Hacking Common methods
A typical approach in an attack an Internet-connected system is:
1. Network enumeration: Discovering information about the intended target.
2. Vulnerability analysis: Identifying potential ways of attack.
3. Exploitation: Attempting to compromise the system by employing the vulnerabilities found trough the vulnerability analysis.
In order to do so, there are several recurring tools of the trade and techniques used by computer criminals and security experts.
Security exploitA security exploit is a prepared application that takes advantage of a known weakness.
Vulnerability scannerA vulnerability scanner is a tool used to quickly check computers on a network for known weaknesses. Hackers also commonly use port scanners. These check to see which ports on a specified computer are "open" or available to access the computer, and sometimes will detect what program or service is listening on that port, and its version number. (Note that firewalls defend computers from intruders by limiting access to ports/machines both inbound and outbound, but can still be circumvented.)
Packet SnifferA packet sniffer is an application that captures data packets, which can be used to capture passwords and other data in transit over the network.
Spoofing attackA spoofing attack involves one program, system, or website successfully masquerading as another by falsifying data and thereby being treated as a trusted system by a user or another program.
RootkitA rootkit is designed to conceal the compromise of a computer's security, and can represent any of a set of programs which work to subvert control of an operating system from its legitimate operators. Usually, a rootkit will obscure its installation and attempt to prevent its removal through a subversion of standard system security. Rootkits may include replacements for system binaries so that it becomes impossible for the legitimate user to detect the presence of the intruder on the system by looking at process tables.
Social engineeringSocial Engineering is the art of getting persons to reveal sensitive information about a system. This is usually done by impersonating someone or by convincing people to believe you have permissions to obtain such information.
Trojan horseA Trojan horse is a program which seems to be doing one thing, but is actually doing another. A trojan horse can be used to set up a back door in a computer system such that the intruder can gain access later. (The name refers to the horse from the Trojan War, with conceptually similar function of deceiving defenders into bringing an intruder inside.)
VirusA virus is a self-replicating program that spreads by inserting copies of itself into other executable code or documents. Thus, a computer virus behaves in a way similar to a biological virus, which spreads by inserting itself into living cells.
WormLike a virus, a worm is also a self-replicating program. A worm differs from a virus in that it propagates through computer networks without user intervention. Many people conflate the terms "virus" and "worm", using them both to describe any self-propagating program.
Key loggersA keylogger is a tool designed to record ('log') every keystroke on an affected machine for later retrieval. Often uses virus-, trojan-, and rootkit-like methods to remain active and hidden.
Phishing Technique
Most methods of phishing use some form of technical deception designed to make a link in an e-mail (and the spoofed website it leads to) appear to belong to the spoofed organization. Misspelled URLs or the use of subdomains are common tricks used by phishers. In the following example URL, http://www.yourbank.example.com/, it appears as though the URL will take you to the example section of the yourbank website; actually this URL points to the "yourbank" (i.e. phishing) section of the example website. Another common trick is to make the anchor text for a link appear to be valid, when the link actually goes to the phishers' site. The following example link, Genuine, appears to take you to an article entitled "Genuine"; clicking on it will in fact take you to the article entitled "Deception".
An old method of spoofing used links containing the '@' symbol, originally intended as a way to include a username and password (contrary to the standard). For example, the link http://www.google.com@members.tripod.com/ might deceive a casual observer into believing that it will open a page on www.google.com, whereas it actually directs the browser to a page on members.tripod.com, using a username of www.google.com: the page opens normally, regardless of the username supplied. Such URLs were disabled in Internet Explorer, while Mozilla Firefox and Opera present a warning message and give the option of continuing to the site or cancelling.
A further problem with URLs has been found in the handling of Internationalized domain names (IDN) in web browsers, that might allow visually identical web addresses to lead to different, possibly malicious, websites. Despite the publicity surrounding the flaw, known as IDN spoofing or a homograph attack, Phishers have taken advantage of a similar risk, using open URL redirectors on the websites of trusted organizations to disguise malicious URLs with a trusted domain.]
How to Hack Network Passwords In 13 Easy Steps!! (Download)
This tutorial is from “the antriddle forum” and was written by akapsycho.
This hack is actually pretty new (so IT folk may not be prepared for it yet). It uses cain & abel and its ability to use ARP poisoning. If you don’t know what that means, then DO NOT TRY THIS. You could take down a whole network.
Here are the steps:
Step 1: Download, install and run Cain & Abel at http://www.oxid.it/cain.html
Step 2: Click “Configure” in the top bar.
Step 3: In the “Sniffer” tab, click the adapter which is connected to the network to be sniffed, then click “Apply”, then “OK”.
Step 4: Click the “Sniffer” tab in the main window.
Step 5: Click the network card in the top bar (2nd icon from the left).
Step 6: Click the “+” button in the top bar.
Step 7: Select “All hosts in my subnet”, click “OK”. Entries should appear in the main window under the “IP address”, “MAC address” and “OUI fingerprint” headings.
Step 8: From the “Sniffer” tab, click “APR” in the bottom tab.
Step 9: Click the top right pane in the main window. Click the “+” button in the top bar.
Step 10: Click on the router in the left pane. The router is generally the entry which has the lowest final IP value (xxx.xxx.xxx.*). Highlight the IP addresses to sniff in the right pane. Click “OK”.
Step 11: Click the ARP icon in the top bar (3rd icon from the left). Wait until other users have logged into websites on other computers. Depending on the size of the network and the traffic which this network receives, this can range from minutes to hours.
Step 12: After some time has passed, click “Passwords” in the bottom tab.
Step 13: In the left pane, select the bolded entries. The right pane should show the time, server, username, password (in plaintext) and site accessed.
Doesn’t look like you can grab network admin info, more of a website user/pass hack. Its still pretty kewl though.
For more information a user called “bugmenot” posted these sites to learn what Cain is doing:
Check out the links below to learn exactly what Cain is doing…
http://www.grc.com/nat/arp.htm
http://www.grc.com/sn/SN-029.htm
I reccomend reading through those site before attempting this hack. Even if you are only testing your home network, you want to understand what you are doing. Hack to learn, remember?
Other than that, hack at it!!!
Legal: DO NOT TRY THIS AT WORK. In all likelihood your IT peeps will see what you’re doing and just walk right up to your office and “Have a chat”. Probably will get you fired. As for universities, I dunno the rules on that. Either way, as with most hacks I post, these are for instructional purposes only and not to be used on anyone’s network but your own. (i.e. if you get caught doing this TMBBITW is in no way responsible for what happens to you or your network.)
