Final answer:
A valid ethical hacking test methodology includes stages like planning, reconnaissance, scanning, gaining access, maintaining access, coverage, and reporting. Ethical hackers follow a code of ethics to ensure professionalism and confidentiality in their work, essential for preventing data breaches.
Step-by-step explanation:
A valid ethical hacking test methodology involves a structured approach to identifying and addressing security vulnerabilities within an organization's IT systems.
Ethical hackers use their skills to help organizations by seeking out vulnerabilities in the same way that malicious hackers might, but instead of exploiting these vulnerabilities, they report them and may help to fix them. A typical ethical hacking methodology follows several stages:
Planning: Defining the scope and goals of a test, including the systems to be addressed and the testing methods to be used.
Reconnaissance: Gathering information on the target systems to identify potential vulnerabilities.
Scanning: Using tools to systematically assess the target systems for vulnerabilities.
Gaining Access: Attempting to exploit known vulnerabilities to illustrate how an attack could succeed.
Maintaining Access: Determining if the vulnerability can be used to achieve a persistent presence in the exploited system, mimicking advanced persistent threats.
Coverage: Cleaning up after testing to ensure no trace of the testing is left that could be used in a subsequent attack.
Reporting: Providing a detailed report of findings, including the vulnerabilities discovered, the sensitivity of the data accessed, and recommendations for mitigation.
The ethical hacker abides by a code of ethics which requires permission from the organization that owns the system, confidentiality about the findings, and a professional approach to handling any data accessed during the test. One such professional code of ethics is provided by the IEEE-CS for software engineers.
This requires software to meet specifications, to pass appropriate tests, and to ensure safety, privacy, and environmental protection.
Within the context of a college IT class, one might explore the problems associated with data breaches, such as the tactics used by hackers, what is stolen, and how to prevent or mitigate these breaches.
Ethical hacking plays a key role in identifying potential threats and helping organizations to bolster their security measures against such attacks.