International Journal of Science, Engineering and TechnologyAuthors: Ananya Sunil Mengade, Professor Bangar Abhishek Popat, Professor Bhosale S.B.
Abstract: Organisations now run critical services on networks, web applications and cloud platforms that attackers probe continuously. Ethical hacking, the authorised use of attacker techniques to find weaknesses before criminals do, has become a standard part of cyber security practice. This paper presents a focused narrative review of verified sources on ethical hacking for cyber security. It examines four connected themes: the foundations and legal basis of ethical hacking, the testing methodologies and frameworks that structure an engagement, the tools and attack surfaces involved, and newer developments in bug-bounty programmes and large-language-model (LLM) assisted penetration testing. The literature shows that ethical hacking is distinguished from malicious hacking mainly by authorisation and scope, that established guidance such as NIST SP 800-115 organises testing into planning, discovery, attack and reporting, and that reward programmes can be an effective way to obtain vulnerability reports. Early studies suggest LLMs can assist some penetration-testing tasks, but they remain limited and need human supervision. Most sources, however, are descriptive or guidance documents; few report controlled comparisons of methods, and evidence on testing for Indian organisations is sparse. The review contributes a comparative analysis of representative sources, a proposed conceptual seven-layer governance-first engagement framework, and a prioritised list of research gaps.
