Ethical Hacking Interview Questions and Answers [2025]

• Pawan
• July 26, 2024
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Top 30 Ethical Hacking Interview Questions and Answers

If you want to be a professional, ethical hacker working for an MNC and are preparing for the interview, you might be thinking about what questions might be asked. You can read this amazing article based on the “Top Ethical Hacking Interview Questions and Answers.”

These questions can give you an overview of how the interview could go. With these questions and answers, you can be well prepared. What are we waiting for? Let’s get started!

Ethical Hacking Interview Questions and Answers

1. What is ethical hacking? How does it differ from black-hat hacking?

Ethical hacking involves purposefully scanning systems and networks for security flaws to find and address vulnerabilities before malevolent hackers take advantage of them.

Professionals known as “white hat” hackers carry it out, using their expertise to strengthen cybersecurity. The following characteristics set ethical hacking apart from black-hat hacking:

1. Intent: Black-hat hacking attempts to use vulnerabilities for malevolent ends, whereas ethical hacking attempts to strengthen security.
2. Permission: While black-hat hackers operate without authorization, ethical hackers are authorized by the owners of the systems they target.
3. Legality: Black-hat hacking is illegal, but ethical hacking is allowed and frequently carried out by security experts.
4. Consequences: While black-hat hacking can result in data breaches, financial loss, and legal penalties, ethical hacking improves security and protection.
5. Disclosure: While black-hat hackers might sell or use the information for their own gain, ethical hackers notify the system owners of vulnerabilities so that they can be fixed.

2. Explain the different phases of ethical hacking.

The phases of ethical hacking are:

1. Reconnaissance,
2. Scanning,
3. Gaining Access,
4. Maintaining Access,
5. Covering Tracks, and
6. Reporting.

3. What are the key differences between vulnerability assessment and penetration testing?

In the following ways, one can differentiate vulnerability assessment from penetration testing:

1. Scope: While vulnerability assessment finds and categorizes possible security flaws in a system, penetration testing actively tests those flaws to determine their severity and whether an attack is feasible.
2. Depth: A vulnerability assessment enumerates vulnerabilities without necessarily trying to exploit them, giving a general overview of the situation. Penetration testing goes one step further by mimicking attacks to find vulnerabilities and evaluate possible harm.
3. Goal: The main objective of a vulnerability assessment is finding and cataloging vulnerabilities. Penetration testing’s objective is to show how vulnerabilities can be used to obtain unauthorized access or cause harm.
4. Methodology: While penetration testing frequently combines automated tools with manual techniques and human expertise to exploit vulnerabilities, vulnerability assessment usually involves automated scanning tools to identify weaknesses.
5. Outcome: A report outlining the vulnerabilities found and their severity is the outcome of a vulnerability assessment. A thorough report detailing the techniques used to exploit vulnerabilities, the possible consequences of the exploits, and remediation recommendations are produced due to penetration testing.

4. What is a firewall? How does it work?

A firewall is hardware or software for network security that monitors and regulates incoming and outgoing network traffic according to pre-established security rules.

It serves as a line of defense between reputable internal networks and dubious external networks, like the Internet. A firewall functions in the following ways:

1. Packet Filtering,
2. Stateful Inspection,
3. Proxy Service,
4. Deep Packet Inspection (DPI),
5. Logging & Reporting, and
6. Network Address Translation (NAT).

5. Explain the concept of encryption and decryption.

Encryption is the process of transforming plaintext data into a coded form (ciphertext) to prevent unwanted access. The opposite procedure, decryption, involves using a key to return the coded data to its original plaintext form.

6. What is a DDoS attack? How can it be prevented?

A DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack aims to render an online service unusable by flooding it with excessive traffic from numerous sources. This can cause the targeted service to crash or become very slow, as well as disrupt regular traffic. It is possible to stop a DDoS attack in the following ways:

1. Implement Firewalls and Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS),
2. Use DDoS Protection Services,
3. Rate Limiting,
4. Network Redundancy, and
5. Regular Security Audits and Updates.

Network Security

7. What is a network sniffer? How can it be used for ethical hacking?

A network sniffer is used to record and examine data packets as they move through a network. It facilitates problem diagnosis, security breach detection, and network traffic monitoring. A network sniffer can be employed for ethical hacking in the manner described below:

1. Traffic Analysis,
2. Protocol Analysis,
3. Credential Capture,
4. Network Mapping, and
5. Performance Monitoring.

8. Explain ARP poisoning. How can it be prevented?

Malicious actors use a technique known as ARP poisoning, which involves sending forged ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) messages to link their MAC address with the IP address of another device and cause traffic interception or network disruption.

