How to Make Your Career in Ethical Hacking – Course options and job opportunities

By Avinash Bharwani

 

If there was ever a time to get into Information Security in IT sector, it’s now. Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) is one of the smartest picks for IT security professionals pursuing a career in penetration testing. However, it is regularly overlooked as a possible certification option by most information security professionals. In India, giant IT companies like TCS, Infosys, Wipro and IBM are interested in employing information security professionals as ethical hackers. Moreover, salaries for this position are higher than other areas of IT. A graduate may initially work as an intern for a few months and can start with a minimum annual package of Rs 2.5 lakh. With over a year of experience, one can expect over Rs 4 lakh per annum. Those with work experience of five years or more can rake up to anything between Rs 10 lakh - 15 lakh per annum.

According to Nasscom report, India will entail at least 77,000 ethical hackers compared to the present figure of 15,000. If you are proficient with the internal workings of an organization’s system and have the capabilities to discover new flaws in secure system, then you will find it more comfortable to shape your career and take it to an advanced level. The eligibility criteria for the course is an undergraduate degree in Computer Science, other certifications in Computer Networking and Programming would be an added advantage.

In many cases you have to deliberate like a hacker, so sound clutch of system internals (including networking protocol, underlying OS) may be required. One may land an average job at a start-up, based on the skills one possesses but in order to ascend to the top of the ladder, you will have to put some serious effort. There have been people with average educational backgrounds who made it to the position of a chief security officer from being just a security tester in a span of a few years. It’s  just because they had that passion, courage and desire of going through seemingly difficult tasks of reversing an unknown protocol to finding vulnerabilities in an otherwise secure product.

In the end, it’s your passion and hard work that counts. If you’re looking forward to stay in India after graduation, master’s in Information Security is a thriving field to be in.

Why Choose This Course

 

CEH course gives “white hat” IT professionals a glimpse into the mindset of a typical hacker. The focus of an IT professional is always on keeping and maintaining secure systems. Being an ethical hacker, you will learn to read the hacker's mindset, and also be able to take a more proactive approach. This will make you see beyond current security tools and policies to know where and how an attacker might try to gain access to a company's network.

What one will learn from this Course

1. About Ethical Hacking
2. Foot printing and Reconnaissance
3. Network Scanning techniques and countermeasures
4. Enumeration techniques and countermeasures
5. System Hacking
6. Malware Threats and countermeasures
7. Packet sniffing techniques and defence against sniffing
8. Social Engineering techniques and countermeasures
9. Denial of Services and countermeasures
10. Session hijacking techniques and countermeasures
11. Hacking Web servers and countermeasures
12. Hacking Web applications and countermeasures
13. SQL injection attacks and injection detection tools
14. Wireless Hacking and Wi-Fi Security tools
15. Hacking Mobile platforms, mobile security guidelines and tools.
16. Intrusion detection system evasion, firewall and honeypots, evasion tools and countermeasures
17. Cloud computing threats, attacks, security techniques and tools
18. Cryptography
19. Types of penetration testing and vulnerability assessment

Here is the list of areas of specialization in Information Security:

ü  Secure coding and Malware Analysis

ü  Network Security and Cryptography

Other than that, if you want an InfoSec job, go for some certifications in Ethical Hacking course. Some of the best offered certifications courses available in India are:

ü  Offensive Security Training and Professional Services

ü  Security Tube Trainings

Educational Qualifications/background for Ethical Hacking aspirants:

• Bachelors or Master’s degree in either computer science, IT or computer engineering
• Knowledge of programming languages such as C, C++, Python, Ruby etc.
• Understanding of popular operating systems such as Windows, Linux and Macintosh
• Systems Security Professional) offered by International Information System Security Certification Consortium. Certification from SANS institute, USA is also a valuable certification, though expensive
• IT professional concerned about integrity of a systems and network infrastructure
• Design and implementation of firewalls, IDS, wireless security, Cryptography, Linux security and Windows security

Personal attributes for a successful career in Ethical Hacking:

• Computer Savvy
• Gadget- friendly
• Technology geek
• Self- motivated
• Dedicated
• Analytical thinker
• Initiator
• Problem solver
• Formally trained through the right education
• Investigative
• Honest
• A person of integrity
• Trustworthy
• Adaptable
• Resourceful
• Skilled in computer hardware and software

If you have all these skills, then have no second thought about choosing ethical hacking as your career. There are ample job opportunities at organizations like Government agencies, military and law enforcement agencies, defence organizations, forensic laboratories, detective companies and investigative service agencies to explore a career in Ethical Hacking. The various job designations associated with ethical hacking are Network Security Systems Manager, Network Security Administrator, Systems/Applications, Security Executive, Web Security Administrator and Web Security Manager.

After these certifications, you can also work as an independent security researcher or work in any cyber security firm. One should try to associate themselves with some of the security research forums. These courses give IT professionals a glance into the thought process of a typical hacker and equip them in maintaining security systems. Understanding the hacker’s thought from this training will enable students to have an aggressive approach to see beyond the existing security tools and legalities. It will also help to understand how and where a hacker might try to gain access to a company's network. Additionally, the certification also delivers technical knowledge to enable as aspirant to kick start his/her career in Ethical Hacking.

About the Author:

Avinash Bharwani is Vice President – New Business, Jetking. He built the Jetking Government business to execute skill training for over 10,000 youth in three states. Also partnered with the National Skill Development Corporation to train 2 million people in IT, Electronics & automobile sectors. He is particularly proud of their OpenSeva foundation that focuses on education and healthcare for all.

 

 

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