3. The Ethical Hacker Methodology
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➡️ Ethical hacking, or penetration testing, identifies and addresses vulnerabilities in computer systems and networks through a structured process.
The five stages are:
Reconnaissance: Gathering information about the target using passive techniques like public searches, website browsing and DNS examination to understand the target and find potential entry points.
Scanning: Actively probing the target to discover open ports, services and vulnerabilities using tools like port scanners, network mappers and vulnerability scanners to identify exploitable weaknesses.
Gaining Access: Exploiting discovered vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access using methods like password cracking, social engineering and software exploits.
Maintaining Access: Ensuring continued access by bypassing security, setting up backdoors and establishing persistent access to mimic a real attacker and assess potential impact.
Covering Tracks: Removing traces of activity by deleting logs, modifying files and restoring the system to its original state to remain undetected and to leave no evidence.
Ethical hacking must always be authorized, legal and conducted with strict adherence to ethical guidelines, confidentiality and necessary permissions from system owners.
❗ Use these techniques responsibly, ethically and with proper authorization for security testing!
