Profession "Hacker". Why now is the best time to start.

[Man]

You will learn about the types of hackers. You will understand what a "white" hacker does. Get an answer to the question: Why is a hacker the profession of the future?

Salute to all, dear friends!

Today I would like to introduce our newcomers to the profession of "Hacker" and tell them why now is the best time to enter this profession.

Of course, I will be talking about hackers who do not break the law, i.e. white/ethical hackers.

A "white" hacker models security system breaches, conducts vulnerability tests, and comes up with new ways to check. He can feel like a hero from the TV series "Mr. Robot", who single-handedly confronts the system, only all his actions will be legal.

Well, to begin with, I suggest you understand what types of hackers there are. I think you will be interested to know how a "white" hacker differs from his "black" colleague.

What are the types of hackers?​

"White" hackers are called White Hats, in contrast to cybercriminals called Black Hats.

• The name comes from Westerns where the good guys wore white hats and the bad guys wore black ones.

Grey Hats (gray jets) - Grey Hats hack like black hats, but have white hat intentions. They penetrate systems without the owner's knowledge to find vulnerabilities. But they do not intend to harm: on the contrary, they inform the owners about the vulnerabilities they find.

But there is also a classification with other colors. In the American military environment, a division of "white" hackers during pentesting into Red Hats and Blue Hats has appeared. Red hackers are a "friendly" attack team, and blue ones are their opponents, the defenders of the systems. This approach allows identifying all possible vulnerabilities and training the team of defenders to combat attacks.

Red hats conduct legal attacks on systems without restrictions, trying to hack them in any way possible. At the same time, blue hats are unaware of the methods and intentions of the reds and protect the infrastructure by observing their actions.

Later, other teams of hackers appeared in such a pentest structure. For example, Green Hats hackers strengthen the defense by writing code and changing the design of systems. The Yellow Hats team is responsible for protecting the infrastructure at the development stage, the Purple Hats develop the best defense tactics based on the results of the hack, and the Orange Hats monitor the interaction of the teams and help them learn.

What does a white hat hacker do?​

A "white hat" hacker or pentester is a cybersecurity specialist.

He conducts pentests (penetration tests, essentially legal hacks), finds and eliminates vulnerabilities in the company's IT infrastructure that could lead to a potential hack. Unlike regular hackers, who are also called "black", he finds bugs at the request of the business and officially receives money for this.

Why is now the time to start?​

In fact, there are many reasons. Let me list the most important ones:

1. The demand for your skills is only growing​

Today, companies are in dire need of protecting their data, and therefore the demand for “White” hackers has grown enormously.

• Today, Russia lacks 50,000 specialists
• Expected increase in deficit: another +30,000 people.

2. Generous pay​

You can work for yourself or join a company that appreciates your skills.

Working for yourself, you can do, for example, vulnerability research. I'm talking about Bug Bounty .

Bug Bounty programs allow independent white hat hackers to report vulnerabilities in companies' IT infrastructure and receive a decent reward for the information provided.

• Companies pay generously for the vulnerabilities found. Here are just 4 recent vulnerabilities from the hackerone.com website, for which companies paid hackers good money :

• If you don't want to work for yourself, there is also an option. With the necessary knowledge and skills, you can easily get a job in any company. There are plenty of vacancies.

3. You can work from anywhere in the world​

• "White hat" hackers are not tied to a machine, a car, or an office.
• You can work from anywhere in the world: all you need is internet access, a laptop, and knowledge.

4. You will choose, not you.​

You can choose a niche. There are a huge number of dissimilar markets and spheres: working for yourself, the public sector, software development, retail, banking, industry and agriculture, etc. - everyone needs reliable data protection.

Even if at some point in your life you change your mind about being a hacker (although, how is that even possible?), you will already have the knowledge needed in other IT professions.

Where to start?​

Here is the minimum required to start your journey in this profession:​

• Fundamental principles of security and anonymity
• Basics of Linux and Windows Operating System Administration
• WEB Basics
• Vulnerability Search Skills
• Vulnerability exploitation and attack methods
• SQL injection from A to Z
• Using Remote File Include
• XSS vulnerability
• Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
• OSINT

By the way, you can hone your skills in Hack The Box, a web interface for hacking training.

That's all for today. I hope this information will be useful for you and will be able to change your life.