Introduction: Ethical Hacking is a professional act to penetrate security of computer systems to identify flaws that are open for breach in the system. Only the process of hacking is legal or white hat. In the yesterday’s, hacking have become like doing a heist in bank, black hat hackers had breached into the security of a computer system and manipulates data, corrupts files, steal information and in some cases even ask for big amount of ransoms to withdrew its hold from the system.
Government agencies, Banks, Business houses and Corporate uses computer system to store client files and lots of data that is confidential in nature and could be wrongly used if it gets into malicious hands. Therefore there is always an effort done by the computer programmers to make the computer systems as safe as possible from a possible malicious penetration. Here in comes the need for someone who could test these systems for flaws by deliberately trying to break the computer system security and for the matter of fact these people are known as Ethical Hackers or white hat hackers.
What is the current market for Ethical Hacking in India?
The government of India thought process is growing day by day towards digitizing the application process for various tasks which makes everything available online. Take a few examples like Adhaar card, Banking, Money transaction, Passport application, train ticket booking in IRCTC portal etc. These portals also deals with personal documents and money transaction for processing fees which mean crores of rupees transaction is done digitally. All these government portals are programmed and handled by Information Technology (IT) team. This team wants to include Certified Ethical Hackers (CEH) to strengthen the security of their computer based programs.
There is growing need of Certified Ethical Hackers both in private and government sectors where ever computer based systems are involved.
Now let’s learn about Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)
Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) is an academic qualification earned by individuals by visibly demonstrating the knowledge of penetrating the security of computer systems by identifying weaknesses and vulnerability in target systems, using the same tools as a malicious hacker but doing it legally.
The certification for the same can be obtained through by joining institutes offering courses where the hacking is academically taught to obtain a job and certification is provided. Later in the article we have provided information related to institutes offering certification programs.
Certification program available in India for Ethical Hacking
There are many institutes that offer certification program in Ethical Hacking in India such as NIIT, EC Council and Indian Institute in Ethical Hacking etc. We are providing you with the list of courses offered by the EC Council India so that you have the idea of the certification programs available out there.
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Students already having a degree in Engineering in Computer discipline or a Bachelors degree in Computer Applications are best suitable for the Ethical hacking career as they have a degree of knowledge about programming languages which makes them understand the hacking vulnerable applications easily. Otherwise certification program could be followed just after 10+2.
- Certified Network Defender (CND)
- Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)
- CEH (Practical)
- Certified Threat Intelligence Analyst (C|TIA)
- EC Council Certified Security Analyst (ECSA)
- ECSA (Practical)
- Licensed Penetration Tester (Master)
- Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI)
- Certified Chief Information Security Officer (C|CISO)
- EC-Council Certified Incident Handler (ECIH)
- EC-Council Disaster Recovery Professional (EDRP)
- Certified Secure Computer User (CSCU)
- EC-Council Certified Security Specialist (ECSS)
- Certified Application Security Engineer (CASE – Java)
- Certified Application Security Engineer (CASE – .Net)
- EC-Council Certified Encryption Specialist (ECES)
- Certified Network Defense Architect (CNDA)
- Advanced Mobile Forensics and Security (CAST 612)
- Web Application Security (CAST 613)
- Advanced Network Defense (CAST 614)
- Windows Infrastructure Security (CAST 616)
Official link to the website EC Council: https://www.eccouncil.org/programs/
(To reach the website copy paste link in a web browser)
Apart from certification programs there are engineering level program also available in India like MTech in Information Security and Computer Forensic, MTech in Computer Science and Information Security and MSc in Cyber Forensics and Information Security etc.
Eligibility Criteria for Ethical Hacking Program
Minimum eligibility required for a certification program is a 10+2 pass certificate from a recognized board. Where as having a Graduation degree in Computer Science, Engineering and Computer Applications is an added advantage.
Job Prospects of Ethical Hacking
The growth of jobs in the ethical hacking arena is witnessing hike day by day we have already mentioned how the Government, transaction market is digitizing day by day which requires talented individuals to help the IT team.
The individuals after getting an academic degree or a certificate can apply for jobs for government IT cells, Reliance, IBM, Infosys, Wipro, Dell, Hp etc. Whereas other India based software companies also have interest in hiring individuals.
Salary prospects for Ethical Hacking Job
We researched and found a website named payscale.com which has a database of recorded average salary of various designations under the domain of Ethical Hacking. From the below table you can figure out what kind of salary does an Ethical Hacker earn on various job roles and responsibility.
| S. No | Designation | Average Salary |
| 1 | Information Security Analyst | ₹563k
|
| 2 | Security Analyst | ₹475k
|
| 3 | Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)
|
₹487k
|
| 4 | Ethical Hacker
|
₹490k
|
| 5 | Security Consultant, (Computing / Networking / Information Technology)
|
₹767k
|
| 6 | Information Security Manager
|
₹2m
|
| 7 | Cyber Security Analyst
|
₹491k
|
| 8 | Penetration Tester
|
₹591k
|
| 9 | Information Security Specialist
|
₹920k
|
| 10 | Senior Security Consultant
|
₹1m
|
| 11 | Security Consultant, IT
|
₹742k
|
| 12 | Information Technology (IT) Manager
|
₹1m
|
| 13 | Information Security Engineer
|
₹703k
|
| 14 | Cyber Security Engineer
|
₹927k
|
| 15 | Security Architect, IT
|
₹2m
|
| 16 | Network Security Engineer
|
₹560k
|
| 17 | Information Technology (IT) Consultant
|
₹635k
|
| 18 | Information Security Officer
|
₹878k
|
| 19 | Network Security Analyst
|
₹560k
|
| 20 | Chief Information Security Officer
|
₹3m
|
Average Salary Source Credit:
https://www.payscale.com/research/IN/Certification=Certified_Ethical_Hacker_(CEH)/Salary
The starting range of per annum salary for a fresher could be around 3.5 years which could go upto the 40 lakh per annum depending the skills and years of experience.
Conclusion: Ethical hacking is an area of just not an opportunity to get a job but it’s for individuals who also have interest in computer security systems. Apart from certification one should also have meticulous thinking pattern and problem solving skills to develop the art of penetration into a computer system. It looks easy but it is not easier said than done. So think it over before you take it as a career choice.
