Hacking the ultimate beginners guide to experts guide to computer hacking, penetration testing and basic security coding

The Ultimate Beginners to Experts Guide to Computer Hacking,... Hackers are those individuals who usetheir knowledge of computers toinfiltrate and compromise the security ofother compute

The Ultimate Beginners

to Experts Guide to Computer Hacking,

Penetration Testing and Basic Security Coding

Introduction

Chapter 1 – Ethical Hacking

Chapter 2 – Types of Hackers

Chapter 3 – Hacking Methods and theirPrevention

Chapter 4 – Knowing the Target andVictim

Chapter 5 – Types of Malware

Chapter 6 – Spy Programs and

Computer Viruses

Conclusion

Hackers are those individuals who usetheir knowledge of computers toinfiltrate and compromise the security ofother computer networks They oftentarget home and office computers thatare connected to the Internet TheInternet is a gateway to a computer toconnect to the world, which also makes

it vulnerable to attacks from hackersacross the globe Hackers can workalone or in groups, and in a lot of casesare self-taught

Positive Side of Hacking

Supporters argue that despite the

inconvenience, hackers can cause benefit

to the systems of business, they alsoprovide high security to big companies;

it helps to make the Internet safer.Businesses nowadays tend to employ

"ethical hackers" whose agenda is to testonline security based systems and keepaway potential threats

Ethical hackers test the networks forvulnerabilities Their aim is to check ifthese networks are secure enough to getpast their security defenses They ensuretheir companies are not susceptible inany way to attacks from the black andGrey hat hackers who are the badhackers

Thank you for choosing to read thisbook I believe it will answer yourquestions and help you understandhacking more.

Chapter 1 – Ethical

Hacking

Does the famous word hacking soundfamiliar? Does it scare you? Ironically hacking is not that bad as many maythink Illegal hacking is bad, legalhacking on the other hand is doing usgood If this is your first book or reading

on hacking then surely you will get somepotential insight on hacking after readingthis My article gives a simple overview

on ethical hackers

The term ethical hacker came to surface

in the late 1970s when the government ofUnited States of America hired groups of

experts called 'red teams' to hack itshardware and software system Hackersare cyber criminals or online computercriminals that practice illegal hacking.They penetrate into the security system

of a computer network to fetch or extractinformation

Technology and internet facilitated thebirth and growth of network evils like avirus, anti-virus, hacking and ethicalhacking Hacking is a practice ofmodification of a computer hardwareand software system The illegalbreaking of a computer system is acriminal offense Recently a spurt in thehacking of computer systems has opened

up several courses on ethical hacking

A 'white hat' hacker is a moral hackerwho runs penetration testing andintrusion testing Ethical hacking in theprocess of legally hacking a computersystem, that is hacking with permissionand penetrating into the systems'database database The whole ideabehind this is to secure thevulnerabilities and loopholes in thecyber-security system.

Legal hacking experts are usuallyCertified Ethical Hackers who are hired

to prevent any potential threat to thecomputer security system or network.Courses for ethical hacking have becomewidely popular, and many are taking it

up as a serious profession Ethicalhacking courses have gathered hugeresponses all over the world.

The moral hacking experts run severalprograms to secure the network systems

of companies

A moral hacker has legal permission tobreach the software system or thedatabase of a company The companythat allows a probe into its securitysystem must give legal consent to themoral hacking school in writing

Moral hackers only look into the securityissues of the company and aim to securethe breaches in the system

The school of moral hackers runsvulnerability assessment to mendloopholes in the internal computernetwork In addition to this, they runsecurity software application programswhich are used as the measure to preventagainst any form of illegal hacking.

