The term ethical hacking is defined by which of the following actions?

Question

Options

• AHacking systems for non-malicious reasons to check security
• BBreaking into systems for financial gain
• CUsing hacking skills for malicious intent
• DStealing sensitive information to identify vulnerabilities

• A
  91% (42)
• B
  2% (1)
• C
  2% (1)
• D
  4% (2)

Explanation

Option A is correct because ethical hacking - also called "white-hat hacking" or penetration testing - is specifically defined as probing systems with authorization and without malicious intent, to identify and report security weaknesses before bad actors can exploit them.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• B describes cybercrime (black-hat hacking) motivated by financial gain, which is illegal and unethical.
• C is the opposite of ethical hacking - malicious intent is precisely what distinguishes criminal hackers from ethical ones.
• D conflates vulnerability discovery (legitimate) with data theft (criminal); ethical hackers never steal data, they report findings to the organization.

Memory tip: Think of the word ethical itself - ethics means doing the right thing with good intent. An ethical hacker has permission, a purpose (improve security), and causes no harm. If any of those three are missing, it's no longer ethical hacking.

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