DirectX

Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces (APIs) for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with Direct, such as Direct3D, DirectDraw, DirectMusic, DirectPlay, DirectSound, and so forth. The name DirectX was coined as shorthand term for all of these APIs (the X standing in for the particular API names) and soon became the name of the collection. 

Windows supports DirectX 8.0, which enhances the multimedia capabilities of your computer. DirectX provides access to the capabilities of your display and audio cards, which enables programs to provide realistic three-dimensional (3-D) graphics and immersive music and audio effects. DirectX is a set of low-level Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that provides Windows programs with high-performance hardware-accelerated multimedia support.

DirectX enables the program to easily determine the hardware capabilities of your computer, and then sets the program parameters to match. This allows multimedia software programs to run on any Windows-based computer with DirectX compatible hardware and drivers and ensures that the multimedia programs take full advantage of high-performance hardware.

DirectX contains a set of APIs that provide access to the advanced features of high-performance hardware, such as 3-D graphics acceleration chips and sound cards. These APIs control low-level functions, including two-dimensional (2-D) graphics acceleration; support for input devices such as joysticks, keyboards, and mice; and control of sound mixing and sound output.

DirectX is composed of multiple APIs:

• Direct3D (D3D): for drawing 3D graphics.
• DXGI: for enumerating adapters and monitors and managing swap chains for Direct3D 10 and up.
• Direct2D: for 2D graphics.
• DirectWrite: for fonts.
• DirectCompute: for GPU Computing.
• DirectSound3D (DS3D): for the playback of 3D sounds.
• DirectX Media: comprising DirectAnimation for 2D/3D[14] web animation, DirectShow for multimedia playback and streaming media, DirectX Transform for web interactivity, and Direct3D Retained Mode for higher level 3D graphics. DirectShow contains DirectX plugins for audio signal processing and DirectX Video Acceleration for accelerated video playback.
• DirectX Diagnostics (DxDiag): a tool for diagnosing and generating reports on components related to DirectX, such as audio, video, and input drivers.
• DirectX Media Objects: support for streaming objects such as encoders, decoders, and effects.
• DirectSetup: for the installation of DirectX components, and the detection of the current DirectX version.
• XACT3 higher-level audio API
• XAudio2: low-level API for audio

Ethical Hacker

An ethical hacker is a computer and networking expert who systematically attempts to penetrate a computer system or network on behalf of its owners for the purpose of finding security vulnerabilities that a malicious hacker could potentially exploit. Ethical hackers use the same methods and techniques to test and bypass a system's defenses as their less-principled counterparts, but rather than taking advantage of any vulnerabilities found, they document them and provide actionable advice on how to fix them so the organization can improve its overall security.

'ethical hackers are becoming a mainstay of the effort to make corporate networks more secure'

For hacking to be deemed ethical, the hacker must obey the following rules:

• Expressed (often written) permission to probe the network and attempt to identify potential security risks.
• You respect the individual's or company's privacy.
• You close out your work, not leaving anything open for you or someone else to exploit at a later time.
• You let the software developer or hardware manufacturer know of any security vulnerabilities you locate in their software or hardware, if not already known by the company.

Difference between Security and Protection

• Security and protection are extremely close concepts though not same.
• Security measures are adopted to increase the level of protection.
• The feeling of protection arises when one has enough security measures.
• Security is a type of protection against external threats.

When it comes to cybersecurity, hacking comes in many colors: white, grey, black, and shades in between. White hat hackers use their skills for good. They practice ethical hacking: involved testing to see if an organization's network is vulnerable to outside attacks. Ethical hacking is key to strengthening network security, and it's one of the most desired stills for any IT security professional.