Legal hacking experts are people whoare used to detect vulnerabilities in systems which are loopholes for theentry of online cyber criminals Theyconduct these tests mainly to check if thehardware and software programs areeffective enough to prevent anyunauthorized entry

The moral experts conduct this test byreplicating a cyber attack on the network

to understand how strong it is againstany network intrusion

The vulnerability test must be done on aregular basis or annually The companymust keep a comprehensive record of thefindings and check for further reference

in the future

Chapter 2 – Types of

Hackers

Internet hacking is a game for somepeople They receive a level ofsatisfaction from accomplishing the task.For many others, breaking into systems

is simply a way of ensuring that theirown personal or business' securitysystem is successfully keeping outhackers When people start getting intoillegal hacking, they are breaking thelaw and therefore may be subject toserious legal consequences if they arecaught and convicted of an offense

Some of the different types of computerhacking are outlined below:

White hat - Legal hacking Typicallyused for the benefit for those wanting toknow whether or not their systems aresecure

Black hat - Using hacking for personalgain

Grey hat - This type of computer hacking

is a combination of the two kinds listedabove A grey hat hacker uses legalbreaking into a computer while using theinformation for personal gain

Blue hat - Permission is given to another

party to break into a computer securitysystem to test for any bugs or errors.

Elite – This term is used to describehackers who are extremely talented

Script kiddie – These are the hackerswho often use the tools and advice ofother people to hack into the system.Typically these hacker not extremelyknowledgeable as far as computers areconcerned

Neophyte - Inexperienced in the field ofinternet basics

Hacktivism - Spreads a message aboutpersonal beliefs through breaking into

computer security systems.

Many of these types of hackers,especially talented ones, break laws Nomatter the degree of the crime, thosearrested are entitled to a defenseattorney to protect them from harshsentences Sentences for these chargescan be more than 10 years

is someone who gains access to anetwork or computer(s) and steals stuff.Also hackers are considered people whobreak into military networks then theylaunch missiles for fun.

These days, a hacker doesn't have to be

a geek from a top university who breaksinto banks and government systems Ahacker can be anyone, even the kid nextdoor

With an ordinary laptop, anyone candownload simple software off theInternet to see everything that goes intoand out of a computer on the samenetwork And the people who do thisdon't always have the best of intentions

These days, we are faced with a newtype of hacker - your next door neighbor.Every day, thousands of peopledownload simple software tools thatallow them to "sniff" wifi connections

Some do this just to eavesdrop on whatothers are doing online Others do this tosteal personal data in an attempt steal anidentity.

The Most Common Attacks

Mass Meshing

Also known as mass SQL injection, this

is a technique whereby the hackerspoison websites by imbedding illegally

a redirection javascript from the code ofthe legitimate websites previouslyinfected and controlled by the hackers.These javascripts redirect the visitor'scomputer to servers which containadditional malicious programs that canattack a user's computer

Common targets are Web Servers and Personal Computers

With the ever growing use of wifi,laptops are becoming one of the mosthacked devices Everything a personvisits online can be exposed to a personusing software to "sniff" that connection.The website URL, passwords used tolog into an online banking account,Facebook pictures, tweets, and an entireinstant message conversation can beexposed It is the easiest form of hacking

as it requires little skill

Tablets and Palm Top devices

Tablets, cell phones, and other ready devices are just as popular aslaptops are in wifi hotspots A hacker in

mobile-a public hotspot cmobile-an see mobile-a mobiledevice, as well as all data going into and

out of it, just as easily as he can alaptop.

How You Can Protect Yourself

The simple truth is that anyoneconnecting to the Internet is vulnerable

to being hacked Thus, there is a need to

be proactive when it comes to protectingyourself from such attacks

Sniffing attacks are the most dangerous,

as firewalls and antivirus softwarecannot help Only a personal VPN canprotect a person from a sniffer Thewould-be victim, if connected to apersonal VPN, has all their data routed

through a secure server, making itimpossible for the hacker to sniff A userwho has a secure VPN can surf as if he

or she is invisible to hackers PRIVATEWiFi provides such a VPN service

Chapter 4 – Knowing the Target and Victim

One of the questions I hear all of thetime is "who are these hackers, and whyare they targeting me?" Many individualstend to assume hackers are geeks or alsoreferred to as super-smart kids who arepoorly behaved and they get a kick out ofmanipulating the system and causingmischief

Today, hacking is no longer kid's stuff,but a multi-billion dollar industry thatspans the globe Some experts believethat as many as 25% of all computers areinfected by hacker's software A big

part of what hackers do is to turn yourcomputer into a robot.

