Ethical Hacker Salary in UK - Ethical hacking is legitimate in the eyes of the law. This is to deliberate on the ethical hacker salary in UK. The demand for certified ethical hackers has increased exponentially in recent times. Consequently, there is a massive lacuna for jobs and career opportunities in the ethical hacking sector.
Ethical Hacking is to Break into Computers Lawfully
Becoming a Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) is quite a popular objective among IT & security professionals. With the advent of information technologies, digitization has registered impeccable progress across the globe.
Everything is adopting the digital shape, whether it is a business, education, IT, science, medical, entertainment, lifestyle or any other field. But as per the famous proverb, ‘A coin has two sides,’ the digitization involves some drawbacks/threats as well.
Among others, cybersecurity has erupted as one of the notable concerns in the digital world. Some malicious guys are supposed to pose a threat to computer systems, networks by breaking the security ring.
They are known as black-hat hackers as their motive is to penetrate a computer system illegally and exploit or steal valuable information beyond the owner’s knowledge.
But ethical hacking is somewhat different. However, it includes the same skills and potential as the bad hacking, but the motive is the difference.
Ethical hacking is done within the knowledge and permission of the computer’s owner. It is a practice to penetrate a computer system, application, network or other computing resources with the consent of owners.
Furthermore, ethical hackers are also popularly known as white-hat hackers. They are the ultimate security professionals. They help computer owners find and exploit vulnerabilities and weaknesses in the systems and networks. Ethical hackers execute lawful tools and techniques to intrude into networks to find and fix vulnerabilities.
Common Ethical Hacking Techniques
Whether it is black or white-hackers, they generally implement the same skills and strategies to break into the enterprise. Here’s the list of some usual techniques;
- Port Scanning – When it comes to penetrating a computer system, an ethical hacker usually uses some genuine port scanning tools such as Nessus, Nmap etc. it is all to find open ports to find and study the vulnerabilities.
- Social Engineering Concepts – They execute social engineering protocols like dumpster diving, charts, sticky notes, and others with crucial information to generate an attack.
- Similarly, a certified ethical hacker scrutinizes patch installations to confirm that they can't be exploited.
- They also engage other social engineering strategies like shoulder surfing to access crucial information.
- White-hat hackers also try to evade Intrusion Prevention System, Intrusion Detection System, firewalls or honeypots.
- Moreover, hackers tend to crack wireless encryption, hijack web servers, and sniffing networks.
- Ethical hackers can also detect and manage issues related to employee fraud and laptop theft.
How to Become an Ethical Hacker?
It is a great decision to be an ethical hacker in this data-driven & technological era. It comes with lucrative salary packages and vast scope for future growth.
There are no established or predefined education criteria for an ethical hacker to obtain. Therefore, a corporate unit is free to set its own requirements to hire ethical hackers. However, an aspiring candidate must possess a bachelor's or master’s degree in computer science, information technology or mathematics.
Furthermore, individuals who don’t wish to attend college can seek for an information security career in the military. Several organizations prefer to hire a candidate with a military background.
Some of the other technicalities an enthusiast needs to adopt are programming, networking and hardware engineering, scripting, software development, and system administration etc.
Ethical Hacking Certifications
Well, there are numerous ethical hacking and IT certifications to authorize you as an ethical hacker. Have a look.
- Certified Ethical hacker – It is the best for penetration tester role. The vendor-neutral certification is recognized by the leading certification body EC-Council. The CEH covers more than 270 attack technologies.
- Certified Information Systems Auditor – ISACA offers CISA certification. It is a non-profit organization that governs professionals in the security sector. This certification acknowledges the skills and knowledge of associated professionals.
- Certified Information Security Manager – CISM is also authorized by ISACA. It is an advanced certification in the protocol to aim at information security managers or IT consultants who supervise the information security program management.
- GIAC Security Essentials – The global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC) administers this certification. It is to evaluate a candidate’s in-depth knowledge beyond basic terminologies and concepts.
Key Responsibilities of a Certified Ethical Hacker
There is a misconception that a certified ethical hacker has the only responsibility of penetration testing of applications and systems. This isn’t true as an ethical hacker is responsible for many other duties as follow:
- Scanning and locating open ports using some advanced tools like Nmap and Nessus
- Analyzing vulnerabilities and examining patch releases
- Searching for the deep corners of the network
- Rummaging through digital trash bins to find passwords, chats, and other crucial information
- Ensuring patch installations are up-to-date
- Engaging social engineering methodologies
- Replicating the functioning of the black-hat hackers by investigating the defense protocols
Ethical Hacker Salary in UK (United Kingdom)
It is a day-clear thought that ethical hackers attract stiffly in the age of cyber-attacks. The market demands efficient and skilled ethical hackers to avoid serious threats. The phenomenon is universal and the United Kingdom is not far away too.
The UK also has witnessed a heavy demand for Certified Ethical Hackers during the last few years. When it comes to the salary package of CEHs in the UK, it is around £45,001 per annum, according to the PayScale website.
Well, the salary figure tends to variate from company to company, location, experience, and skillsets, etc.
Conclusion
Ethical hacking is a legitimate career prospect with an impressive demand in the information security domain. It has captivated the aspiring candidates to have a career in this profile.
Apart from other countries, the ethical hacker salary in UK is also lovely. You will build an exceptional career ahead with the experience you gain through the years.
