What is ethical hacking?

A History of Hacking

Hacking is a term that has been thousands of years old and it means cutting something roughly and violently, and naturally it was not associated with technology because there was no technology. According to one source, the term hacking has also been used among model train hobbyists before computers.

However, modern-day hacking originated in the 1950s when technology enthusiasts explored and played with telecommunication infrastructure, such as landline phones. A well-known trick at the time was whistling into a payphone to deceive the system and make free calls. This field of interest was referred to as Phone Phreaking, and individuals who engaged in this activity were called Phreakers.

Technology advanced and computers as well as computer networks began to be used widely. In the same way, the Phone Phreaking culture transitioned to computers and computer networks. It is good to understand that at that time there were no laws or understanding that this could be used for harm. Similarly, these enthusiasts were not acting from a malicious perspective. It was just a group of people with a great interest in the subject area and what could be done with this new and ever-evolving technology.

With a few exceptions, hacking for financial gain or causing harm grew to new proportions only when companies realized that the Internet could be used for business and e-commerce became a huge industry. This also created the need to protect customer and system information. Since then, the whole field of hacking has been a cat-and-mouse game, where attackers come up with new ways to break into systems and defenders try to patch and come up with new ways to protect them.

In the context of cybersecurity, the concept of an ethical hacker emerges here.