The tech name for this is a network, actually Suppose you go on theInternet and download something perhaps a song, some freeware, a game you will never know that download isinfected When you click download, younot only get your music, but thedownload will install hidden softwaredeep inside your computer that will turnyour computer into a robot Thissoftware is called a virus, a worm, spyware, malware, or a Trojan horse

BOT-The hackers gather thousands of botcomputers into a bot network, and these

computers are used to send infected files

to thousands of other computers If theattack is caught and traced, it is traced toyou, not to the hacker There are a fewsymptoms that your computer is a BOT mainly that it slows down because thehacker is using your resources, but oftenyou get pop-ups, and the computer startsperforming unusually and locking up.Often the ISP (Internet Service Provider)will catch this, and shut down yourInternet connection

We have people come in our business all

of the time who are incensed becausetheir ISP has shut them down for sendingspam They are always understandablyupset, and don't understand until we

explain to them that they have beenhacked Once we fix their computer, theISP will hook them back up Don'tworry, the Internet Police are definitelynot going to show up at your door andarrest you for sending spam, everyoneknows what is going on here, but yourcomputer MUST be cleaned up before it

is put back on the Internet

Your computer is being used to stealidentities, and rob people by a personwho may be on the other side of theworld! There are actually businesseswho sell time on their bot-nets, for badguys to send their malicious software tothousands of unsuspecting computers!This leads me to the next type of hacker-

-the phisher.

The main goal of hackers is to gatherinformation to steal money Phishing ispronounced fishing and it is the samething fishing for information Thephishers have a variety of ways to stealyour information, all of which requireYOUR action clicking on something Amain way for phishers to gather yourbanking information is to send you anemail (through a bot-network) that tellsyou that your banking information needsupdating, and that your account has beenfrozen until you resolve this

You may have gotten such an email, itmay be confusing because it is not from

your bank These guys know that amongthe thousands of phishing emails that aresent, some of the recipients will becustomers of that bank According to theFBI, as many as 3% of the recipients ofthese phishing emails actually input theirbank passwords and pins With oneclick, their identity is stolen, and theirbank account drained.

Another type of phishing works like thebot-network, you download a file, andget hidden software installed deep inyour computer, hidden from view Thistype of software is called a Key logger.This creepy software allows the hackers

to see everything you type-and remotelysee, and go through your computer files

The goal is to find passwords, creditcard numbers, names, addresses, socialsecurity numbers, email passwords inother words, your identity When you logonto your bank account, or type in yourcredit card number, it is as though thehacker is looking over your shoulder.

These identities are gathered and sold onwebsites to bad guys who will steal youridentity and rob you They are sold ingroups like complete identities(including name, passwords, mother'smaiden name address and credit cards),partial identities Sometimes thesecreeps even have buy-one-get-one-freesales of people's identities! The FBI has

a whole department that monitors thesewebsites, and works diligently to catchthe cyber-crooks However, many ofthem are in places in the world whereextradition to the US for prosecution iscomplicated, often Russia or Nigeria.

I do not mean to give you the impressionthat you are helpless in this, and that youshould never use your computer again!There are ways to out-smart them First,

if you haven't read my articles abouthackers and cyber-intrusions, read them

However, I am finding that one of thebest new tools to combat key loggers issoftware where you enter your log-insand passwords (and credit card

numbers), and when you need to log in

or enter your passwords, pins, creditcard numbers, name, address anythingthat can be stolen from you, the softwareautomatically enters it in an encryptedformat You never type this on yourkeyboard so the keys can't be captured,and if the bad guys can see yourcomputer, what they see is encrypted

We also recommend that the time hascome to make your passwords tough tocrack long, a combination of numbersand letters, unpredictable For example,your first grade teacher's name followed

by a number combination followed bythe name of a river you know I knowthis is hard, but it is important to have