People often get confused with the terms: Ethical Hacking and Cyber Security. Well, Cyber Security is a broad term in which various computer security mechanisms are included, and Ethical Hacking is one of them. Today, we will understand the difference between Ethical Hacking and Cyber Security.

What is Cyber Security?

People frequently mix up the terms Ethical Hacking and Cyber Security. Well, Cyber Security is a broad phrase that encompasses a variety of computer security measures, one of which is ethical hacking. Today, we will distinguish between Ethical Hacking and Cyber Security.

Cyber security is a collection of several skills and tools that work together to offer users the greatest security environment possible.

Cybersecurity Phases:

As seen below, there are four distinct phases of cyber security.

  • Identify The process of identifying and comprehending distinct Cyber Security threats to the system and data.
  • Protect: Putting in place adequate safeguards to ensure data privacy.
  • Detection: The process of detecting Cyber Security occurrences.
  • Respond: Taking proper actions in response to discovered Cyber Security problems.

A Cyber Security expert is the individual in charge of carrying out all of these activities.

Cyber security specialists must be well-versed in a wide range of topics and be able to deal with issues such as ransomware, alert fatigue, kill chains, phishing attacks, zero-day attacks, and so on.

What is Ethical Hacking?

  • Assume you have deployed an application and implemented all security rules to safeguard it. But how can you be so certain that your application is completely secure and that no one can circumvent the security systems
  • You must absolutely test it against all security breaches and determine whether or not the security rules safeguard your system.
  • Ethical hacking is the process of testing the system for all possible security flaws.
  • Ethical hacking is a subset of cyber security that focuses on identifying and resolving vulnerabilities in a system before a malevolent or black-hat hacker exploits them.
  • It is the process of testing and verifying the system in order to identify and communicate any flaws to the organization.

These cybersecurity professionals are also known as penetration testers.

To conclude, ethical hacking is the process of circumventing an organization’s security system in order to uncover and close gaps. Ethical hacking has several advantages, which are stated below.

The Advantages of Ethical Hacking

  • Penetration testing can readily identify and resolve a system’s weak points.
  • To prevent security breaches, you can deploy solutions for vulnerabilities.
  • Ethical hacking prevents data theft by ‘black-hat hackers.’
  • It protects networks by doing constant assessments.
  • Customers and investors will trust your organization if the data and system security is effectively managed.
  • You might think that Ethical Hacking and Cyber Security are the same things because they both aim to defend the system from malicious attacks.
  • Ethical hacking and cyber security may appear to be synonymous because both strive to protect the system from malicious attacks. However, there is a difference between Ethical Hacking and Cyber Security. In the following part, we shall compare and contrast Ethical Hacking and Cyber Security.

Cyber Security vs Ethical Hacking

  • After defining Ethical Hacking and Cyber Security, it is time to compare Cyber Security and Ethical Hacking. Although their goals are the same – to keep the system and data secure – there are some variances between the two.
  • Cyber Security is a broad topic that encompasses a wide range of network and information security techniques, including data security, digital forensics, ethical hacking, and many more. As a result, we can classify Ethical Hacking as a subset of Cyber Security.
  • Ethical hacking is carried out by ‘white-hat hackers,’ whose work of hacking the system is similar to that of ‘black-hat hackers,’ but their aim is different. The hacker in ethical hacking hacks to safeguard the system.
  • Cyber security professionals, on the other hand, are not required to hack into the system. Their job is to protect the system by implementing all conceivable safeguards.
  • To put it simply, Ethical Hackers use offensive security measures, whilst Cyber Security experts use defensive security measures.

Let’s look at an example: Assume you’ve developed an app similar to Uber, and your service generates and stores a large amount of user data each day. These records can be utilized by any malevolent hacker to undertake nefarious acts such as producing massive volumes of fake requests, gaining access to users’ account credentials who pay online, and many other things.

  • In this case, the Cyber Security expert will attempt to defend the program by implementing proper safeguards, or, alternatively, he/she will just inform the owner about the attack.
  • Meanwhile, an Ethical Hacker will attempt to attack the program with your permission and will advise you of how he was able to hack the system. He may even suggest a solution to the problem.
  • Ethical hacking is the intentional attempt to hack into a system in order to evaluate how the system would respond to such destructive activity.
  • Do you want to learn more about cyber security and become an expert in it? Enroll in our Cyber Security Certification program right now.
  • Now, let’s look at the fundamental differences between Ethical Hacking and Cyber Security.
  • Ethical hacking is carried out by ‘white-hat hackers,’ whose work of hacking the system is similar to that of ‘black-hat hackers,’ but their aim is different. The hacker in ethical hacking hacks to safeguard the system.
  • Cyber security professionals, on the other hand, are not required to hack into the system. Their job is to protect the system by implementing all conceivable safeguards.
  • To put it simply, Ethical Hackers use offensive security measures, whilst Cyber Security experts use defensive security measures.
  • Let’s look at an example. Assume you’ve developed an app similar to Uber, and your service generates and stores a large amount of user data each day. These records can be utilized by any malevolent hacker to undertake nefarious acts such as producing massive volumes of fake requests, gaining access to users’ account credentials who pay online, and many other things.
  • In this case, the Cyber Security expert will attempt to defend the program by implementing necessary protection measures, or he/she will simply notify the owner of the attack.
  • Meanwhile, an Ethical Hacker will attempt to attack the program with your permission and will advise you of how he was able to hack the system. He may even suggest a solution to the problem.
  • Ethical hacking is the intentional attempt to hack into a system in order to evaluate how the system would respond to such destructive activity.
  • Do you want to learn more about cyber security and become an expert in it? Enroll in our Cyber Security Certification program right now.

Now, let’s look at the fundamental differences between Ethical Hacking and Cyber Security.

Difference Between Ethical Hacking and Cyber Security

 

Cyber Security Ethical Hacking
It deals with identifying and resolving all security issues in order to protect data and the system from malicious activities. The purpose of Ethical Hacking is to find vulnerabilities in the system and report it to the ownerFinding system flaws and alerting the owner of them is the goal of ethical hacking.
The focus is on how to protect the systemThe main concern is how to safeguard the system. The system attack strategy is the main concern.
A wide range of security methods are included in the term “cybersecurity.” Cybersecurity includes ethical hacking.
It offers careers such as CISO, SOC Engineer, and cyber security analyst, among others. Penetration Tester and Security Manager are the major Ethical Hacking rolesThe two primary roles in ethical hacking are penetration tester and security manager.
Cyber Security is on the defensive sideThe defensive side of cybersecurity Ethical hacking is more aggressive.
It is in charge of creating a system’s access privileges. It is in charge of producing reports on “how the hack was carried out.”
It detects problems and guards against security breaches. It either uses penetration testing to find weaknesses or exploits them.
In cyber security, routine upkeep is carried out to keep the security system current. The system is regularly tested in order to find and fix any flaws that may exist.

You now understand the key distinctions between ethical hacking and cyber security. Let us now examine the varied functions of Cyber Security professionals and Ethical Hackers.