“Excel and keep quiet”: The silent ethics of ethical hackers

The increasing significance of cyber threats has given rise to a new figure within organizations: the ethical
hacker. The ethical hacker operates both post-threat and, more importantly, pre-threat, working diligently
to prevent malicious intrusions into computer systems. The various tests they conduct ensure the security
of the concerned organizations while safeguarding their data.
In this article, we delve into the silence surrounding this profession, from their training to the post-mission
phase. Through a research-intervention conducted between 2020 and 2023 with 40 cybersecurity experts
in the financial services sector (insurance and banking, penetration testing companies), we identified the
distinct forms of organizational silence that defines their activity and influences their success.