Hacking ? - What is Hacking ? Everything You Should Know.

What is Hacking?

Hacking is identifying weakness in computer systems or networks to exploit its weaknesses to gain access.

Who is a Hacker ? 

A Hacker is a person who finds and exploits the weakness in computer systems and/or networks to gain access. Hackers are usually skilled computer programmers with knowledge of computer security.

Types of Hackers :

Ethical Hacker (White hat): A hacker who gains access to systems with a view to fix the identified weaknesses. They may also perform penetration testing and vulnerability assessments.

Cracker (Black hat): A hacker who gains unauthorized access to computer systems for personal gain. The intent is usually to steal corporate data, violate privacy rights, transfer funds from bank accounts etc.

Grey hat: A hacker who is in between ethical and black hat hackers. He/she breaks into computer systems without authority with a view to identify weaknesses and reveal them to the system owner.

Script kiddies: A non-skilled person who gains access to computer systems using already made tools.

Hacktivist: A hacker who use hacking to send social, religious, and political, etc. messages. This is usually done by hijacking websites and leaving the message on the hijacked website.

Phreaker: A hacker who identifies and exploits weaknesses in telephones instead of computers.

TECHNIQUES :

1) HOLES IN THE NETWORK

For the sake of explanation, let’s say that media company had the initials “A” “M” “Y” and just for the purposes of why it would have such strange initials, let’s say that stands for “Ammy ltd.”.

AMY had a hole in their network. Every network has thousands of “ports”, like a massive cruise liner.

An “open port” sends messages back and forth. Like someone waving from a cruise ship as it pulls away.

Most ports are simply closed. But some are open in order to receive various special messages.

For instance, there is a port that listens for requests for web pages.

Like when you type into your URL box: “http://amy.com” a message is sent (usually) to port number 80 at a computer at AMY (or wherever AMY stores their web pages).

Then a special language is spoken between your browser and the server at AMY that is listening to port 80.

An example conversation in the special “HTTP language” might be:

(from the browser) GET /pages/index.html

(from the server after sending the html): HTTP 1.1 200 OK

(this is very rough and abbreviated).

There are other ports open to listen to other computers on the local network: requests for files to be transferred in non-HTTP protocols (like FTP), and most importantly, requests for email.

Some software will OPEN unassigned ports for their own nefarious purposes.

Malicious software that keeps track of every letter typed on the keyboard might open and use such a port. VERY common.

FOR EXAMPLE :-

AMY had an open port that they weren’t protecting properly. It was the SMTP (EMAIL!) port.

Most companies (maybe 99.99%) have now covered up basic holes like that and it’s much more difficult.

That said, for every type of software that does any network communication, there are always holes in the ports that are forgotten until someone hacks them and then they are patched.

If there’s a new computer or phone, then there are new security breaches. 100% of the time!

2) PASSWORD LAZINESS

Most people use the SAME password for everything, or for most things. Hackers know this.

Nowadays hacking is rather popular. Some people are engaged in hacking activity because of personal illegal profit, using confidential or personal information for blackmailing or something like this. For others, it is just the way to have some fun.

What troubles can hacking cause?

• Because of hacking, personal and confidential information will be available for unauthorized users.
• The hacker’s attacks cause security breaches that may have awful consequences – unauthorized access to all data, possibility to change system settings.
• It is the way to violate somebody else’s privacy – illegal access to personal data.
• Hacking may interrupt the proper work of the system – failed money transactions, disrupted operating cycle.
• Such attacks can damage important data – the top secret passwords and accesses may be lost.

Of course, the hacking activity can be quite dangerous and cause terrible results. But, nevertheless, in some cases, hacking may be very useful tool for both the end users and the IT specialists.

• By hacking means, it is possible to restore the lost or forgotten information, for example, passwords. Usually, all passwords are stored and scrambled in the form of hash. And if you know where to look, you will easily get the required password.
• In order to define the vulnerabilities of the system, penetration testing is performed. In this situation, the hacker’s attacks are imitated. The testers try to follow the hacker’s steps and use various ways to get access to the system.
• Hacking helps to take the measures for preventing possible security breaches and gaining unauthorized access in the case if such measures are taken by the security specialists.

The developers of software products try to prevent potential malicious attacks with the help of different types of software testing. This can be security testing, penetration checking, vulnerability testing, security auditing, access control testing, etc.