Hacking For Dummies, 4th Edition

Chapter 20

Ten Reasons Hacking Is the Only Effective Way to Test

Ethical hacking is not just for fun or show. For numerous business reasons, ethical hacking is the only effective way to find the security vulnerabilities that matter in your organization.

The Bad Guys Think Bad Thoughts, Use Good Tools, and Develop New Methods

If you’re going to keep up with external attackers and malicious insiders, you have to stay current on the latest attack methods and tools that they’re using. I cover some of the latest tricks, techniques, and tools in Chapter 10 (mobile) and Chapter 14 (websites and applications).

IT Governance and Compliance Are More Than High-Level Checklist Audits

With all the government laws and industry regulations in place, your business likely doesn’t have a choice in the security matter. The problem is that being compliant with these laws and regulations doesn’t automatically mean you’re secure. PCI DSS comes to mind. You have to take off the checklist audit blinders. Using ethical hacking tools and techniques enables you to dig deeper into your business’s true vulnerabilities.

Ethical Hacking Complements Audits and Security Evaluations

No doubt, someone in your organization understands higher-level security audits better than this ethical hacking stuff. However, if you can sell that person on ethical hacking and integrate it into existing security initiatives (such as internal audits and compliance spot checks), the auditing process can go much deeper and improve ...