Ethical hacking is a hot-selling career in the present day. As humans become more and more dependent on computers, ethical hackers come forward as the protectors of these smart machines to help save them from the evil intentions of criminal hackers. If you have completed your ethical hacking training and are now planning to apply for a job, then you need to be prepared for your interview. Below are a few commonly asked ethical hacking questions that will help you polish your technical know-how before you go in for the interview that will land you your dream job.
1. What are the different types of penetration testing?
Different types of penetration testing include web application testing, mobile app testing, social engineering testing, network testing, wireless testing, firewall testing and client side testing. On the basis of information possessed by an ethical hacker, penetration testing can be of three types: black box testing, white box testing and grey box testing.
2. What is social engineering and what are the various types of social engineering?
Social engineering is the practice of duping or manipulating people into revealing confidential information like usernames and passwords. Various types of social engineering include phishing, tailgating, eavesdropping, dumpster diving, pretexting, shoulder surfing, baiting and more.
3. What are the different types of hackers?
Hackers are of various types according to their ways, skill set, and intentions. Some common types are red hats, blue hats, green hats, white hats, black hats, grey hats, script kiddies and hacktivists. Black hat hackers are the criminal hackers whereas white hat hackers are ethical hackers or penetration testers who are certified in courses like CEH, CPENT etc.
4. What are the different stages of hacking?
The different stages of hacking are reconnaissance or footprinting, scanning, enumeration, gaining access, privilege escalation, exploiting, maintaining access and clearing tracks.
5. What is scanning and what are the different types of scanning?
Scanning is the process of finding out any open ports, services on the target system to find a way of intrusion. Different types of scanning include port scanning, vulnerability scanning and network scanning.
6. What is a DoS attack and what are its different kinds?
A DoS attack or Denial of Service attack is a cyber attack where the hacker bombards the target system with unnecessary traffic to crash it or flood it. The various types of DoS attacks include Ping of Death, TCP SYN attack, smurf attack, buffer overflow attack and teardrop attack. A distributed denial of service attack is a more dangerous attack that takes the help of a botnet to attack the target.
7. What is the CIA triad?
The CIA triad or CIA triangle is the foundation of cybersecurity principles. It stands for Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability. Confidentiality refers to keeping the sensitive information confidential, making sure that no unauthorised person has access to it. Integrity means that the data should not be altered or tampered with in the name of security and availability means that all the needed resources must be available to the authorised persons at all times.
These are just a few examples of the important questions related to ethical hacking that can be asked in an interview. Before moving forward in your recruitment process, make sure that you have done your homework and prepared yourself fully for the meeting. Apart from the technical know-how, your soft skills and experience will also speak in your favour. Moreover, if you have a good ethical hacking certification, then the employer will definitely see your value as a promising team member. In the end, remember, if you are prepared, you will be confident.
