Ethical Hacking involves gaining authorized access or intruding into system or networks to find out threats, vulnerabilities or weaknesses in those systems.

Most of us remain confused as to what should be the right roadmap to become an expert in Ethical Hacking. Lets see what all steps you need to accomplish the same.

1. Choose a Programming Language :

First of all, you need to choose a programming language such as Python, JavaScript, PHP, etc. This will help you to automate a lot of things. For example, in case of penetration testing, you will be able to automate things using a language, and this improves efficiency. If you're finding JavaScript or PHP difficult to start with, then you can start with basic HTML. Have a basic knowledge of heading tags, script tags, embedding etc. Especially if you wish to step into website hacking, your HTML basics should be very strong. Knowing how to write program will also help you to identify and exploit programming errors in applications that will be targetted. Programming language also helps you in customizing pre-existing tools in order to crater to your needs.

2. Learn basics of Cybersecurity :

Next, you need to study few cybersecurity topics.

Learn how computer network works-

In depth knowledge of networking is also very important in order to become a successful ethical hacker. This involves packet tracking, packet sniffing, intrusion detection, prevention and scanning subnets.

Operating Systems-

Experience working in various Operating Systems, primarily in Linux and its various distributions. This is because a good portion of vulnerability testing includes invading the target system and shifting through their systems. This is impossible without a good grasp on Operating System.

Different types of attacks-

Learn the various types of attacks such as

• SQL Injection
• Phishing
• Malware
• Bruteforce
• XSS
• CRTF
• Ransomware, etc. and what are their prevention measures.

3. Develop 'out of the box' thinking -

An Ethical hacker needs to be a creative thinker because he needs to predict and prevent crack activities. Apart from that, an ethical hacker also needs to think like a hacker, in order to beat him in his own game. Also, you should be able to work under pressure with immaculate judgement.

4. Getting certifications-

Getting a job as an ethical hacker prior to getting an industry experience is really difficult. After getting an entry level job, such as a tech support engineer or a security analyst, you may try attending some of the partnered certifications which will definitely give you an edge over the others, while you're applying for the job. While talent and ability aren't established only by certifications, but they do help when you're proving your knowledge and skills to others. Even if you don't have ample industry experience, a certification such as Certified Ethical Hacker, definitely helps. Apart from this, few other noteworthy certifications are SANS Certification, Certified Vulnerability Assessor(CVA), Certified Professional Ethical Hacker, and Certified Penetration Testing Engineer.

Some famous Ethical Hacking Tools to know about-

Although it is impossible to go through every Ethical Hacking Tool in this roadmap, hence mentioning the really famous ones to consider.

NMAP

Nmap ie Network Mapper is a free and open source utility for network discovery and security auditing. For probing computer networks, Nmap offers a variety of functionalities, including host discovery, service detection, and operating system detection.

Netsparker

Netsparker automatically scans custom web applications for vulnerabilities such as Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), SQL Injection, and others. Regardless of the platform or programming language used to create them, Netsparker can scan any type of web application.

Burpsuite

Burpsuite is a collection of tools used for web application penetration testing. Its various tools work together to support the entire testing process, and provides various features.

Metasploit

The Metasploit is a computer security project that provides information about security vulnerabilities, helps develop IDS signatures, and provides information about penetration testing.

With this, we come to the end of the roadmap. You can explore much more resources and tools and acquire the skills to become a good Ethical Hacker.