Man-in-the-middle and denial-of-service attacks may be made possible by this. The following are some ways that ARP poisoning can be avoided:

1. Static ARP Entries,
2. ARP Spoofing Detection Tools,
3. Dynamic ARP Inspection,
4. Use of VLANs, and
5. Regular Network Audits.

9. What is a DMZ network? Why is it used?

A security zone established between an internal network and an external network, such as the Internet, is known as a DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) network. It offers an extra degree of security while hosting services like web servers and email servers that must be reachable from outside the internal network.

A Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ, is an essential part of network security. These are the top five uses for it:

1. Isolation of External-Facing Services,
2. Enhanced Security,
3. Restricted Access,
4. Incident Containment, and
5. Risk Mitigation.

10. What is the difference between a static and dynamic IP address?

One can differentiate between a static and dynamic IP Address in the following ways:

• Assignment

1. Static IP: Manually assigned and doesn’t change over time.
2. Dynamic IP: Automatically assigned and updated regularly by a DHCP server.

• Stability

1. Static IP: Incredibly steady and reliable.
2. Dynamic IP: Variates a lot, which makes it less dependable for steady connections.

• Usage

1. Static IP: Frequently utilized for fixed-address remote access services, servers, and network equipment.
2. Dynamic IP: Used most often for networks in homes and small offices where a fixed address is not required.

• Security

1. Static IP: This may pose a security risk since it leaves a device open to constant attack by hackers.
2. Dynamic IP: Provides some anonymity because it is more difficult to track because the IP address is constantly changing.

• Cost

1. Static IP: Usually entails paying an extra cost to the internet service provider.
2. Dynamic IP: Usually free of charge when bundled with regular internet packages.

11. Explain the concept of subnet masking.

By identifying which devices are part of the same network segment, subnet masking allows for the division of an IP address into network and host parts, facilitating effective network management and routing.

Web Application Security

12. What is SQL injection? How can it be prevented?

A cyberattack known as SQL injection occurs when malicious code is introduced into an application’s input field to manipulate database queries. This can result in the access, modification, or deletion of data without authorization. SQL Injection can be avoided in the following ways:

1. Parameterized Queries,
2. Input Validation,
3. Stored Procedures,
4. Least Privilege Principle, and
5. Regular Security Audits.

13. Explain cross-site scripting (XSS) and its types.

A web security flaw known as cross-site scripting (XSS) enables attackers to insert malicious scripts into legitimate websites with the intent of stealing user information, taking over user sessions, or sending users to untrusted websites. The types of cross-site scripting (XSS) that exist are as follows:

1. Stored XSS,
2. Reflected XSS, and
3. DOM-based XSS.

14. What is cross-site request forgery (CSRF)? How can it be mitigated?

A web security flaw known as cross-site request forgery (CSRF) can fool a logged-in user into unintentionally sending malicious requests to a reliable website, which could result in unapproved actions. The following are some methods to stop cross-site request forgery (CSRF):

1. Synchronizer Tokens,
2. Double Submit Cookies,
3. SameSite Cookies,
4. Checking Referrer Headers, and
5. Enabling User Interaction.

15. What is session hijacking? How can it be prevented?

A cyberattack known as “session hijacking” occurs when a hacker takes control of an active user session to pretend to be the user and obtain unauthorized access to their online accounts and data. The following strategies can help stop the hijacking of the session:

1. HTTPS Encryption,
2. Strong Session Management,
3. HttpOnly Cookies,
4. Two-Factor Authentication, and
5. Regular Security Updates.

16. Explain the importance of input validation and sanitization.

Importance of Input Validation and Sanitization:

1. Prevents Security Vulnerabilities: It protects against attacks like SQL injection, XSS, and command injection by verifying and screening user input.
2. Ensures Data Integrity: By verifying input, errors and unexpected system behavior are avoided and data accuracy and consistency are maintained.
3. Protects System Resources: By removing invalid input, system overload, crashes, and resource depletion can be prevented.
4. Improves User Experience: Clear error messages that indicate incorrect input improve user satisfaction and reduce frustration.
5. Complies with Regulations: Robust input validation is required by many industries’ data protection standards to secure sensitive data.

Tools and Techniques

17. What are the most common ethical hacking tools?

The most popular tools for ethical hacking are as follows:

1. Nmap (Network Mapper),
2. Metasploit,
3. Burp Suite,
4. Wireshark, and
5. Kali Linux.

18. Explain the use of Nmap for port scanning.

By actively scanning a target network for active hosts, Nmap can detect open ports, OS detection, version information, and active services that are operating on the hosts.

