Passive income: NO

Earning passive income directly from ethical hacking is unlikely for most people. Ethical hacking typically involves active engagement, such as penetration testing and security assessments, which require ongoing effort and cannot be easily automated or outsourced. While some may develop tools or scripts that can be sold or licensed, this often requires significant initial effort and technical expertise. Most people in the field earn actively through consulting or employment rather than passively. Outliers who achieve passive income usually do so by creating widely adopted security tools or platforms, but this is rare. Misleading expectations often arise from oversimplifying the complexity and active nature of ethical hacking work.