We understand that there is a difference between penetration testing and ethical hacking but when it comes to learning these subjects, we often assume that they are one. Even cybersecurity professionals working in the industry are often confused with the differences between the two.
While they are complimenting job roles, falling under the same category “Offensive Security”, there is a difference between the two. Within offensive security lies multiple disciplines like penetration testing (technical and physical access), social engineering, red teaming, software reverse engineering, ethical hacking, and much more.
What Is Penetration Testing?
Penetration testing is aimed at finding vulnerabilities, malicious content, flaws, and risks. This is done to strengthen the organization’s security system to defend the IT infrastructure. Penetration testing is an official procedure that can be deemed helpful and not a harmful attempt. It forms part of an ethical hacking process where it specifically focuses only on penetrating the information system. While it is helpful in improving cybersecurity strategies, penetration testing should be performed regularly. Malicious content is built to discover weak points in the applications, systems or programs and keep emerging and spreading in the network. A regular pentest may not sort out all security concerns, but it significantly minimizes the probability of a successful attack.
A penetration test helps determine whether an IT system is vulnerable to a cyberattack, whether the defensive measures are sufficient, and which security measure failed the test. It shows the strengths and weaknesses of any IT infrastructure at a given point of time. The process of penetration testing is not casual, it involves lot of planning, taking explicit permission from the management, and then initiating tests safely without obstructing regular work flow.
What Is Ethical Hacking?
An ethical hacker role appears to be like that of penetration tester, but it encompasses diversified responsibilities. It is an all-embracing term that includes all hacking methodologies along with other related cyberattack methods. Ethical hacking is aimed to identify vulnerabilities and fix them before the hackers exploit them to execute a cyberattack. Ethical hacking is termed as ethical because it is performed only after taking necessary permissions to intrude the security system. The professional performing the intrusion works on ethical grounds and that is how ethical hacker can be differentiated from black-hat hackers.
The role of an ethical hacker is challenging as the hacker must intrude the system without affecting the functioning of it and locate the vulnerabilities. The ethical hacker understands and reports malicious activity and suggests proper measures to defeat attackers in their attempt. Beside hacking, an ethical hacker also studies other security related methodologies and suggest their implementation. Overall, ethical hackers carry the burden of the safety of entire IT infrastructure.
