CompTIA® Security+™: Study Guide, Fifth Edition

Preventing Common Malicious Events

If you don’t know what you are up against, then you don’t know how to prepare. “Know your enemy” is an admonishment from Sun Tzu that all security administrators should heed. If you are fully versed in the tools and techniques of your opponents, then you can be well prepared to stave off their attacks. We’re sure you’ve heard the phrase “ethical hacking.” It is a flashy marketing phrase for security assessment or penetration testing. Ultimately, it refers to using cracker/attacker techniques and tools to test the security of your environment. But before you can perform ethical hacking, you must have two things:

• Thorough knowledge and skill in cracker/attacker techniques and tools
• Written approval from the owner/manager/administrator ...