Interview Questions And Answers for Ethical Hacking

Here is the List of Ethical Hacking's Interview Questions and Answers

Q1. What is ethical hacking?

Ans. Ethical hacking is a process of finding and exploiting the security flaws in a system to assess the security posture of an organization. Ethical hacking is a subset of information security and it is used by organizations to protect their data and networks from malicious attacks.

Q2. What is the difference between a hacker and an ethical hacker?

Ans. A hacker is someone who attempts to gain unauthorized access to a system by exploiting vulnerabilities in the system. An ethical hacker, on the other hand, is someone who uses their knowledge and skills to identify security vulnerabilities to protect the system from malicious hackers.

Q3. Why is ethical hacking important

Ans. Ethical hacking is important because it helps organizations identify potential security vulnerabilities and fix them before malicious hackers can exploit them. By doing so, organizations can protect confidential data and prevent costly data breaches.

Q4. What are the primary objectives of ethical hacking?

Ans. The primary objectives of ethical hacking include identifying and exploiting security weaknesses in computer systems and networks in order to protect them from unauthorized access or damage.

Q5. What are the different types of ethical hacking?

Ans. There are four main types of ethical hacking: black-box testing, white-box testing, gray-box testing, and red-box testing. Black-box testing is used to assess the security of a system without having any knowledge of its internal architecture. White-box testing requires knowledge of the system’s architecture and is used to identify and exploit security weaknesses. Gray-box testing combines both black-box and white-box testing methods. Red-box testing is used to assess the security of a system after its release.

Q6. What skills do you need to be an ethical hacker?

Ans. To be an effective ethical hacker, you should have a thorough knowledge of computer networks, security protocols, and software development. You should also have strong problem-solving and analytical skills, as well as the ability to think outside the box.

Q7. What techniques do ethical hackers use?

Ans. Ethical hackers use a variety of techniques to identify vulnerabilities in a system or network. These techniques include network scanning, social engineering, vulnerability scanning, and application testing.

Q8. What is the difference between a hacker and a cracker?

Ans. A hacker is someone who uses their skills to gain unauthorized access to systems for legitimate reasons. While a cracker is someone who uses their skills to gain unauthorized access to systems for malicious purposes.

Q9. What is the difference between a white hat hacker and a black hat hacker?

Ans. A white hat hacker is an ethical hacker who seeks to find and fix security vulnerabilities. A black hat hacker is a malicious hacker who uses the same skills and methods to gain unauthorized access to computer systems and networks without permission.

Q10. What are the different types of ethical hacking?

Ans. There are four major types of ethical hacking: White Hat, Black Hat, Gray Hat, and Script Kiddie. White Hat hackers work with companies to test the security of their systems and networks. Black Hat hackers are criminals who use their skills for malicious purposes. Gray Hat hackers are hackers who are neither malicious nor ethical. Script Kiddies are hackers who use ready-made scripts and tools to gain unauthorized access to systems.

Q11. What are the different steps involved in ethical hacking?

Ans. The steps involved in ethical hacking include reconnaissance, scanning, exploiting, and reporting. Reconnaissance is the process of gathering information about the target system. Scanning is the process of identifying security weaknesses in the system. Exploiting is the process of exploiting identified security weaknesses. Finally, reporting is the process of documenting the findings of the ethical hacking process.

Q12. What is the difference between ethical hacking and malicious hacking?

Ans. Malicious hacking is the unauthorized access of a computer system or network with the intent of doing damage or accessing confidential data. Ethical hacking, on the other hand, is carried out with the permission of the system or network owner, and the goal is to identify and fix security vulnerabilities before malicious hackers can exploit them.

Q13. How do you protect a system from malicious hackers

Ans. The best way to protect a system from malicious hackers is to ensure that the system is patched with the latest security updates, that strong passwords are in place, and that all devices are configured with the latest security settings. Additionally, organizations should also implement measures such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and antivirus software to protect their systems and networks.

Q14. What is the purpose of penetration testing?

Ans. Penetration testing is a type of ethical hacking that is used to test the security of a system or network. The purpose of penetration testing is to determine if there are any weaknesses or flaws in the system that could be exploited by a malicious hacker.

Q15. What is a vulnerability scan?

