Networking Primer

Welcome to the first chapter of this book. You are at the start of your journey toward ethical hacking, and by the time you complete this book, you will be well prepared to conduct an ethical hack.

Networking is the fundamental underlying backbone for all communication today. Back at the inception of the internet, networking was involved. When you pick up your mobile phone and dial someone, networking is involved. Watching videos on the internet, surfing the web, playing online games… the list goes on.

When it comes to hacking, networking is a crucial element. So, it is understandable that to get started with ethical hacking, you need to have a good understanding of networking. As you will learn in this chapter, networking is a key underlying feature that exists in all computer environments.

We will cover the following topics:

• Why is networking crucial?
• Networking concepts on-premises and in the cloud
• Networking tools
• Networking lab
• Putting into practice what you have learned
• Best practices