Did you know that, in traditional western movies, the heroic cowboy wears a white hat, while his enemy wears a black one? That’s where the expression ‘white hat hacking’ comes from. White hat hackers are the good guys. They specialise in penetration testing with the intention of alerting companies to vulnerabilities in their systems, software and networks, to pre-empt hacking attempts by an ill-intentioned individual.

Penetration tests

Penetration tests combine manual and automated methods and technologies. Their objective is to methodically compromise servers, endpoints, web applications, wireless networks, network devices, mobile devices and other potential points of exposure. Once the vulnerabilities have been successfully exploited, the testers use the compromised system to launch further exploits and go deeper and deeper from one vulnerability to the next.

White hat hackers evaluate the ability of organisations to protect their networks, applications, endpoints and users. The hackers use external and internal attempts to by-pass security controls with a view to gain unauthorized access to protected assets. Afterwards, full test results and recommendations are sent to help prioritise remediation efforts. Consequently, the company is in a better position to anticipate emerging security risks and protect its critical systems and most valuable information.

There are two main reasons to hire external penetration testers:

  1. Security breaches and interruptions in the performances of your services or applications can have long-term consequences. In addition to the financial aspect, it has an impact on your business’ reputation, with decreased customer loyalty, negative press, fines and penalties.
  2. Defensive security mechanisms such as user access controls, cryptography and firewalls are useful, but don’t offer a full protection against potential security risks. New vulnerabilities are discovered each day, and attacks become more and more sophisticated. White hat hackers eat, sleep and breathe this, so they are in the best position to show companies where they need to improve their defenses.

Hackers come in different shapes and sizes, and may wear different hats. We only wear white ones. 

 

Bron: Blog Toreon