Ease of comprehension and accessibility were some of the major aspects when digital learning rose to prominence during the pandemic. Following those dire years, digital learning stayed put, but needed to go the extra mile to ensure learners stayed as well.
The public release of Artificial Intelligence (AI) became the go-to solution for the problem at hand, as integrating Large Language Models (LLMs) meant education was forever transformed. This has been particularly helpful towards technology education, and new-age disciplines like Ethical Hacking were the major beneficiaries. The primary reason behind this is that the world has been rapidly modernising by benchmarking digital technologies, and as an unfortunate impact, cybersecurity is becoming more integral than ever before.
It’s simple to put into a more measurable context. In India, more than 360 million malware attacks were reported between October 2023 and September 2024. This means that every minute, the country faces 702 cyber threats on average. Globally, a large-scale cyberattack is reported every 39 seconds. Prominent reports estimate that global cyberattacks will soon reach damages of $10.29 trillion in 2025.
While these figures are worrisome, what’s even more concerning is how the world has decided to deal with these threats. India has one of the robustly growing ethical hacker communities in the world, and the number of these professionals is approximately 2 lakh. If we look at the international scale where it is important to be certified as an Ethical Hacker, the number dwindles significantly in contrast to the number of attacks. This essentially highlights a growing demand in the sector, with minuscule response in terms of availability of professionals, and much of it owes to the gap in learning about the discipline.
AI as a knowledge bank
The role of Artificial Intelligence in learning has spread across the world. While the discussion regarding K-12 education, or upskilling, is a separate discussion altogether. However, when it comes to more specialised disciplines in technology, AI can be a great enabler. Even a decade ago, it was virtually impossible to garner an understanding of difficult technological disciplines from digital sources. At the moment, AI is able to cross-reference every available source on the web to provide comprehensive knowledge designed to empower learners. This essentially makes AI a knowledge bank that is virtually accessible irrespective of time, location or language, providing a more holistic comprehension to learners.
This is creating the differentiator in learning Ethical Hacking as well. Every learner, from the comfort of their homes, is enabled to learn about ethical hacking at their own pace, being enabled to make deep dives into cluster topics, case studies, latest trends, best practices and everything else. In practice, this emboldens and democratises the learning journey.
In Ethical Hacking, getting deep insights and learning the difficult strategies in a much more comprehensive way bolsters the learning capabilities of students. This creates a funnel that can be accessed by anyone at any given point in time, and becoming an Ethical Hacker with all the capabilities is no longer a mountainous job.
Impact on training
The impact of AI integration in learning Ethical Hacking would be widespread, to say the least. What was previously considered a specialised skill, and was only studied at premier educational institutions like the IITs, or top universities, and prominent EdTech platforms in exchange for considerable fees, AI is now liberating students from that aspect. They can now pursue their quest for understanding the discipline without any fees. At the same time, they are open to asking as many questions as they would like to, or making any number of mistakes. The integration of AI impacts beyond knowledge, providing a streamlined and methodical way to begin a career in cybersecurity.
Furthermore, the accessibility aspect also rises significantly because of AI. This new-age technology essentially brings learners from diverse communities with different social standings under an umbrella of learning. AI-based learning makes comprehension of complex topics easier, but also integrates a hassle-free learning atmosphere that leads to better results.
What’s next
At the moment, the general focus remains on educating more prospective Ethical Hackers, primarily owing to the increased rate of cyberattacks all around the world. At present, it is considered critical to establish a robust community of Ethical Hackers, who are able to address this concern. With significant demand for these professionals and minuscule supply, Ethical Hacking could become one of the most financially motivating tech job disciplines in the coming years. For India’s massive youth community, this could be the opportunity of a lifetime, and it could position AI as one of the critical enablers of global tech education.
(Born in a remote town in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, Arun Prakash is Founder and CEO of GUVI Geek Networks, an HCL Group Company and an IIT-Madras & IIM-Ahmedabad incubated EdTech platform that offers free and paid coding and management courses in Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Swahili, Bengali, Tamil, and so on.)
Published – August 18, 2025 07:01 pm IST
