Ethical hacking, also called white-hat hacking, is the practice of testing computer systems, networks, and applications legally and safely to find vulnerabilities before cybercriminals can exploit them. Unlike black-hat hackers, ethical hackers work with company approval, follow defined scopes, and report all findings confidentially.

They use a variety of tools and techniques, including penetration testing to simulate attacks, social engineering to test human weaknesses like phishing, web application testing for flaws like SQL injections and cross-site scripting, and infrastructure scanning to locate network vulnerabilities. Even internal threats from employees or BYOD (bring your own device) policies are tested to ensure security from all angles.

Ethical hackers provide independent assessments, strengthen security infrastructure, and test incident response plans. They help companies reduce data breaches, improve security tools, foster a security-aware culture, and meet compliance standards like GDPR or ISO 27001.

Companies like Dashlane leverage ethical hacking through bug bounty programs and advanced zero-knowledge architectures to ensure that even if systems are targeted, sensitive information remains protected.

By discovering weaknesses before malicious actors do, ethical hackers play a critical role in keeping our digital world safe.