A white hat (or a white hat hacker) is an ethical computer hacker, or a computer security expert, who focuses on penetration testing and in other testing methodologies that ensures the safety of an organization's information systems. Ethical hacking may be a term meant to imply a broader category than simply penetration testing. Contrasted with black hat, a malicious hacker, the name comes from Western films, where heroic and antagonistic cowboys might traditionally wear a white and a black hat respectively. While a white hat hacker hacks under good intentions with permission, and a black hat hacker, most frequently unauthorized, has malicious intent, there's a 3rd kind referred to as a gray hat hacker who hacks with good intentions but sometimes without permission. White hat hackers can also add teams called "sneakers and/or hacker clubs",red teams, or tiger teams. While penetration testing concentrates on attacking software and computer systems from the beginning - scanning ports, examining known defects in protocols and applications running on the system and patch installations, as an example - ethical hacking may include other things. A full-blown ethical hack might include emailing staff to invite password details, searching through executive's dustbins and typically breaking and entering, without the knowledge and consent of the targets. Only the owners, CEOs and Board Members (stake holders) who asked for such a censoring of this magnitude are aware. to undertake to duplicate a number of the destructive techniques a true attack might employ, ethical hackers may arrange for cloned test systems, or organize a hack late in the dark while systems are less critical. In most up-to-date cases these hacks perpetuate for the long-term con (days, if not weeks, of long-term human infiltration into an organization). Some examples include leaving USB/flash key drives with hidden auto-start software during a public area as if someone lost the tiny drive and an unsuspecting employee found it and took it. Some other methods of completing these include: * DoS attacks * Social engineering tactics * Reverse engineering * Network security * Disk and memory forensics * Vulnerability research * Security scanners such as: - W3af - Nessus - Burp suite * Frameworks such as: - Metasploit * Training Platforms These methods identify and exploit known security vulnerabilities and plan to evade security to realize entry into secured areas. they're ready to do that by hiding software and system 'back-doors' which will be used as a link to information or access that a non-ethical hacker, also referred to as 'black-hat' or 'grey-hat', might want to succeed in .

Knowing when to include agents into your vulnerability management processes isn't an easy decision. Below are common use cases for agent-based vulnerability scanning to assist you build out your combined scanning strategy.
Intermittent or Irregular Connectivity: Vulnerability management teams are now tasked with scanning devices that access the company network remotely using public or home-based Wi-Fi connections. These connections are often unreliable and intermittent leading to missed network-based scans. Fortunately, the scanning frequency of agents doesn't require a network connection. The agent detects when the device is back online, sending scan data when it's ready to communicate with the VM platform.
Connecting Non-Corporate Devices to Corporate Networks:With the increased use of private devices, company networks are more exposed to malware and infections thanks to limited IT and security teams' control and visibility. Agent-based scanning gives security teams insight into weaknesses on non-corporate endpoints, keeping them informed about professional hacker is potential attack vectors in order that they can take appropriate action.
Endpoints Residing Outside of Company Networks: Whether company-issued or BYOD, remote assets frequently hook up with the web outside of traditional network bounds. An agent that resides on remote endpoints conducts regular, authenticated scans checking out system changes and unpatched software. The results are then sent back to the VM platform and combined with other scan results for review, prioritization, and mitigation planning.