The Key Requisites to Grow into a Successful Certified Ethical Hacker

Posted by Tanya Sharma on September 27th, 2021

Ethical hacking is a rapidly booming profession. And why not! After all, studies reveal that there is already a hacker attack happening every 39 seconds! Not only this, but the damage caused by the speedily rising cases of cybercrime is expected to touch almost trillion per year by the end of 2021, and ethical hacking is the only reliable answer to the issue.

No wonder, just as much is there a rise in the demand for skilled and certified ethical hackers in the job market, there is an equal aspiration among the youth to establish themselves in the profession. And though that is quite understandable, there are ideally certain requirements that the aspirants must fulfil to be able to grow into a successful ethical hacker.

So, in this article today, we, at JobsAcademy, the career courses wing of the renowned 2COMS Group, will shed light on the key requisites that any candidate willing to walk onto the path of ethical hacking should meet and satisfy. Read on.

What Does an Ethical Hacker Do?

Before we move on to the educational, professional, and technical requirements you must possess to become a certified ethical hacker, we believe it is essential for you to understand what an ethical hacker actually does and what his/her core responsibilities are.

So, ethical hacking is basically about learning to think like cyber attackers to trace system vulnerabilities and strengthen the security infrastructure to prevent actual attacks. There are a lot of things that ethical hackers do to ensure that the systems remain safe from black hat hackers. Some of these core responsibilities include:

• Researching and scanning systems and networks
• Exploring vulnerabilities
• Protecting the violation of private data
• Designing an attack plan
• Documenting all the steps taken throughout the process

Moreover, the EC Council has established a certain code of ethics that needs to be strictly followed by all ethical hackers. This is necessary to distinguish yourself from the black hat hackers and ensure that you stay on the good and legal side of hacking.

As one of the best institutes for learning ethical hacking, we, at Jobs Academy, ensure that all the participants joining us for our CEH V11 training program are not only trained for the job responsibilities they are going to take up in the profession but are also clear with the necessary code of ethics.

Prerequisites required to be an Ethical Hacker

We have seen that though many aspirants are willing to join the profession of ethical hacking and grow into a Certified Ethical Hacker, not many are aware of the general prerequisites that they need to fulfil to earn the prestigious CEH V11 certificate by the EC Council. This lack of information often turns out to be the reason for them for not being able to pursue the path of their dreams. Therefore, in this article today, we are explaining in detail the various prerequisites that are required to be met in order for you to be an ethical hacker.

• Educational Requisites: The EC Council has not established any standard educational requirements to be fulfilled. However, it is better if you hold a Bachelor’s Degree or a Master’s Degree in IT, Computer Science, or Mathematics as it will help you to easily understand and relate to the concepts. Besides, basic know-how of programming, operate database systems, and using information security technologies will be an added benefit, though not mandatory.

• Professional Requisites: You need to possess at least 2 years of relevant industry experience to be able to apply for CEH V11. You must have been a part of IT workforce or have experience in IT security related field.

• Technical Requisites: Though your educational and professional eligibility help open the gateway for you to pursue the ethical hacker certification, but when it comes to establishing yourself as a reliable and successful ethical hacker in the industry, your technical skills matter the most. That’s because, unlike how it shows in movies, hacking is not all about making a few quick taps on the keyboard. It rather needs a firm grip on the technicalities of the system. To scan the potential threats, you must have a technical acumen, which would build only when you have the following skills:

• Networking Skills – This is one of the most basic and most important requirements. Knowledge of networks like DHCP, Subnetting, Supernetting, etc., will help you when it comes to exploring interconnected computers or identifying the potential threats. Besides, it will also help you to manage the possible threats and establish a secure system.

• Programming Skills – Programming is basically about writing codes. It is like giving instructions to the computer in a language that it actually understands. Until and unless you know programming, you won’t be able to communicate with the computer. Some of the common programming languages that you should know include Python, SQL, C, JavaScript, C++, etc.

• Linux – Linux is considered to be far safer than any other operating system, and this makes it essential for ethical hackers to possess working knowledge of Linux.

• Cryptography – Cryptography is the process of developing and analyzing protocols to help ensure information security. It deals with converting a normal/readable text to a non-readable form, also called ciphertext, so as to protect the same from hackers during transmission.

Besides the above, an ethical hacker should also possess strong problem-solving skills, which is vital for them to not only identify the source of the problem but also come up with an effective solution to the same. Thus, to be successful in the profession of ethical hacking, critical thinking and problem-solving stand as imperative qualities to possess.