19. What is Burp Suite used for?

Burp Suite is a web application security testing tool that can be used to evaluate application security risks, find vulnerabilities, and intercept, inspect, modify, and replay web traffic.

20. How do you perform a vulnerability scan?

You can perform a vulnerability scan in the following steps:

1. Define Scope,
2. Choose Tool,
3. Configure Scanner,
4. Execute Scan,
5. Analyze Results,
6. Remediate, and
7. Repeat

21. What is social engineering? Give examples of common social engineering attacks.

The psychological manipulation of individuals to reveal private information or carry out acts that jeopardize security is known as social engineering. Human error and trust are exploited. Here are some instances of social engineering attacks:

1. Phishing,
2. Pretexting,
3. Baiting,
4. Tailgating, and
5. Quid pro quo.

Incident Response and Digital Forensics

22. What is incident response? What are the key steps involved?

A coordinated series of steps known as an incident response is used to locate, eliminate, and recover from a security breach to lessen its effects and stop it from happening again. Important actions in incident response include the following:

1. Preparation,
2. Detection and Analysis,
3. Containment,
4. Eradication,
5. Recovery, and
6. Lessons Learned.

23. Explain the chain of custody in digital forensics.

A thorough record of digital evidence’s handling, transportation, and storage from the time of collection to the courtroom is known as the “chain of custody,” which guarantees the evidence’s integrity and admissibility.

24. What is the difference between live acquisition and dead acquisition?

One can differentiate between live acquisition and dead acquisition in the following ways:

• System State

1. Live Acquisition: Information is gathered from a functional system.
2. Dead Acquisition: Information is gathered from a deactivated system.

• Data Captured

1. Live Acquisition: Captures both persistent and volatile data, such as RAM and active processes.
2. Dead Acquisition: Primarily concentrates on data that is persistent and kept on storage media.

• Impact on System

1. Live Acquisition: Possibly modifies system state as a result of the data collection procedure.
2. Dead Acquisition: Low impact on the integrity of the system.

• Timing

1. Live Acquisition: Essential for gathering time-sensitive information.
2. Dead Acquisition: This can be carried out whenever a system seizure occurs.

• Tools

1. Live Acquisition: Needs specific tools to effectively capture volatile data.
2. Dead Acquisition: Tools for standard forensic imaging can be used to accomplish this.

25. How do you recover deleted files?

Recovering deleted files involves the following steps:

• Image Acquisition,
• File System Analysis,
• Data Carving,
• File Reconstruction,
• Recovery Tools, and
• Analysis and Verification.

Commonly Used Tools:

1. Kali Linux,
2. FTK Imager,
3. Recoverit, and

26. What is malware analysis?

The process of looking at malicious software to determine its origin, functionality, behavior, and possible effects is known as malware analysis. Both static and dynamic analysis methods are used.

Ethical Hacking Mindset and Legal Aspects

27. What are the ethical considerations of ethical hacking?

Ethical Considerations in Ethical Hacking are as follows:

1. Authorized Access,
2. Scope Limitation,
3. Data Privacy,
4. Legal Compliance, and

28. How are you updated with the latest hacking techniques and threats?

Staying Updated with Hacking Techniques and Threats can be done through:

1. Follow Cybersecurity News Outlets,
2. Engage in Online Communities,
3. Attend Industry Conferences & Webinars,
4. Leverage Threat Intelligence Feeds, and
5. Continuous Learning.

29. What legal and regulatory frameworks govern ethical hacking?

Legal and Regulatory Frameworks Governing Ethical Hacking:

1. Data Protection Regulations: The GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA regulate the use of data and privacy in assessments.
2. Cybersecurity Frameworks: ISO 27001 and the NIST Cybersecurity Framework offer guidelines for ethical hacking.
3. Computer Misuse Act: Many nations have laws that define data manipulation and unauthorized access, which establish limits for ethical hacking.
4. Licensing and Certification: Professionals in ethical hacking may need to obtain licenses or certifications in some areas.
5. Contractual Agreements: Both parties involved in the assessment are protected by explicit terms of service and non-disclosure agreements.

30. How do you balance the need for security with user experience?

Designing systems with strong security features that are transparent and cause users as little disruption as possible is essential to strike a balance between security and user experience. It also entails communicating security procedures in an understandable manner.

Conclusion

The Top Ethical Hacking Interview Questions and Answers might have helped you crack the interview. Now, if you really want to start your career as an ethical hacker, you need to ensure that you have the support of a professional in the IT Sector and your domain.

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