Is Cyber Security and Ethical Hacking are same?

There are a lot of cyber incidents happening across the globe. Many big and small companies are searching for talent to secure critical infrastructure from bad people. Companies are ready to invest significant amounts of money to save digital data.

While reading articles related to IT security, you have heard the terms cyber security and ethical hacking. This blog explains both terms i.e cyber security and ethical hacking in a detailed fashion. Also explains whether cyber security and ethical hacking are the same or is it some difference between both terms.

What is Cyber Security?

Cyber Security is a subject where you concentrate to protect digital assets from bad people. For securing digital assets, many security controls have been implemented. Some of the security controls are listed below:

• Logging of security events
• Use of encrypted communication
• Cryptography key management
• Access Control Policy
• Data integrity
• Privacy protection

Cyber Security is the collection of tools and techniques to secure IT networks & data from bad people. These tools and techniques help in securing IT data and systems.

What is ethical hacking?

Ethical hacking is a term coined for compromising IT systems by employing different hacking techniques. Currently, a lot of literature is available to learn various methods of hacking. Some of the employed methods to hack IT systems:

• SQL Injection
• Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)
• Insufficient Logging
• cryptographic issues
• Broken Access Control
• Cross-Site Scripting

Hacking techniques is a collection of tools and process used to find security issues and bugs. Identified security issues may be used to further compromise private data.

Is Cyber Security and Ethical Hacking are same?

Although, cyber security and ethical hacking are two different terms that can be used interchangeably in the field of information security. Although there are some similarities also which are listed below:

(1) Both fields are mainly concentrated to protect IT infrastructure by employing different methodologies.

(2) Cybersecurity experts and ethical hackers both need to learn similar technologies to protect and find vulnerabilities in IT systems.

Difference between Cybersecurity and Ethical Hacking

Parameter	Cyber Security	Ethical Hacking
Objective	The main objective is to secure IT systems and networks	The main objective is to find gaps in the security posture of IT systems and networks
Processes Involved	Defense mechanisms that include but are not limited to update, configuration hardening, etc.	enumeration, identifying flaws, and exploitation
Role Available	Cyber Security Analyst	Penetration Tester
Is there any similarity?	cyber security is a broad term covering all aspects of IT security	Ethical Hacking captures flaws in the IT system and exploits them

Conclusion

Cybersecurity is not an easy task to perform. Ethical hacking is a skill where an attacker identifies security issues in an IT system and exploits them. While cyber security is more on the defensive side to protect IT assets from bad people.

In summary, cybersecurity is focused more on protecting against cyber threats and vulnerabilities, while ethical hacking is focused on identifying and addressing those vulnerabilities in a responsible and lawful manner.