What is a hacker?
“Hacker” is one of those terms that has a different meaning depending on who is using it. Thanks to Hollywood, most people think of a hacker as a person who gains illegal access to a computer and steals things or breaks into military networks and launches missiles for fun.
These days, a hacker doesn’t have to be a geek from a top university breaking into banks and government systems. A hacker can be anyone, even the boy next door.
With an ordinary laptop, anyone can download simple software from the Internet to see everything coming and going from a computer on the same network. And the people who do this don’t always have the best intentions.
A brief history of hackers
Today, the word “hacker” has become synonymous with people who sit in dark rooms, anonymously terrorizing the Internet. But it was not always like this. The original hackers were benign creatures. In fact, they were students.
To anyone who attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during the 1950s and 1960s, the term “hack” simply meant an elegant or inspired solution to any given problem. Many of the early MIT hacks tended to be practical jokes. One of the wackier saw a replica of a campus police car placed on top of the Institute’s Great Dome.
Over time, the word became associated with the burgeoning computer programming scene at MIT and beyond. For these early pioneers, a hack was a feat of programming progress. Such activities were highly admired as they combined expert knowledge with a creative flair.
Why does a hacker hack?
Hackers’ motivations vary. For some, it’s cheap. They make their living through cybercrime. Some have a political or social agenda: their goal is to vandalize high-profile computers to make a statement. This type of hacker is called a cracker because their main goal is to break the security of high-profile systems.
Others do it out of pure emotion. When asked by the SafeMode.org website why he defaces web servers, one cracker replied: “A high-profile defacement gives me a shot of adrenaline and then after a while I need another shot, that’s why I can’t stop.” . [1]
These days, we are faced with a new type of hacker: your next-door neighbor. Every day, thousands of people download simple software tools that allow them to “sniff” Wi-Fi connections. Some do this just to eavesdrop on what others are doing online. Others do this to steal personal data in an attempt to steal an identity.
The most common attacks
1. Lateral Raise/Sniff
Sidejacking is a method of web attack in which a hacker uses packet sniffing to steal a session cookie from a website you just visited. These cookies are usually sent back to browsers unencrypted, even if the original website login was protected over HTTPS. Anyone eavesdropping can steal these cookies and then use them to access your authenticated web session. This made headlines recently because a developer released a Firefox add-on called Firesheep that makes it easy for an intruder sitting near you on an open network (like a public Wi-Fi hotspot) to intercept many sessions of popular websites. For example, an assistant using Firesheep could take control of your Facebook session and thus gain access to all your sensitive data and even send viral messages and wall posts to all your friends.
2. DNS Cache Poisoning
In DNS cache poisoning, data is entered into the Domain Name System (DNS) name server’s cache database that did not originate from authoritative DNS sources. It is an unwanted result of a misconfigured DNS cache or a malicious attack on the name server. A DNS cache poisoning attack effectively changes the entries in the victim’s copy of the DNS nameserver, so when they type a legitimate site name, they are sent 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 espionage in which the attacker establishes independent connections with victims and relays messages between them, making them believe they are talking directly to each other. another through a private connection, when in reality the entire conversation is being controlled by the attacker. The attacker must be able to intercept all messages going between the two victims and inject new ones. For example, an attacker within the reception range of an unencrypted Wi-Fi hotspot can insert himself as a man in the middle. Or an attacker can impersonate a bank or online merchant, allowing victims to log in via an SSL connection, and then the attacker can log into the real server using the victim’s information and steal credit card numbers. credit.
4. hurt
Packet sniffers allow spies to passively intercept data sent between your laptop or smartphone and other systems, such as web servers on the Internet. This is the simplest and most basic type 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 a nearby hacker using a sniffer. The tracking tools are freely available on the web and there are at least 184 videos on YouTube to show budding hackers how to use them. The only way to protect yourself against Wi-Fi detection at most public Wi-Fi hotspots is to use a VPN to encrypt everything sent over the air.
5. Mass meshing
Also known as bulk SQL injection, this is a method by which hackers poison websites by illegally embedding redirect javascript from legitimate websites previously infected and controlled by the hackers. These javascripts redirect the visitor’s computer to servers that contain additional malware that can attack a user’s computer.
The most common goals
Hackers are interested in many types of computers on the Internet. The following list describes different types of targets and their appeal to hackers. [2]
1.Corporate Networks
Corporate computers are often heavily fortified, so hacking into one carries great prestige. Behind corporate firewalls are repositories of customer information, product information, and sometimes, in the case of a software publisher, the product itself.
2. Web servers
Web servers are computers that contain websites. While some contain customer financial information, web servers are often targeted by vandals because they can be defaced to display the information the hacker chooses to the public.
3. Personal computers
With the increasing use of Wi-Fi, laptops are becoming one of the most hacked devices. Anything a person visits online can be exposed to a person using software to “sniff” that connection. Website URLs, passwords used to log into an online bank account, Facebook images, tweets, and an entire instant message conversation can all be exposed. It is the easiest way to hack as it requires little skill.
4. Palm Top Tablets and Devices
Tablets, cell phones, and other mobile devices are just as popular as laptops at Wi-Fi hotspots. A hacker at a public hotspot can see a mobile device, as well as all the data going in and out of it, just as easily as a laptop.
How you can protect yourself
The simple truth is that anyone who connects to the Internet is vulnerable to being hacked. Therefore, it is necessary to be proactive when it comes to protecting yourself from such attacks.
Tracking attacks are the most dangerous, as firewalls and antivirus software cannot help. Only a personal VPN can protect a person from a tracker. The potential victim, if connected to a personal VPN, has all of their data routed through a secure server, making it impossible for the hacker to detect. A user who has a secure VPN can browse as if invisible to hackers. PRIVATE WiFi provides such a VPN service.
Reference:
1. cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/afs-paper/node3.html
2.inform.com/articles/article.aspx?p=425380