THE WHATIS.COM WORD-OF-THE-DAY August 26, 2003 ethical hacker ________________ SPONSORED BY: Microsoft
The Quick Guide to Windows Server 2003. Get the latest information on installation, new features and training. Click here! http://WhatIs.com/r/0,,17393,00.htm?microsoft ________________ TODAY'S WORD: ethical hacker See our complete definition with hyperlinks at http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci921117,00.html An ethical hacker is a computer and network expert who attacks a security system on behalf of its owners, seeking vulnerabilities that a malicious hacker could exploit. Many large companies, such as IBM, maintain employee teams of ethical hackers. To test a security system, ethical hackers use the same methods as their less principled counterparts, but report problems instead of taking advantage of them. Ethical hacking is also known as penetration testing, intrusion testing, and red teaming. An ethical hacker is sometimes called a white hat, a term that comes from old Western movies, where the "good guy" wore a white hat and the "bad guy" wore a black hat. One of the first examples of ethical hackers at work was in the 1970s, when the United States government used groups of experts called red teams to hack its own computer systems. According to Ed Skoudis, Vice President of Security Strategy for Predictive Systems' Global Integrity consulting practice, ethical hacking has continued to grow in an otherwise lackluster IT industry, and is becoming increasingly common outside the government and technology sectors where it began. In a similar but distinct category, a hacktivist is more of a vigilante: detecting, sometimes reporting (and sometimes exploiting) security vulnerabilities as a form of social activism. ______________________ RELATED TERMS: hacker http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci212220,00.html white hat http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci550882,00.html hacktivist http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci552919,00.html ______________________ SELECTED LINKS: Risk Management's July 2003 cover story was "It takes a thief: Ethical hackers test your defenses." http://www.ins.com/downloads/publications/risk_management_0703cover.pdf Sanctum offers a white paper called Ethical Hacking Techniques to Audit and Secure Web-enabled Applications. http://www.sanctuminc.com/pdf/Ethical_Hacking_Techniques.pdf The Wall Street Journal Online has an article called "It Takes a Hacker." http://webreprints.djreprints.com/00000000000000000025241001.html GoCertify explains Certification for Ethical Hackers. http://www.gocertify.com/article/ceh.shtml ______________________ TODAY'S TECH NEWS: EXPERT WORRIED SOBIG AUTHOR MAY ACCELERATE NEXT VARIANT An antivirus expert said the next variant of Sobig may come sooner than expected. http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid14_gci920996,00.html ORACLE 9I XML COMPONENT VULNERABLE Oracle Corp. is urging customers using 9i version 2 to patch a newly identified vulnerability immediately and to disconnect their databases from the Internet. http://searchoracle.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid41_gci921068,00.html PEOPLESOFT PACK SOOTHES 'PAIN POINTS' PeopleSoft's new CRM productivity pack zeroes in on integration, synchronization and the new federal do-not-call list. http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid11_gci920879,00.html >> Catch up on all the latest IT news at http://searchtechtarget.techtarget.com/ ______________________ Crash Course | OSI model The OSI model is the conceptual backbone of most enterprise networks, but how well do you understand it? Read our rundown of the OSI model and find out what all those layers do. http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/featuredTopic/0,290042,sid7_gci917009,00.html ______________________ Secret Word-of-the-Day | What is IT? HINT: In philosophy as in programming, this is the idea that when trying to understand something, 'shaving off' unnecessary information is the fastest way to enlightenment. >> See if you're right! http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci212684,00.html _____________________ Quiz #19 | Artificial Intelligence How much do you know about AI? Take this week's quiz and find out! >> Click to take the quiz http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid11_gci789222,00.html ______________________________ RECENT ADDITIONS AND UPDATES [1] dark energy http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci917929,00.html [2] strawman http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid11_gci840566,00.html [3] refactoring http://searchcio.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid19_gci919168,00.html [4] initial extent http://searchdatabase.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid13_gci916333,00.html [5] IT Crossword Puzzle: Malware http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci916579,00.html ____________________________________________________________________ ::::::::::::::::::: WHATIS.COM CONTACTS ::::::::::::::::::: LOWELL THING, Site Editor ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ____________________________________________________________________ MARGARET ROUSE, Associate Editor ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ::::::::::::::::::::: ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER :::::::::::::::::::::: This newsletter is published by TechTarget, the most targeted IT media. http://www.techtarget.com Copyright 2003 TechTarget. 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