Ethical hackers: who are they and how do they work?

Hackers aren’t all bad guys. There is also the “light side of the Force” when it comes to cybersecurity: the ethical hackers. Cyber ​​security experts who, for example, are able to unlock servers blocked by a ransomware attack with their knowledge. THE cybersecurity ‘vouchers’, some of whom are now part of the certified community of ethical hackers WhiteJar. Il Chief Community Officer Lorenzo Capecchi he explains who the ethical hackers who make up the community are and how they work.

Who are the ethical hackers and how WhiteJar works

WhiteJar recruits security experts in the cybersecurity community, using a testing platform that rewards collaboration. That way they can track these down “White knights” of cyber security. Which, as Lorenzo Capecchi explains: “they are at the service of solving a problem: good hackers become aware of the presence of criticalities in computer systems, but, instead of taking advantage of them in secret, they share with companies knowledge of critic situation and also suggest any technical solutions”.

The approach collaborative it is essential for ethical hackers. “After launching a campaign, the customer can interact and communicate with the community at any time on the WhiteJar collaboration platform. Through this platform it is possible to receive real time alerts when a vulnerability is identified, integrate the most modern communication and Project Management platforms, such as Slack e Jira, as well as interacting with ethical hackers who report vulnerabilities directly “.

A system that works

There are two main types of work for an ethical hacker, two services that clients can request. On the one hand i vulnerability test, that allow you to understand which are the critical points of a computer system, evaluating any weaknesses in the hardware, software or configurations.

I penetration test they are of two types. THE White Box they analyze every feature of the system, after communicating with the company. During the Black Box instead they have the approach that a cybercriminal would have: ethical hackers attack the system without prior information, to see if I can scratch its defenses.

Within WhiteJar, you only pay those in the community who find the vulnerability, identify it on the platform and find a solution. This creates healthy competition and allows companies to find flaws in their systems. WhiteJar proposes a 12 month subscription with an unlimited number of tests, it also offers project services. This way companies can discover problems before it becomes dangerous.

Luca Manara, CEO of AppQuality, who together with Aldo Del Bo ‘(ex Kaspersky) created WhiteJar explains: “WhiteJar employs ethical hacking in crowdsourcing mode, assuming that in Italy there are 6,000 professionals of cybersecurity. We offer a community of ‘ready-to-use’ technicians from companies with the skills they seek to protect their IT systems ”.

You can learn more about this platform on the official website.