20 Crucial Ethical Hacking Interview Questions to Prepare

In the ever-evolving field of cybersecurity, ethical hacking plays a crucial role in safeguarding systems and data from malicious threats. As organizations become increasingly aware of the need for robust security measures, the demand for skilled, ethical hackers is soaring. Ethical Hacking Interview Questions will be a helpful guide for becoming an expert in it. 

To stand out in this competitive field, it's essential to be well-prepared for interviews that test your technical expertise and problem-solving skills. Today we will explore the top ethical hacking interview questions that are designed to help you showcase your knowledge and proficiency. This guide not only helps you with interviews but will give you a chance to explore the salaries within this profession.

Requirements to Become an Ethical Hacker

Becoming an ethical hacker involves building a solid foundation in computer science, networking, and cybersecurity. You will need to be comfortable with programming languages.

Earning a Certified Ethical Hacker credential will help you gain credibility. It’s also essential to learn about various hacking tools and techniques and how to conduct penetration tests effectively. 

Real-world experience is vital to honing your skills and solving complex problems. Above all, ethical hackers must adhere to strong moral principles, as they are trusted to access sensitive information legally and responsibly. 

Continuous learning is crucial, as cybersecurity is a field that’s constantly changing, with new threats and technologies emerging regularly. The below-explained ethical hacking specialist job interview questions and answers will help you to get prepare for an interview with 

Mastering the Ethical Hacker Interview Questions 

Following are the different ethical hacking for beginner, intermediate and advanced questions. 

Beginner-Level Ethical Hacking Interview Questions

1. Elaborate Ethical Hacking.

Ethical hacking is the practice of probing computer structures to explore vulnerabilities, weaknesses, and potential threats. It also improves cybersecurity defenses and shields against malicious attacks. 

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

Ethical hacking is conducted to protect businesses from loopholes and fix them to prevent sensitive data from being misused. Malicious hacking includes penetrating systems without permission to misuse sensitive details regarding the company and its consumers. 

3. List down the 5 stages of ethical hacking.

• Planning and Reconnaissance 

• Scanning

• Gain Access

• Maintaining Access

• Analysis and WAF Configuration 

4. What is Honeypot and network sniffing?

Honeypots are decoy systems used as traps to lure cyberattacks. They support security professionals in studying hackers' tricks and tactics. On the other hand, network sniffing is the practice of intercepting and inspecting network traffic. It also contributes to analyzing data packets elegantly over a network. 

5. How will you avoid ARP poisoning?

ARP poisoning is a network-based attack that could be avoided by the following techniques:

• Packet Filters: Packet filters filter and reject packets that include conflicting source address information.
• No trust relation: The organization should design a protocol that is based on the trust relationship as little as possible.
• Use ARP-spoofing software: Some applications verify and authenticate the data prior to sending them and block information that is spoofed.

6. What can an ethical hacker do?

An ethical hacker is a computer system and networking expert to detect any intruder or unauthorized user against a PC framework or network system by researching available methods for intrusion.

7. Why Python is used for hacking?

The most widely used Scripting language for Hackers is Python. Python has some critical features that make it particularly useful for hacking. Most importantly, it has some pre-built libraries that provide some serious functionality.

8. What is Pharming and Defacement?

• Pharming: In this technique, the attacker compromises the DNS, i.e., Domain Name System servers or on the user's computer, such that traffic is routed toward the malicious site.

• Defacement: The act of replacing a company's website with something else. It normally features the hacker's name and images while, in some cases, carrying messages and accompanied by background music.

Intermediate-Level Ethical Hacking Interview Questions

1. How do you perform a risk assessment?

Risk assessment includes identification, analysis, and evaluation of potential risks in businesses. It also includes determining the impact of different risks and their development majors to manage them effectively. Also, developing the proper execution plan to reduce risk helps to manage them effectively.

2. What is the exploit kit?

The exploit kit is a malicious Toolkit used by cybercriminals to automatically exploit vulnerabilities in Browsers or software. It also installs Malware attacks into the system.

3. What is the role of an ethical hacker in securing different IoT devices?

The role of ethical hackers in securing different IoT devices includes analyzing vulnerability testing of security controls, conducting the testing, and offering recommendations to reduce risk. It also includes practices of analyzing day threats and malware attacks and implementing strategies to reduce them.

4. What is the backdoor when it comes to cybersecurity?

When it comes to cybersecurity, the back door, known as the hidden method of passing standard authentication, is a team network or any type of application. Attackers mainly install back doors to maintain unauthorized access and compromise stems in order to hack data.

5. What do you understand by footprinting in ethical hacking? What are the techniques used for footprinting?

Footprinting is nothing other than collecting and disclosing as much data concerning the target network as possible before gaining access to any network.

• Open Source Footprinting: This would look into the contact information of administrators that could be used for password guessing in the case of Social Engineering.

• Network Enumeration: The domain names and network blocks of the target network try to differentiate.

