Ethical hackers: The essential but little-known role of these cybersecurity pros

WHAT is an ethical hacker? At a time when the need for digital security is growing, the role of ethical hackers is becoming crucial. And even if some companies are still reluctant to use them, the employment of these computer security experts has reportedly prevented more than $27 billion worth of cybercrime in the space of a year.

Whether white hat or gray hat, ethical hackers are playing an increasingly important role in cybersecurity. These computer experts are, for the most part, self-taught, trained thanks to resources available on the internet. This generation of hackers is particularly young and could be the most diverse yet.

These hunters of flaws and vulnerabilities in computer systems have taken a prominent place in cybersecurity by offering their services to private companies.

A report from Bugcrowd,* a leading crowdsourced cybersecurity platform, revealed that the services of ethical hackers prevented the theft or scamming of more than $27 billion in the space of one year. Unlike so-called black-hat hackers, ethical hackers do not exploit vulnerabilities and loopholes for personal gain or harm.

In many cases, vulnerabilities are never detected until an ethical hacker gets involved. According to the report, 74% of ethical hackers on the Bugcrowd platform agree that vulnerabilities have increased since the onset of the covid-19 pandemic.

"Hacking has long been maligned by stereotypical depictions of criminals in hoods, when in fact ethical hackers are highly trusted and industrious experts who empower organizations to release secure products to market faster," said Ashish Gupta, CEO and President of Bugcrowd, in a statement accompanying the report.

The sudden and rapid change in the way businesses operate during the pandemic brought a significant number of new vulnerabilities. It is now necessary to fix these flaws and find all potential security vulnerabilities.

As remote working has profoundly changed the network architecture of various companies, it has become increasingly necessary for many to address these potential problems. And this need for corporate cybersecurity is fueling the search for new talents to help companies face future problems in the sector.

*Bugcrowd's report is based on a survey of platform users and security research conducted from May 2020 to August 2021, in addition to millions of proprietary data points collected on vulnerabilities from nearly 3,000 security programs.