Let us start by defining this career. What is the difference between Ethical Hacking and
Penetration Testing? They are the same but not the same. “Pen testing focuses on identifying
risks. Ethical hacking concentrates on identifying risk and showing and demonstrating the
exploitation” (Singh, 2023). “They have their place in cybersecurity and identifying security
threats and vulnerabilities” (Singh, 2023). Let us take further the word Ethical Hacker. “Ethical
means they have a conscience and get approval from the organization for the hacking. In
contrast, the word hacker means that a person does it from behind someone and does the
penetration illegally” (Singh, 2023).
To start, we need to see how these professions deal with the social sciences and
use this to research. Let us see what the principles of social science are. These principles are
“Anthropology – knowing about the emergence of humans, where we came from, how we
developed physically, and why. Criminology – the study of crime, criminals, and society’s
response to them. Economics – the study of how societies use their limited resources to produce
wealth and how the distribution of the wealth among their members is determined. Geography –
the study of places and the relationship between people and their environments. Political Science
– the study of politics, political decision-making, and connections to human affairs. Psychology –
the science of understanding human behavior. Furthermore, lastly, there is Sociology – the study
of social life, social behavior, and social institutions” (Liberto, 2023).
So, cybersecurity is the focus of threats through the computer or any other device
that any human uses. Compared to back then, it is a part of our daily lives. Cybersecurity is a
subdivision of computer science. We will take it further and talk about the social aspect of
ethical hackers. A social aspect of hacking is knowing who the target is. “Social hacking does this by essentially lying and manipulating—an ethical hacker who knows socially how to
accomplish this by doing much less work” (Poston, 2019). The job is to see the target when
preparing for and performing a social engineering attack. Research is always done in advance to
accomplish the attack. “During an ethical hacking engagement, social engineering is out of
scope. Hacking involves lying to the mark and can damage the relationship between the
employees of a company and its management. It is especially true if the engagement is
performed poorly and employees feel that the company is trying to trick them into bad behavior”
(Poston, 2019).
“Social engineering exercises are vital to ethical hacking engagements” (Poston, 2019).
Over 99% of cyberattacks require human interaction because, in most cases, it is much easier to
trick a person than to cheat a computer” (Poston, 2019). “Ethical hackers must help their
customers learn to identify and respond appropriately to social engineering attempts” (Poston,
2019). “Ethical hackers use their hacking skills for good and often work with businesses and
organizations to help them improve their cybersecurity” (Simplilearn, 2023). Ethical hackers and
Penetration testers want to make the world a safer place in this cyber world.
In conclusion, technology and information have drastically increased and will only
increase with time. The world we live in socially. We want quick results; the only way to get
them is through different media sources. There might be a lack of awareness, and the probability
of falling victim to all cybercrime will inevitably increase. Cyber attacks happen more often
now. We can dwindle the attacks with the help of professional Ethical Hackers or Penetration
testers.
References
Liberto, D. (2023, November 1). Social Science: What It Is and the 5 Major Branches.
Investopedia. Retrieved December 3, 2023, from
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/social-science.asp
Poston, H. (2019, October 22). Ethical hacking: Social engineering basics | Infosec.
Infosec Resources. Retrieved December 3, 2023, from
https://resources.infosecinstitute.com/topics/hacking/ethical-hacking-social-engineering-
basics/
Simplilearn. (2023, October 25). What Ethical Hacking Skills Do Professionals Need?
Simplilearn.com. Retrieved December 3, 2023, from https://www.simplilearn.com/roles-
of-ethical-hacker-article
Singh, R. (2023, November 17). Ethical Hacking vs Penetration Testing. Indusface.
Retrieved December 3, 2023, from https://www.indusface.com/blog/how-penetration-
testing-is-different-from-ethical-hacking/