• Scanning: Once the network is known, the second step is to spy on the active IP addresses on the network. The functioning IP address is differentiated by the (ICMP) Internet Control Message Protocol.

• Stack Fingerprinting: After the hosts and port have been mapped by examining the network, the final stage of the footprinting step is stack fingerprinting.

6. What is data leakage? How will you find and prevent it?

Data leakage is nothing but data knowledge getting out of the organization in an unauthorized manner. This is how data will get leaked: through email, printing, a lost laptop, unauthorized transfer of data to public portals, removable drives, pictures, and more. Security of information is very critical nowadays, so there are varied controls that may be placed to make sure that the data doesn't get leaked; many controls will be in the form of limiting upload on web websites, following an internal encryption solution, limiting the emails to the interior network, restriction on printing confidential data, etc.

7. What are the ethical hacking tools?

The market consists of many ethical hacking tools developed for different purposes. The major types of tools include the following:

• NMAP Network plotter: Associate degree used for network discovery and security auditing, open-source tool.

• Metasploit: This happens to be one of the strongest tools to exploit for conducting basic penetration testing.

• Burp Suite: Burp Suite is a general platform widely employed for performing security testing of web applications.

• Angry IP Scanner: Angry info processing scanner is a lightweight, cross-platform information processing address and port scanner.

• Cain & Abel: It is a password recovery tool for Microsoft operational Systems. 

• Ettercap: Ettercap stands for local area network Capture. It is used in the network by any network security tool for the Man-in-the-Middle attack.

8. What is MAC Flooding?

MAC Flooding is a technique that compromises the protection of a given network switch. In MAC flooding, the hacker floods the switch with sizable amounts of frames rather than what the switch can handle. This makes the switch behave like a hub and transmits all packets to all the existing ports. Taking advantage of this, an attacker can attempt to send his packet within the network to steal sensitive information.

Advanced-Level Ethical Hacking Interview Questions

1. Elaborate on the role of artificial intelligence in cyber security.

The role of artificial intelligence in cybersecurity allows the cybersecurity professional to automatically analyze the amount of data used for anomalies and improve the effectiveness of security operations. It also allows them to improve the practices of cyber security and implement the better strategies to reduce the threats.

2. What is the defense of depth?

A defense in cyber security strategy employs multiple defense mechanisms to protect against Threads. It begins with developing the security controls and major winds are different points within the network system; you also include intrusion detection systems, firewalls, encryption as well and access controls. Business Scan successfully defended the robust barriers with the help of divorce find the defense majors, which makes it more challenging for hackers to compromise sensitive data or any type of infrastructure.

3. Explain how you can prevent your website from getting hacked.

By adopting the following methodology, you'll be able to prevent your website from getting hacked

• Using Firewall: A firewall can be used to drop traffic from suspicious information processing addresses if the attack can be an accessible DOS

• Encryption of the Cookies: Cookie or Session poisoning can be prevented by encrypting the content of the cookies, binding cookies to the consumer info processing address, and temporal arrangement out the cookies once it slow

• Validating and confirmative user input: This methodology is prepared to stop the kind tempering by confirmative and verifying the user input before processing it

• Header Sanitizing and validation: This technique is useful against cross-website scripting (XSS). The technique comprising the sanitization and validation of headers, parameters passed via address, type parameters, and hidden values helps to minimize XSS attacks.

4. Differentiate Between a MAC and an IP Address?

Each network on all devices is assigned a unique number known as a MAC or Machine Access Control address. This address can be a private mailbox on the Internet. The network router recognizes it. The number can be changed at any time. All computers get their unique information processing address so that they can be easily found on a specific computer and network. Whoever knows your unique information processing address will reach you through it.

These are the different ethical hacking interview questions and answers. Make sure you understand the patterns of questions, and based on that, you must answer each question. It will help you to know how you should answer these questions. It will help you to become expert in ethical hacking. 

Start your Ethical Hacking Journey with GSDC

Start your ethical hacking journey with GSDC and gain the skills to become a cybersecurity expert. Our Ethical Hacking Certification equips you with the knowledge to identify vulnerabilities, secure systems, and protect valuable data from cyber threats. 

You will learn industry-leading tools, techniques, and best practices through hands-on training guided by experienced professionals. 

Whether you are looking to enhance your career or start a new one in cybersecurity, GSDC's comprehensive program provides the foundation you need to succeed. 

Join a community of ethical hackers committed to making the digital world safer. Start your journey with GSDC today!

Final Thoughts 

Preparing for ethical hacking interviews is crucial for anyone looking to succeed in this dynamic field. This guide outlines ethical hacking interview questions covering a wide range of topics, from basic concepts to advanced cybersecurity techniques, providing a solid foundation for your interview preparation. 

As the demand for ethical hackers continues to grow, mastering these questions will not only help you perform well in interviews but also enhance your overall understanding of cybersecurity.

By investing time in learning and practicing these concepts, you will be well-equipped to tackle the challenges of ethical hacking and make a significant impact in protecting organizations from cyber threats.