What exactly is Ethical Hacking?

Ethical hacking refers to the act of locating weaknesses and vulnerabilities of computer and information systems by duplicating the intent and actions of malicious hackers. Ethical hacking is also known as penetration testing, intrusion testing, or  red teaming. An ethical hacker is a security professional who applies their hacking skills for defensive purposes on behalf of the owners of information systems. By conducting penetration tests, an ethical hacker looks to answer the following four basic questions :

1. What information/locations/systems can an attacker gain access?
2. What can an attacker see on the target?
3. What can an attacker do with available information?
4. Does anyone at the target system notice the attempts?

An ethical hacker operates with the knowledge and permission of the organization for which they are trying to defend. In some cases, the organization will neglect to inform their information security team of the activities that will be carried out by an ethical hacker in an attempt to test the effectiveness of the information security team. This is referred to as a double-blind environment. In order to operate effectively and legally, an ethical hacker must be informed of the assets that should be protected, potential threat sources, and the extent to which the organization will support an ethical hacker's efforts