An Introduction to 'Hacking'
Hacking
What is Hacking?
Hacking refers to activities that seek to compromise computers, smartphones, tablets, and even entire networks. Basically, it is the act of identifying weaknesses in a computer system or a network to exploit the security to gain access to personal data or business data. An example of computer hacking can be: using a password cracking algorithm to gain access to a computer system.
Hackers categorization
Ethical Hacker (White hat): A security 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 unauthorised 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. ??? ??? ???
Cybercrime is the activity of using computers and networks to perform illegal activities like spreading computer viruses, online bullying, performing unauthorised electronic fund transfers, etc. Most cybercrime hacks are committed through the internet, and some cyber crimes are performed using mobile phones via SMS and online chatting applications.
Notable security incidents
The Ransomware that Propelled itself into Fame: Wannacry
WannaCry is a ransomware worm that spread rapidly across a number of computer networks in May of 2017. After infecting a Windows computer, it encrypts files on the PC's hard drive, making them impossible for users to access, then demands a ransom payment in bitcoin in order to decrypt them.
A number of factors made the initial spread of WannaCry particularly noteworthy: it struck a number of important and high-profile systems, including many in Britain's National Health Service; it exploited a Windows vulnerability that was suspected to have been first discovered by the United States National Security Agency; and it was tentatively linked by Symantec and other security researchers to the Lazarus Group, a cybercrime organisation that may be connected to the North Korean government.
How WannaCry works
The WannaCry ransomware executable works in a straightforward manner and is not considered particularly complex or innovative. It arrives on the infected computer in the form of a dropper, a self-contained program that extracts the other application components embedded within itself. Those components include:?
Whatever the original WannaCry source code is, it hasn't been found or made available to researchers, although it's easy enough for them to examine the binary's execution. Once launched, WannaCry tries to access a hard-coded URL—this is a kill switch, and we'll discuss it in more detail in a moment. If the ransomware can connect to that URL, it shuts down; if it can't, it proceeds to search for and encrypt files in a slew of important formats, ranging from Microsoft Office files to MP3s and MKVs, leaving them inaccessible to the user. It then displays a ransom notice, demanding some Bitcoin—not an outrageous amount, often on the order of $300—to decrypt the files.
How to prevent the WannaCry ransomeware
WannaCry ransomware can be prevented by downloading the appropriate patch for your version of Windows from Microsoft, and the easiest way to do that is to simply update your OS to the most recent version. Ironically, the necessary patch was available before the attack began: Microsoft Security Bulletin MS17-010, released on March 14, 2017, updated the Windows implementation of the SMB protocol to prevent infection via EternalBlue. Despite the fact that Microsoft had flagged the patch as critical, many systems were still unpatched as of May of 2017 when WannaCry began its rapid spread.
For those unpatched systems that are infected, there is little remedy beyond restoring files from a safe backup—so let that be a lesson that you should always back up your files. While those monitoring the bitcoin wallets identified in the extortion message say that some people are paying the ransom, there's little evidence that they're regaining access to their files.
领英推荐
The Biggest Data Breach in Malaysia: Malaysia Telco leak
In 2017, 46.2 million mobile phone numbers from Malaysian telcos and mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) were leaked online.
Everything from your telephone number, IC number and even your address were found for sale online. There was also a website to help you check if your details were part of the data breach called ‘SayaKenaHack.com’, which would eventually be taken down. It wasn’t just the data breach that made the news either. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) even ordered Lowyat.net to remove news reports of the data breach. These numbers would later be used to send scam messages with personal information to add to its credibility, and flood everyone affected with spam calls.
Read more here: https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/403410
What's in our event
Web Hacking using DVWA
Damn Vulnerable Web Application (DVWA) is a PHP/MySQL web application that is as it’s namesake, damn vulnerable. Its main goal is to be an aid for security professionals to test their skills and tools in a legal environment, help web developers better understand the processes of securing web applications and to aid both students & teachers to learn about web application security in a controlled classroom environment.
The aim of DVWA is to practice some of the most common web vulnerabilities, with various levels of difficulty, with a simple straightforward interface. With this, we explore famous web application attacks such as SQL injection, Cross Site Scripting and File Upload Vulnerability
Windows Batch files
As we all know, Virus is nothing but a malicious program which enters into a system without the permission and affects the data and the working of the complete Operating System. The main task of the virus is to replicate itself and spread through the files and corrupt user files.
In this tutorial we are going to see how to create some dangerous virus(which are basically scripts), which we can execute in order to destroy or break the system.?
We will be creating the virus using batch scripting. These scripts are stored in the victim computer in the form of batch files. By using these batch files we can completely delete the windows files, format the different drives(C:\, E:\), steal data files, information and more havoc.
Social Engineering Attacks on Kali Linux
Social Engineering is a word which is used for a broad range of malicious activities which is accomplished through human interactions. This type of attack uses psychological manipulation to trick the users into making security related mistakes or giving away the sensitive information.
This type of attack happens in one or more steps. An attacker first investigates the intended victim to gather necessary background information, such as potential points of entry and any weaknesses or any weak security controls, needed to proceed with the attack. Then the attacker starts to gain the access to the victim’s trust and provide stimuli for subsequent actions that break security practices such as revealing sensitive information or gathering access to critical resources.?
There are different types of social engineering attacks. Some of them are:
With this, we use psychological manipulation to trick the users into making security related mistakes or giving away the sensitive information.