Computer Sciences and Information Technology
Topic:
Ethical Hacking & Digital Forensics
Require the use of at least four academic research resources, this includes recent scholarly research and recently published scientific books. To avoid plagiarism, any external material used in your work must be appropriately referenced and cited.
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Ethical Hacking and Digital Forensics
In today’s digital world, information security has become a serious issue of concern, and every individual or organization should be responsible for keeping crucial data safe from hackers or intruders. With advancing network technology and increased social engineering use, there are increased risks of cybercrimes or attacks on individual or organizational data. Different studies have often established that today most data theft incidences arise from a lack of knowledge or training about cybersecurity (Crosbie, 2018). To enhance data security, today, most companies are employing digital forensic investigators and ethical hackers. This discussion explores how ethical hacking and digital forensics contribute to enhancing data security and investigating any data breaches.
Ethical Hacking
In recent years, hacking has become a huge challenge for affecting individuals and organizations. In most cases, government facilities and big corporations have experienced a majority of these attacks. In all of these cases, the attackers aim to steal valuable information to realize specific objectives or solely for personal gain. Today ethical hacking has emerged as an effective technique to defend against modern data breaches. Through this approach, ethical hackers who are security specialists leverage their hacking skills to establish any vulnerability that might require patching before unethical hackers can exploit or expose them (Gupta, 2019). Government facilities and most large corporations hold crucial information that can be easily compromised. It can easily result in a huge loss in reputational damage, key security data, or money.
Given how data breach has become expensive today, modern organizations are more willing to invest in various cybersecurity techniques such as ethical hacking to prevent a potential data breach. With more organizations adopting information technology as a key part of their daily operations, ethical hacking is gaining more relevance (Gupta, 2019). Moreover, the fact that cyber threats and attacks are projected to increase shortly implies that ethical hacking will play a key role in identifying these threats before they can happen.
Today organizations are concerned with the scrutiny that often arises from various regulatory procedures or the fear of being caught up in scandals. Based on this understanding, protecting information assets is crucial, and organizations have to undertake proactive steps to initiates protective measures. In a world or environment where attacks can happen anytime, ethical hackers’ skills are increasingly becoming very useful. Most hackers don’t have the necessary skills to cause serious damage to network systems hugely (Leonhardt, 2010). As such, engaging ethical hackers can help organizations seal any loopholes, thus preventing data breaches and other forms of cyberattacks.
Digital Forensics
According to Crosbie (2018), digital forensic can be described as the process of identification, documentation, extraction, and preservation of crucial computer evidence that can be used as evidence material in court proceedings. In other words, digital forensics is the science of establishing evidence from various digital media such as servers, networks, mobile phones, and computers. The technique provides forensic investigators with the best approach and tools necessary to solve complicated digital-related cases. Through digital forensics, investigators can inspect and analyze networks and data to identify and preserve any digital evidence residing on various electronic devices.
Computer forensics aims to achieve several objectives: to analyze, recover, and preserve any computer-related materials that allow investigation agencies to present this material in court as evidence (Attoe, 2016). Additionally, digital forensics allows investigators to determine the main motive behind a given crime and identify the main suspects. Moreover, digital forensics allows investigators to develop procedures at suspected crime scenes, ensuring that any corrupted digital evidence isn’t corrupted. In some cases, hackers or individuals engaged in corrupt practices within an organization can delete important files or data used as evidence material (Attoe, 2016). These deleted files can be recovered through digital forensics, which allows for the extraction and validation of this material. Finally, digital forensics allows investigators to develop a forensic report that outlines key aspects of an investigation process.
The emergence of digital forensics as a science of establishing evidence from various digital media has several benefits, among them being that it enhances the integrity of computer systems. Additionally, investigators and prosecutors can produce digital evidence in court, a factor that leads to culprits being punished for various types of crimes (Attoe, 2016). This approach is possible because organizations can extract and process factual evidence in court, which implies that forensic evidence, can prove cybercriminals’ actions in court. Moreover, today digital forensics allows organizations to capture crucial information, especially in situations where their computer networks or systems have been compromised (Attoe, 2016). As a result of these developments, it ensures that cyber criminals across the globe can be tracked down efficiently, especially with new and more advanced digital forensics tools. Finally, digital forensics helps protect valuable organization’s time and money while ensuring that they do not incur reputational damage.
Although digital forensics has numerous benefits, it faces several challenges. The increased use of the internet and personal computers makes it very difficult to track digital evidence. Moreover, today hacking tools are easily available, while the absence of physical evidence can sometimes make prosecution difficult (Franke & Årnes, 2017). Additionally, with storage spaces increasing in size, digital forensics has become challenging because investigators have to cover large volumes of data (Franke & Årnes, 2017).
Conclusion
From the preceding, ethical hacking and digital forensics enhance data security and investigate any data breaches. Today ethical hacking has emerged as an effective technique to defend against modern data breaches. In this case, ethical hackers are security specialists’ leverage on their hacking skills to establish any vulnerability that might require patching before unethical hackers can exploit or expose them. Ethical hacking can complement digital forensics, which is the science of establishing evidence from various digital media such as servers, networks, mobile phones, and computers. The technique provides forensic investigators with the best approach and tools necessary to solve complicated digital-related cases. When cyber threats and attacks are projected to increase shortly, ethical hacking will play a key role in identifying these threats before they can happen, while digital forensics can help trace the path used by hackers to conduct any data breach.
References
Attoe, R. (2016). Digital forensics in an eDiscovery world. Digital Forensics, 85-98. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-804526-8.00006-x
Crosbie, M. (2018). Hack the cloud. Cybercrime and Cloud Forensics, 42-58. doi:10.4018/978-1-4666-2662-1.ch002
Franke, K., & Årnes, A. (2017). Challenges in digital forensics. Digital Forensics, 313-317. doi:10.1002/9781119262442.ch8
Gupta, S. (2019). Ethical hacking – Learning the basics. doi:10.1007/978-1-4842-4348-0
LEONHARDT, F. (2010). Auditing, penetration testing and ethical hacking. Handbook of Electronic Security and Digital Forensics, 93-101. doi:10.1142/9789812837042_0005