Ans. A vulnerability scan is a type of ethical hacking used to identify weaknesses and flaws in a system or network. This scan looks for known security flaws, misconfigured settings, and other weaknesses that could be exploited by a malicious hacker.

Q16. What is the difference between a vulnerability scan and an application test?

Ans. vulnerability scan looks for weaknesses and flaws in a system or network, while an application test looks for vulnerabilities in specific applications.

Q17. What is the difference between vulnerability assessment and penetration testing?

Ans. Vulnerability assessment is a process of identifying and assessing the security vulnerabilities of a system. Penetration testing is a process of exploiting identified security vulnerabilities to determine the effectiveness of security measures.

Q18. What is social engineering?

Ans. Social engineering is a type of ethical hacking used to take advantage of human weaknesses such as gullibility, naivety, and lack of technical knowledge. It is typically used to gain access to confidential data or systems by manipulating people into providing confidential information.

Q19. What is a brute force attack?

Ans. A brute force attack is a method of trying to guess a password by trying every possible combination of characters until the correct one is found. This type of attack is usually used by malicious hackers.

Q20. What is a denial of service attack?

Ans. A denial of service attack is a type of attack that attempts to flood a system with requests that it can’t handle. This type of attack is usually used by malicious hackers to make a system unavailable to its users.

Q21. What is a buffer overflow attack?

Ans. A buffer overflow attack is a type of attack that exploits a weakness in a system’s memory management. This type of attack is usually used by malicious hackers to gain unauthorized access to a system.

Q22. What is a social engineering attack?

Ans. A social engineering attack is a type of attack that relies on psychological manipulation to gain access to a system. This type of attack is usually used by malicious hackers to gain unauthorized access to a system.

Q23. What is a cross-site scripting attack?

Ans. A cross-site scripting attack is a type of attack that exploits a vulnerability in a website. This type of attack is usually used by malicious hackers to gain unauthorized access to a system.

Q24. What is a man-in-the-middle attack?

Ans. A man-in-the-middle attack is a type of attack that intercepts communications between two systems. This type of attack is usually used by malicious hackers to gain unauthorized access to a system.

Q25. What is the most common type of attack?

Ans. The most common type of attack is a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, which is when a malicious actor floods a system or network with requests in order to cause it to crash or become unavailable.

Q26. What is a rootkit?

Ans. A rootkit is a type of malicious software that is used to gain unauthorized access to a system. This type of software is usually used by malicious hackers to gain unauthorized access to a system.

Q27. What is a backdoor?

Ans. A backdoor is a type of malicious software that is designed to bypass security measures and allow the attacker to gain access to a system or network without authorization.

Q28. What is a buffer overflow attack?

Ans. A buffer overflow attack is a type of attack that involves sending more data to a program than it is designed to handle. This can cause the program to crash or be exploited by the attacker.

Q29. What is SQL injection?

Ans. SQL injection is a type of attack that involves sending malicious code through a web application in order to gain access to a database.

Q30. What is phishing?

Ans. Phishing is a type of attack that involves sending emails that appear to be from a legitimate source in order to trick the recipient into revealing confidential information.

Q31. What is the difference between a virus and a worm?

Ans. A virus is a type of malicious software that can replicate itself and spread from computer to computer, while a worm is a type of malicious software that can spread itself over a network without user interaction.

Q32. What is a zero-day attack?

Ans. A zero-day attack is an attack that exploits a previously unknown software vulnerability. These types of attacks are particularly dangerous since they are difficult to protect against as the vulnerability is unknown until the attack occurs.

Q33. What is an SQL injection attack?

Ans. An SQL injection attack is an attack that exploits a security vulnerability in a web application that uses Structured Query Language (SQL) to query a database. This type of attack allows attackers to gain access to confidential information such as passwords and credit card numbers.

Q34. What is the difference between a denial-of-service attack and a distributed denial-of-service attack?

Ans. A denial-of-service attack is an attack that attempts to make a computer or network resource unavailable to its intended users. A distributed denial-of-service attack is an attack that involves multiple compromised systems that are used to launch a coordinated attack against a single target.

Final Thoughts:

These are just some of the ethical hacking interview questions that you may encounter in an interview. With the right preparation, you will be able to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise in this field. Good luck!