networking business for many years. They will also demonstrate detailed knowledge of the most popular hardware and software in use. Critically they will have more drive and patience than most people - their work demands a lot of time and persistence. They will also invest considerable time in keeping up with the world of computer and network security to have up to date knowledge of the systems in use today and that will be in use tomorrow.

Ethical hackers have to know the techniques of the criminal hackers, how their activities might be detected, and how to stop them. However, in line with our professional standards, Penetrax will not employ ex-criminal hackers.