Ethical Hacker Salary: A Detailed Guide In 7 Points

Introduction

Malicious hacking became the most well-known practice as the Internet and e-Commerce grew in popularity, a perception strengthened by depictions of it in various types of news media and entertainment. Malicious/unethical hacking is carried out to steal valuable information or make money.

However, not all hacking is bad. It leads us to the second kind of hacking: ethical hacking. This blog will talk about who is an ethical hacker, how to be an ethical hacker, ethical hacker salary, and ethical hacking jobs.

1. Who is an ethical hacker
2. Courses & Certifications
3. The Responsibilities and roles of an Ethical Hacker
4. Ethical Hacker Skillset
5. Ethical hacking job trends
6. How much does an ethical hacker earn?
7. Companies hiring for ethical hacking jobs

1. Who is an ethical hacker

An Ethical Hacker is a qualified professional with superior technical expertise and skills who understands how to detect and mitigate damages in the target system. He operates with the permission of machine owners. 

• Requirements to Become an Ethical Hacker

An ethical hacker must be a computer systems specialist with good programming and computer networking abilities.

An ethical hacker must be patient, consistent, and assertive to attempt over and over until the desired result is obtained.

Furthermore, an ethical hacker should be clever enough to comprehend the situation and the mindset of other users to employ social engineering vulnerabilities.

2. Courses & Certifications

If you want to thrive in this sector, you should consider taking the following courses and obtaining the following certifications:

• To acquire a knowledge of the most popular hardware and software technologies, obtain an A Certificate or a bachelor’s degree in computer science.
• Work as a programmer for a few years before switching to a tech support role.
• After that, pursue network certifications like Network or CCNA, followed by security certifications- TICSA Security, or CISSP.
• It is suggested that you acquire some work experience as a Network Engineer and System Administrator to comprehend networks and systems.
• Continue reading books, tutorials, and articles to understand various information security aspects and use them as a task to protect your network and computer systems as a network security engineer.
• Learn how to make Trojan, spyware, worms, viruses, denial of service (DoS) attacks, Buffer overflow, SQL injections, IP spoofing, and system hacking.
• Learn how to do penetration testing, footprinting and surveillance, and social engineering.
• Finally, consider obtaining a Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) credential.
• GIAC (Global Information Assurance Certification) and Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP) are two more IT security credentials that will boost your resume significantly.

3. The Responsibilities and roles of an Ethical Hacker

• Ethical hackers are comparable to penetration testers, but their job is broader and includes a more extensive array of duties. Ethical hackers, like penetration testers, break into networks legally and ethically. Ethical hackers, on the other hand, are also responsible for repairing the bugs they discover. Ethical hackers have the following responsibilities:

• To deter future attacks, identify open ports and put corrective measures in place.

• Deflect intrusion prevention and detection systems, firewalls, and honeypots to ensure they are successful and upgraded as required.

• Monitor digital trash bins and other hidden parts of a network for any passwords or other confidential details that could be used to launch an attack against an entity.

• Sniffing networks, broken wireless encryption, hijacked web applications, and hijacked web servers should be identified and repaired.

• Check the patch implementations are up to date.

• Assist in the resolution of problems relating to online employee fraud and digital identity fraud.

4. Ethical Hacker Skillset

To pursue a career as an Ethical Hacker, one must be skilled in database management, managing systems, and correspondence. Aside from that, an Ethical Hacker should have the following skillset:

• Network traffic sniffing
• Orchestrate various network attacks
• Session hijacking and spoofing
• DNS spoofing
• Exploit buffer overflow.
• SQL injection
• Password recognising and cracking.

Aside from that, an ethical hacker must be an innovative intellectual because black hat hackers are continuously devising new ways to circumvent a device, and the ethical hacker must foresee and avoid such vulnerabilities.

5. Ethical hacking job trends

Cybersecurity has emerged as a major market in 2017, and certainly for the entire decade, outstripping all other IT industries. According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics survey, work postings for cybersecurity positions increased by a staggering 75% between 2012 and 2017. As a result, there are many unfilled vacancies, but there are more than enough.

6. How much does an ethical hacker earn?

A licensed ethical hacker salary is about $80,074 per year, according to Payscale. The average ethical hacker salary for a Professional is $95,000.

• Ethical hacker salary in India

A certified ethical hacker salary in India is Rs 3,67,249 per year, with expertise increasing to more than 15 years.

• Ethical hacking jobs

An ethical hacker can strive for the following positions:

• Cyber Security Analyst
• Penetration Tester 
• Security Engineer 
• Information Security Manager
• Information Security Analyst      
• Forensics Computer Analyst
• Network Security Analyst  

7. Companies hiring for ethical hacking jobs

An ethical hacker works with any Organisation with an internet-facing side or something to do with the internet. These include colleges such as MIT as well as private firms varying from logistics to data warehousing. Out of these, you will have the opportunity to work for the defence and top-secret intelligence collection Organization such as the NSA, Mossad, and CIA.

Conclusion

Highly skilled hackers will still be in high demand because, in the present era, all organisations need to protect themselves against hackers at all costs. It is a profession with a promising future.

So, have you made up your mind to make a career in Cyber Security? Visit our Master Certificate in Cyber Security (Red Team) for further help. It is the first program in offensive technologies in India and allows learners to practice in a real-time simulated ecosystem, that will give them an edge in this competitive world.

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