What's a Hacker?
"Hacker" is one of those terms that's an alternative meaning depending on who uses it. As a result of Hollywood, many people think a hacker is an individual who gains illicit usage of a computer and steals stuff or breaks into military networks and launches missiles for fun.
Nowadays, a hacker doesn't need to be a geek from a top university who breaks into banks and government systems. A hacker can be anyone, even a child next door.
Having an ordinary laptop, anyone can download simple software off the Internet to see exactly what switches into and out of a computer for a passing fancy network. And individuals who do this don't always have the best of intentions. Hire a hacker to catch cheating spouse
A Brief History of Hackers
Nowadays, the phrase "hacker" is becoming synonymous with individuals who sit in dark rooms, anonymously terrorizing the Internet. Nonetheless it wasn't always that way. The original hackers were benign creatures. In fact, they certainly were students.
To anyone attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology through the 1950s and 60s, the word "hack" simply meant an elegant or inspired treatment for any given problem. Lots of the early MIT hacks tended to be practical jokes. One of the very extravagant saw a replica of a campus police car placed on the surface of the Institute's Great Dome.
As time passes, the phrase became associated with the burgeoning computer programming scene at MIT and beyond. For these early pioneers, a hack was an accomplishment of programming prowess. Such activities were greatly admired while they combined expert knowledge with a creative instinct.
Why Does a Hacker Hack?
Hackers' motivations vary. For some, it's economic. They earn a full time income through cybercrime. Some have a political or social agenda - their aim is always to vandalize high-profile computers to create a statement. This sort of hacker is named a cracker as their main purpose is always to crack the security of high profile systems.
Others take action for the sheer thrill. When asked by the website SafeMode.org why he defaces web servers, a cracker replied, "A high-profile deface gives me an adrenalin shot and then before long I need another shot, that's why I can't stop." [1]
Nowadays, we are confronted with a fresh kind of hacker - your nearby neighbor. Every single day, a large number of people download simple software tools that enable them to "sniff" wifi connections. Some do this simply to eavesdrop on which others are doing online. Others do this to steal personal data in an effort steal an identity.
The Most Common Attacks
1. SideJacking / Sniffing
Sidejacking is a web attack method in which a hacker uses packet sniffing to steal a program cookie from an internet site you simply visited. These cookies are often sent back again to browsers unencrypted, even if the original website log-in was protected via HTTPS. Anyone listening can steal these cookies and then use them access your authenticated web session. This recently made news must be programmer released a Firefox plug-in called Firesheep that makes it easy for an intruder sitting in your area on an open network (like a public wifi hotspot) to sidejack many popular website sessions. As an example, a sidejacker using Firesheep could take over your Facebook session, thereby gaining usage of all of your sensitive data, and even send viral messages and wall posts to all of your friends.
2. DNS Cache Poisoning
In DNS cache poisoning, data is introduced in to a Domain Name System (DNS) name server's cache database that did not result from authoritative DNS sources. It's an unintended result of a misconfiguration of a DNS cache or of a maliciously crafted attack on the name server. A DNS cache poisoning attack effectively changes entries in the victim's copy of the DNS name server, so when he or she types in the best site name, he or she is sent instead to a fraudulent page.
3. Man-In-the-Middle Attacks
A man-in-the-middle attack, bucket brigade attack, or Janus attack, is a form of active eavesdropping in that the attacker makes independent connections with the victims and relays messages between them, making them believe that they are talking directly to one another over a personal connection, when in reality the entire conversation will be controlled by the attacker. The attacker must manage to intercept all messages going between the 2 victims and inject new ones. As an example, an attacker within reception selection of an unencrypted wifi access point can insert himself as a man-in-the-middle. Or an attacker can pose being an online bank or merchant, letting victims register over a SSL connection, and then the attacker can log onto the real server utilizing the victim's information and steal charge card numbers.
4. Smishing
Packet sniffers allow eavesdroppers to passively intercept data sent between your laptop or smartphone and other systems, such as for instance web servers on the Internet. Here is the easiest and simplest sort of wireless attack. Any email, web search or file you transfer between computers or open from network locations on an unsecured wireless network can be captured by way of a nearby hacker using a sniffer. Sniffing tools are readily available for free on the internet and there are at the very least 184 videos on YouTube to show budding hackers how to make use of them. The only method to guard yourself against wifi sniffing in most public wifi hotspots is to employ a VPN to encrypt everything sent within the air.
5. Mass Meshing
Also known as mass SQL injection, this can be a method whereby hackers poison websites by illegally imbedding a redirection javascript from legitimate websites previously infected and controlled by the hackers. These javascripts redirect the visitor's computer to servers which contain additional malicious programs that can attack a user's computer.
The Most Common Targets
Hackers are enthusiastic about many types of computers on the Internet. The next list describes different types of targets and their attract hackers. [2]
1. Corporate Networks
Corporate computers are often heavily fortified so hacking into you've got high cachet. Behind corporate firewalls are repositories of customer information, product information, and sometimes, in the event of a pc software publisher, the product itself.
2. Web Servers
Web servers are computers that have websites. Although some contain customer financial information, web servers are generally targets for vandals because they may be defaced to display information the hacker chooses to the public.
3. Personal Computers
With the ever growing use of wifi, laptops are becoming one of the very hacked devices. Everything a person visits online can be exposed to a person using software to "sniff" that connection. The website URL, passwords used to log into an on the web banking account, Facebook pictures, tweets, and a whole instant message conversation can be exposed. It's the easiest type of hacking because it requires little skill.
4. Tablets and Palm Top devices
Tablets, mobile phones, and other mobile-ready devices are just as popular as laptops are in wifi hotspots. A hacker in a public hotspot can see a portable device, in addition to all data starting and from the jawhorse, in the same way easily as he can a laptop.
How You Can Protect Yourself
The straightforward the fact is that anyone connecting to the Internet is susceptible to being hacked. Thus, there's a must be proactive in regards to protecting yourself from such attacks.
