I just stumble the term, ethical hacking. The term get my attention when I learn that this year's recipient of the prestigious Timothy Fidel Memorial Award is a Filipino. He is Alexandar Ramos, a computer forensic analyst of the Philippine National Police (PNP). He was awarded for his outstanding role and analysis of digital evidences in a multi-jurisdictional investigation involving 7,000 hacked PBX's/voicemail systems worldwide.

Is hacking ethical? Or, does hacking becomes ethical?

According to Whatis.com, an ethical hacker is a computer and network expert who attacks a security system on behalf of its owners, seeking vulnerabilities that a malicious hacker could exploit. To test a security system, ethical hackers use the same methods as their less principled counterparts, but report problems instead of taking advantage of them. Ethical hacking is also known as penetration testing, intrusion testing, and red teaming. An ethical hacker is sometimes called a white hat, a term that comes from old Western movies, where the "good guy" wore a white hat and the "bad guy" wore a black hat.

A course on Ethical Hacking is now being offered in some schools. In Cebu, I learn one computer learning institute that offer the course (short-term).