What are the types of hacking techniques?
When you think about the types of hacking techniques, you’ll realize that in our world today, we perform a lot of activities over the internet and hackers now have more opportunities to gain unauthorized access to unclassified data.
There are now more attempts by hackers to gain access to vital information such as user credentials, email addresses, and credit card information being stored on personal devices and freely transmitted over the internet. The techniques used by hackers are constantly evolving; you, therefore, need to keep up with new tactics to remain protected.
Types of Hacking Techniques: What is hacking?
Hacking is the process of taking advantage of vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access to a tablet, smartphone, computer, or network system. Hackers gain unauthorized access to information by changing the features of a network or system, or exploiting any loopholes.
They make use of advanced computer skills to exploit and get into the system of a victim without them knowing. After they do this, they’ll be able to view personal information such as financial data and passwords.
Though most hackers use their knowledge for greed, revenge, and fun, not all hackers use their skills for exploitative purposes; there are some types of hacking techniques that are used to protect confidential data from being stolen. They are known as ethical or white hat hackers.
Types of Hacking Techniques
Below are some common hacking techniques you should know to remain protected:
1. Bait and switch
Most hackers have used this technique for many years. They offer their victims something they want and then swap it out for something different when they’re distracted.
This hacking trick has different variations in this digital age. One of the most popular is that used by cyber-criminals on websites that sell advertising spaces.
Hackers can gain these advertising spaces by registering with a different email address and link it to a site that looks legitimate – which is the one that the site owner sees when he or she visits the link. However, as soon as the ad gets active, people clicking on the link may be sent to a page that has been infected with a virus.
2. Keylogger
This is simply software that records the strokes and key sequence of your keyboard into a log file on your device. Your email and passwords can be found in these log files.
Keylogger is also referred to as keyboard capturing, and it can be either software or hardware. Software-based keyloggers target programs that have been installed on a system, while the hardware version targets keyboards, phone sensors, electromagnetic emissions, and so on.
This is why online banking sites provide users the option of using their virtual keyboards. Therefore, any time you’re operating a computer in a public space, take extra caution to avoid being a victim of this attack.
3. Denial of Service (DoS\DDoS)
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is a way that cybercriminals make a server unavailable by crashing the server by using bots. The main aim of the bots is to send several requests to the website, and because of this, the server will be unable to process all of the received requests – causing it to eventually crash.
The most dangerous thing about this technique is that a hacker can crash the server within a few minutes. The size of DDoS attacks keeps getting advanced with each passing year.
4. Obtaining passwords
Hackers can crack your passwords through various means. They could make you download software that records your keystrokes and saves your usernames and passwords when you input them. Attackers can release malware on the machine of users if they are in a nearby location and obtain your login details.
Additionally, we now have password cracking programs that can run letter and character combinations, guessing passwords within a few minutes. A five-character password for instance could have about 100 combinations, and a good password cracker could run through them all in some seconds.
The best thing to do to remain protected will be to use a password management tool that can house your credentials securely. You can use these tools to auto-generate long, diverse character passwords that will be hard for hackers to guess. Also, consider using encryption and multi-factor authentication methods to protect your data using various layers of protection.
5. Eavesdropping
Hackers use this passive method to listen in on a network connection and record as much valuable information as they can get. They may use interception of data transmissions, packet sniffing, and other monitoring methods; however, this attack will only be successful if the hacker goes undetected.
The networks at the greatest risk of eavesdroppers are those that are unsecured. Those that use public WiFi should use a VPN when connecting to protect themselves. Corporate networks may use IDS or IPS to protect their systems from eavesdropping.
6. Fake wireless access point (WAP)
An attacker could make use of software to fake a wireless access point, just for the fun of it. This access point connects to the official public place WAP. Once a user gets connected to the fake WAP, an attacker can gain access to their data.
This technique is one of the easier to accomplish. You only need a simple software and wireless network to carry it out. A WAP connection can appear legit and hard to determine its legitimacy. It is best to use a good VPN to protect yourself from such attacks.
7. Non-targeted website attack
Most times, hackers don’t target a particular website. They are more interested in carrying out a large-scale attack. A user can easily fall victim to a non-targeted attack. Just overlook any CMS, plugin, or template vulnerability because the hacker can use any loophole to get into the network of a victim.
An attacker can easily get websites that have similar weaknesses. They can use the hacking database of Google to get a list of websites that are vulnerable. For instance, a hacker can find all indexed websites that have installed a vulnerable plugin or websites that have catalogs that are not hidden.
8. Phishing
The basis of a phishing attack is using email messages that have been specifically created to induce a recipient into revealing personal or financial information. Today, hackers have improved on this technique by using social engineering to include an element of urgency into the attack.
They could tempt users by telling them there’s a not-to-be-missed financial deal, a free software download, a court summons from the power company over your unpaid bill, or an alert regarding your browsing activity. Hackers can use these techniques to lure users into visiting a spoofed website where they obtain their credentials or send malware into their system.
In addition to taking caution, you should also employ common sense. If a message appears suspicious, verify by calling or visiting the person that sent it. Corporate users need to undergo security awareness training to keep them informed about recent threats and phishing scams.
9. Cookie theft
When using your browser website store cookies. This includes your search history, passwords of some accounts, and other vital information. When a hacker views the cookie session of your browser, he or she can get authenticated as you on a browser and then can carry out an attack. It’s best to regularly clear the cache and search history of your browser to guarantee protection from such attacks.
Cookies can store personal data such as usernames, passwords, and browsing history for various sites we visit. A popular for a hacker to carry out this attack is to manipulate the IP packets of a user to pass through their device. This attack is also known as SideJacking or Session Hijacking, and it is easy to carry out if the user is not using SSL.
10. Malware or virus attack
Hackers can visit any website and insert codes or malware into its database or files. There are various viruses, each causing different impacts on websites.
Viruses are dangerous programs that can get installed into the system of a victim and keeps sending the data of victims to the hacker. They can also lock the victim’s files, serve malicious advertisements, divert traffic, sniff data, or spread to other computers connected to that network.
To prevent these attacks, you should be cautious when opening email messages and attached files. Disable pop-up windows in your browser, to avoid the temptation of clicking them. Only download software from approved app stores and reputable companies. You should also keep your anti-malware and security software up-to-date.
What are the Types of Hacking Techniques: Bottom line
It can be difficult for users to believe that they can fall victim to hacking attempts within a few minutes. The only thing a hacker needs is to get the right criteria by using the hacking database of Google and search it with the parameters. Depending on the criteria a hacker chooses, he or she can take the required actions to hack a system.
If your website is vulnerable, get ready for regular updating, cleaning, and repairing. Your top priority should be to remain protected against these attacks. You can do that by installing a quality antivirus to protect your website from all forms of hacking attacks. It can also locate existing viruses and malicious codes.
Good antivirus software should also periodically check your system for any viruses and other suspects on your system. Also, ensure that your windows firewall is turned on for additional security of your computer and don’t respond to suspicious offers and emails. Install software from a trusted and secured provider and avoid doing transactions and exchange of other sensitive data using public networks.
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