Who are the White Hat Hackers?

White hat hackers are responsible for identifying vulnerabilities in systems and equipment to find possible solutions. Cybercrime lately according to the advances of technology generates costs to companies of about 650 billion dollars a year. It is estimated that 5 years ago, the figure was 445 billion.

As the computer system becomes more complex, threats grow and, apparently, agencies have not yet invested enough in strengthening their security measures.

To the global infrastructure problems, it is added that users often do not take precautions and become easy targets for scams that go viral until reaching millions in losses. It is clear that more and better cybersecurity professionals are in demand. What are sought not only theorists, but specialists who know how systems are violated and are able to anticipate problems.

These experts, specialized in the offensive part, are called white hat hackers or ethical hackers: they identify flaws, see how they are exploited, and thus seek a way to correct those bugs or errors to avoid possible attacks.

These ethical or good hackers end up becoming essential pieces to reinforce the security of companies.

Professionals within the cybersecurity field are among the most sought after. And in this area, white hat hackers or those who specialize in identifying and correcting vulnerabilities in systems or infrastructure are highly required, but they are not the only ones.

In recent times, the demand for professionals who can identify malicious patterns and behaviors in an infrastructure under attack has been growing; This is due to the fact that little by little the need to think not only about the prevention of incidents but also about the detection and correction of them has been transformed.

The main functions of these white hat hackers would be to perform penetration tests that focus on attacking software and computer systems, but also open ports on the network, examining defects when installing the system or identifying failures of security. An ethical hacker would do this by emailing staff asking for their password details, rummaging through executives ‘trash cans, and generally breaking into systems, without the targets’ permission or consent. Only company owners, the CEO and members of the Board of Directors who had requested this type of security review would know what is happening.

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