Ethical Hacking Career Opportunities – Salary, Trend & Requirement

With more people connected to devices and the advancement of technology, cybercrimes have also increased exponentially. In India, there is some or other news of cybercrime every other second, such as identification theft, data breach, phishing, etc. Cybersecurity is the prominent solution to tackle these crimes. Every organization demand professionals who are informed about the gravity of these crimes and take preventive measures to dodge them. The demand for these professionals has risen during the pandemic when remote working is a sustainable option. Legal entities and large IT firms hire ethical hackers who can assess the organization’s network, find inadequacy, report the vulnerabilities, and fix them.

Ethical Hacking has become a lucrative career option with more and more people intrigued to pursue it. Their role is challenging and demands to take all the precautionary measures to avoid any malicious activity. Scroll down to read a complete guide on becoming an ethical hacker and career opportunities in Ethical Hacking.

What is Ethical Hacking?

Hacking is an illicit practice to gain unauthorized access to any device or system, and perform malicious activity ranging from data breaching, deleting information, stealing sensitive information, etcetera. This can cripple the functioning of any organization and result in a gigantic loss. Anyone found practising such fraudulent activities has to bear legal consequences such as imprisonment and penalty.

Nonetheless, when it is practised legally with permission, it is considered ethical Hacking. Companies generally hire people, give them access to their network and security details, ask them to look at the vulnerabilities, and fix them. This practice is carried to stop an intruder from hacking in companies system and preventing any pernicious activity.

When people hack the system with permission and no intention to steal data or hack the system, it is coined as ethical Hacking.

Prerequisites to Become Ethical Hacker

You are possibly looking for the prerequisites to become an ethical hacker? Let’s walk you through this –

There’s no direct degree or course for Ethical Hacking. It’s that you climb your way up, starting as a tech support engineer and getting certifications such as CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) and CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) before getting the final CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker) certification. Once you qualify for CEH certification, you can look for opportunities as an ethical hacker.

Most companies expect you to have a bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity or computer science or courses with experience in the IT field. Few companies may exempt this only when you have a sound knowledge of network, data, and security.

If you are looking to thrive in cybersecurity, have years of experience in network security and enrol in an ethical hacking course to develop security skillsets and take preventive measures. Apart from this, you need a sound knowledge of various operating systems, Microsoft and Linux servers, virtualization, Citrix, Cisco network switches, and Microsoft Exchange.

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Job and Responsibilities of Ethical Hacker

Before you set to explore opportunities as an ethical hacker, it is pertinent to understand the role and responsibilities of an ethical hacker. Below listed are the responsibilities that constitute your role as an ethical hacker –

Acess organization’s system or network and determine the security breaches and vulnerabilities.
Scrutinize the data flow, network activity, etc., to meet the standards of security.
Employ strategies & actions for network security improvements.
Conduct penetration tests on the latest implemented security actions, etc.

These are the core KRA’s that ethical hacker has to perform in any organization, but it may vary for the organization depending on their size and diversification. Ethical Hacker is asked to replicate all the practices performed by a hacker and invade the system. If he can break through the vulnerabilities of the network, he has to report this to the concerned department.

Ethical Hacking: Career Opportunities

Ethical Hacking is a much-coveted career choice after rising demand in IT companies, government organizations, and legal entities. The demand for ethical hackers is a promising option in the future after companies have shifted to a model of remote working. When companies work remotely, they are more vulnerable to cybercrimes due to a lack of regularity in devices and safeguarding tools. A widespread shift to cloud computing has also increased security risks such as ransomware attacks, data breaches, identity theft, etc. Companies need professionals that can tackle this and prevent them from security thefts.

Roll out of 5G connections and expansion of internet-connected devices (IoT) will pose a serious threat to digital security in India.

According to reports published by The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the demand for ethical hackers will rise by 32% from 2018 to 2028, which is significantly higher than the normal job growth rate of 5%.

Ethical Hacking: Pay Scale & Job Titles

The common question that is asked abruptly “How much does an ethical hacker earn”?. You eagerly waited for this? Right we weren’t going to miss this.

The estimated salary of an Average Certified Ethical hacker is $83,591, according to Payscale. The EC-Council senior director Steven Graham stated that a certified ethical hacker could make an average annual income of $95,000. According to NoWiresSecurity, Eric Geier, a certified ethical hacker, can earn an average starting salary of $99,000.

An ethical hacker can earn as high as $1,00,000 per year to $1,20,000 based on experience, area of expertise, and organization size.

After achieving the certification of CEH v10, you can work on any of these job profiles :

Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)
Ethical Hacker
Information Security Manager
Security Analyst
Information Security Analyst
Penetration Tester
Security Consultant, (Computing / Networking / IT)

Bottom Line

As online devices surge and people are evolving with the tech world, one can witness the boom of ethical hackers. Companies are offering rewarding payout to these hackers who successfully help them to prevent these cyberthreats. We hope this blog serves as a guide to all your queries related to Ethical Hacking. If yes, let us known in the comments sections below.

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