Skills Required to Become an Ethical Hacker
Skills Required to Become an Ethical Hacker
Skills allow you to achieve your desired goals within the available time and resources. As a hacker, you will need to develop skills that will help you get the job done. These skills include learning how to program, use the internet, good at solving problems, and taking advantage of existing security tools.
In this article, we will introduce you to the common programming languages and skills that you must know as a hacker.
What is a programming language?
A programming language is a language that is used to develop computer programs. The programs developed can range from operating systems; data-based applications through to networking solutions.
Why should you learn how to program?
- Hackers are the problem solver and tool builders, learning how to program will help you implement solutions to problems. It also differentiates you from script kiddies.
- Writing programs as a hacker will help you to automate many tasks which would usually take lots of time to complete.
- Writing programs can also help you identify and exploit programming errors in applications that you will be targeting.
- You don’t have to reinvent the wheel all the time, and there are a number of open-source programs that are readily usable. You can customize the already existing applications and add your methods to suit your needs.
What languages should I learn?
The answer to this question depends on your target computer systems and platforms. Some programming languages are used to develop for only specific platforms. As an example, Visual Basic Classic (3, 4, 5, and 6.0) is used to write applications that run on the Windows operating system. It would, therefore, be illogical for you to learn how to program in Visual Basic 6.0 when your target is hacking Linux based systems. It is important to view all the cyber laws of your country before trying to access the system of other geeks and be sure of the correct use of the information taken from there. And an Ethical Hacker is he who follows the rule of the country and eventually decide the true potential for his workProgramming languages that are useful to hackers
| SR NO. | COMPUTER LANGUAGES | DESCRIPTION | PLATFORM | PURPOSE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | HTML | The language used to write web pages. | *Cross-platform | Web hacking Login forms and other data entry methods on the web use HTML forms to get data. Been able to write and interpret HTML, makes it easy for you to identify and exploit weaknesses in the code. |
| 2 | JavaScript | Client-side scripting language | *Cross-platform | Web Hacking JavaScript code is executed on the client browse. You can use it to read saved cookies and perform cross-site scripting etc. |
| 3 | PHP | Server-side scripting language | *Cross-platform | Web Hacking PHP is one of the most used web programming languages. It is used to process HTML forms and performs other custom tasks. You could write a custom application in PHP that modifies settings on a web server and makes the server vulnerable to attacks. |
| 4 | SQL | The language used to communicate with the database | *Cross-platform | Web Hacking Using SQL injection, to by-pass web application login algorithms that are weak, delete data from the database, etc. |
| 5 | Python Ruby Bash Perl | High-level programming languages | *Cross-platform | Building tools & scripts They come in handy when you need to develop automation tools and scripts. The knowledge gained can also be used in understand and customization the already available tools. |
| 6 | C & C++ | High-level programming | *Cross-platform | Writing exploits, shellcodes, etc. They come in handy when you need to write your own shellcodes, exploits, rootkits or understanding and expanding on existing ones. |
| 7 | Java CSharp Visual Basic VBScript | Other languages | Java & CSharp are *cross-platform. Visual Basic is specific to Windows | Other uses The usefulness of these languages depends on your scenario. |
* Cross-platform means programs developed using the particular language can be deployed on different operating systems such as Windows, Linux based, MAC, etc.
Other skills
In addition to programming skills, a good hacker should also have the following skills:
- Know how to use the internet and search engines effectively to gather information.
- Get a Linux-based operating system and the know the basics commands that every Linux user should know.
- Practice makes perfect, a good hacker should be hardworking and positively contribute to the hacker community. He/she can contribute by developing open-source programs, answering questions in hacking forums, etc.
Summary
- Programming skills are essential to becoming an effective hacker.
- Network skills are essential to becoming an effective hacker
- SQL skills are essential to becoming an effective hacker.
- Hacking tools are programs that simplify the process of identifying and exploiting weaknesses in computer systems.
thank you for your post it helped me a lot. I want to become an ethical hacker but did'nt knew the skills required for it. This article gave me a lot of help for my career.
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