Ethical Hacking
Introduction
My journey into the Cyber world all began when I decided to watch the TV show Mr.
Robot. The show shows both sides of the hacking world, the side when Elliot (the main
character) defends his company from cyber threats and the side when Elliot is hacking a
corporation to expose their ill deeds. This show piqued my interest into hacking as I found it so
cool and such a powerful tool to that nowadays is necessary to have as a defense for corporations
for them to protect their assets and data. Ethical hacking is now becoming a way more beneficial
tool for industries to have in their defenses. It can show the weaknesses of your network and help
patch the weaknesses before a threat exposes those weaknesses and leads to data loss and
worker’s vital information or vital business information leaked to the public. With all of this in
mind Ethical hacking has many ethical as well as social influences on today’s industries that I
would like to bring to your attention.
Social Influences
In an article “Why do young people start and continue with ethical hacking? A qualitative
study on individual and social aspects in the lives of ethical hackers” the authors Noordegraaf
and Kranenbarg discuss what motivates people to begin their journey in ethical hacking as well
as continuing down that path. Social influences like role models, close friends, and positive
views from the industries themselves. Just like I was influenced by a TV show many others are
influenced by the things that socially surround us and trigger a desire to become that very thing
we have been influenced by. Noordegraaf and Kranenbarg’s study mentions the theory of the
Social Learning theory which is a behavior that is learned through witnessing and imitating
others (just like me wanting to be like Elliot from Mr. Robot).
Ethical Conduct
Pierce, Jones, & Warren’s article “Penetration testing professional ethics: A conceptual
model and taxonomy” really dive deep into the ethical conduct when it comes to the hacking as a
career and the importance of having ethical conduct. They emphasize that hackers need to keep a
professional attitude and maintain ethical guidelines as they will be held accountable for their
actions on the job. Then in another article written by Thomas, Burmeister and Low they highly
emphasize the importance of ethical behavior and the prevention of the misuse of personal
information as well as harp on protection of privacy. Hackers have a very powerful position in
today’s world with the ability to find information about anybody they set their minds to. Ethical
Hackers must maintain a high vigilance when it comes to obeying laws and regulations when it
comes to misuse of information and privacy rights.
Social Structures
Cybersecurity in general is a huge social structure. In the cyber world the collaboration
and sharing of information is vital and a key to success. For everyone to fight against all the
threats in this world, it becomes a whole lot easier when industries or individuals get
vulnerabilities, cyber attacks and any information of that sort out for the public to see. This
generates collaboration and a community able to work together to protect vital information and
help be equipped to fight off attacks that they themselves have not been exposed to yet or to not
let a vulnerability slip through the cracks again of the same type. This creation of a social
network shows how marginalized groups are working together to effectively mitigate and defend
against as many threats as possible to maintain data privacy and security.
Conclusion
What a person is exposed to in life and what they surround themselves with is a type of
social learning theory that influences individual’s choices in life and possibly affect their career
and personal experience choices they make in life. Being an ethical hacker will take integrity and
self-discipline to not use the skills learned for personal gain and or criminal behavior that breaks
laws. With the ever-evolving world of technology the community grows and grows to continue
helping each other fight off vulnerabilities, attacks and malware. Without social networking the
cyber world would be a whole lot different and a lot less secure in my opinion, the more
knowledge passed around the more equipped industries can be at defending their assets to attacks
they may have never seen yet but in time will make it to their networks.
Reference Page
Mirjalili, M., Nowroozi, A., & Alidoosti, M. (2014). A survey on web penetration test. Advances
in Computer Science: an International Journal, 3(6), 107-121.
Noordegraaf, J. E., & Weulen Kranenbarg, M. (2023). Why do young people start and continue
with ethical hacking? A qualitative study on individual and social aspects in the lives of
ethical hackers. Criminology & Public Policy, 22(4), 803-824.
Pierce, J., Jones, A., & Warren, M. (2006). Penetration Testing Professional Ethics: a conceptual
model and taxonomy. Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 13(2).
Thomas, G., Burmeister, O., & Low, G. (2019). The Importance of Ethical Conduct by
Penetration Testers in the Age of Breach Disclosure Laws. Australasian Journal of
Information Systems, 23