Ethical Hackers

Ethical hackers perform penetration tests. They perform the same activities a hacker would but without malicious intent. They must work closely with the host organization to understand what the organization is trying to protect, who they are trying to protect these assets from, and how much money and resources the organization is willing to expend to protect the assets.

By following a methodology similar to that of an attacker, ethical hackers seek to see what type of public information is available about the organization. Information leakage can reveal critical details about an organization, such as its structure, assets, and defensive mechanisms. After the ethical hacker gathers this information, it will be evaluated to determine whether it poses any potential risk. The ethical hacker further probes the network at this point to test for any unseen weaknesses.

Penetration tests are sometimes performed in a double blind environment. This means that the internal security team has not been informed of the penetration test. This serves as an important purpose, allowing management to gauge the security team's responses to the ethical hacker's probing and scanning. Do they notice the probes or have the attempted attacks gone unnoticed?

Now that the activities performed by ethical hackers have been described, let's spend some time discussing the skills that ethical hackers need, the different types of security tests that ethical hackers perform, and the ethical hacker rules of engagement.

Required Skills of an Ethical Hacker

Ethical hackers need hands-on security skills. Although you do not have to be an expert in everything, you should have an area of expertise. Security tests are typically performed by teams of individuals, where each individual typically has a core area of expertise. These skills include

• Routers Knowledge of routers, routing protocols, and access control lists (ACLs). Certifications such a Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) or Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert (CCIE) can be helpful.
• Microsoft Skills in the operation, configuration, and management of Microsoft-based systems. These can run the gamut from Windows NT to Windows 2003. These individuals might be Microsoft Certified Administrator (MCSA) or Microsoft Certified Security Engineer (MCSE) certified.
• Linux A good understanding of the Linux/UNIX OS. This includes security setting, configuration, and services such as Apache. These individuals may be Red Hat, or Linux+ certified.
• Firewalls Knowledge of firewall configuration and the operation of intrusion detection systems (IDS) and intrusion prevention systems (IPS) can be helpful when performing a security test. Individuals with these skills may be certified in Cisco Certified Security Professional (CCSP) or Checkpoint Certified Security Administrator (CCSA).
• Mainframes Although mainframes do not hold the position of dominance they once had in business, they still are widely used. If the organization being assessed has mainframes, the security teams would benefit from having someone with that skill set on the team.
• Network protocols Most modern networks are Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), although you might still find the occasional network that uses Novell or Apple routing information. Someone with good knowledge of networking protocols, as well as how these protocols function and can be manipulated, can play a key role in the team. These individuals may possess certifications in other OSes, hardware, or even posses a Network+ or Security+ certification.
• Project management Someone will have to lead the security test team, and if you are chosen to be that person, you will need a variety of the skills and knowledge types listed previously. It can also be helpful to have good project management skills. After all, you will be leading, planning, organizing, and controlling the penetration test team. Individuals in this role may benefit from having Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.

On top of all this, ethical hackers need to have good report writing skills and must always try to stay abreast of current exploits, vulnerabilities, and emerging threats as their goals are to stay a step ahead of malicious hackers.

Modes of Ethical Hacking

With all this talk of the skills that an ethical hacker must have, you might be wondering how the ethical hacker can put these skills to use. An organization's IT infrastructure can be probed, analyzed, and attacked in a variety of ways. Some of the most common modes of ethical hacking are shown here:

• Insider attack This ethical hack simulates the types of attacks and activities that could be carried out by an authorized individual with a legitimate connection to the organization's network.
• Outsider attack This ethical hack seeks to simulate the types of attacks that could be launched across the Internet. It could target Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), Structured Query Language (SQL), or any other available service.
• Stolen equipment attack This simulation is closely related to a physical attack as it targets the organization's equipment. It could seek to target the CEO's laptop or the organization's backup tapes. No matter what the target, the goal is the sameextract critical information, usernames, and passwords.
• Physical entry This simulation seeks to test the organization's physical controls. Systems such as doors, gates, locks, guards, closed circuit television (CCTV), and alarms are tested to see whether they can be bypassed.
• Bypassed authentication attack This simulation is tasked with looking for wireless access points (WAP) and modems. The goal is to see whether these systems are secure and offer sufficient authentication controls. If the controls can be bypassed, the ethical hacker might probe to see what level of system control can be obtained.
• Social engineering attack This simulation does not target technical systems or physical access. Social engineering attacks target the organization's employees and seek to manipulate them to gain privileged information. Proper controls, policies, and procedures can go a long way in defeating this form of attack.

Rules of Engagement

Every ethical hacker must abide by a few simple rules when performing the tests described previously. If not, bad things can happen to you, which might include loss of job, civil penalty, or even jail time.

• Never exceed the limits of your authorization Every assignment will have rules of engagement. These not only include what you are authorized to target, but also the extent that you are authorized to control such system. If you are only authorized to obtain a prompt on the target system, downloading passwords and starting a crack on these passwords would be in excess of what you have been authorized to do.
• The tester should protect himself by setting up limitation as far as damage is concerned. There has to be an NDA between the client and the tester to protect them both. There is a good example of a get out of jail document at http://www.professionalsecuritytesters.org/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownload&cid=1
• Be ethical That's right; the big difference between a hacker and an ethical hacker is the word ethics. Ethics is a set of moral principles about what is correct or the right thing to do. Ethical standards are sometimes different from legal standards in that laws define what we must do, whereas ethics define what we should do.

  The OSSTMMAn Open Methodology In December 2001, the OpenSource Security Testing Methodology Manual (OSSTMM) began. Hundreds of people contributed knowledge, experience, and peer-review to the project. Eventually, as the only publicly available methodology that tested security from the bottom of operations and up (as opposed to from the policy on down), it received the attention of businesses, government agencies, and militaries around the world. It also scored success with little security startups and independent ethical hackers who wanted a public source for client assurance of their security testing services. The primary purpose of the OSSTMM is to provide a scientific methodology for the accurate characterization of security through examination and correlation in a consistent and reliable way. Great effort has been put into the OSSTMM to assure reliable cross-reference to current security management methodologies, tools, and resources. This manual is adaptable to penetration tests, ethical hacking, security assessments, vulnerability assessments, red-teaming, blue-teaming, posture assessments, and security audits. Your primary purpose for using it should be to guarantee facts and factual responses, which in turn assures your integrity as a tester and the organization you are working for, if any. The end result is a strong, focused security test with clear and concise reporting. www.isecom.org is the main site for the nonprofit organization, ISECOM, maintaining the OSSTMM and many other projects. This "in the field" segment was contributed by Pete Herzog, Managing Director, ISECOM.

• Maintain confidentiality During security evaluations, you will likely be exposed to many types of confidential information. You have both a legal and moral standard to treat this information with the utmost privacy. This information should not be shared with third parties and should not be used by you for any unapproved purposes. There is an obligation to protect the information sent between the tester and the client. This has to be specified in the agreement.
• Do no harm It's of utmost importance that you do no harm to the systems you test. Again, a major difference between a hacker and an ethical hacker is that you should do no harm. Misused, security tools can lock out critical accounts, cause denial of service (DoS), and crash critical servers or applications. Care should be taken to prevent these events unless that is the goal of the test.