What is Hacking? Introduction & Types
What is Hacking?
Hacking is identifying weakness in computer systems or networks to exploit its weaknesses to gain access. Example of Hacking: Using password cracking algorithm to gain access to a system
Computers have become mandatory to run a successful businesses. It is not enough to have isolated computers systems; they need to be networked to facilitate communication with external businesses. This exposes them to the outside world and hacking. Hacking means using computers to commit fraudulent acts such as fraud, privacy invasion, stealing corporate/personal data, etc. Cyber crimes cost many organizations millions of dollars every year. Businesses need to protect themselves against such attacks.
In this tutorial, we will learn-
- Common Hacking Terminologies
- What is Cyber Crime?
- Types of Cyber Crime
- What is Ethical Hacking?
- Why Ethical Hacking?
- Legality of Ethical Hacking
- Summary
Before we go any further, let’s look at some of the most commonly used terminologies in the world of hacking.
Who is a Hacker? Types of Hackers
A Hacker is a person who finds and exploits the weakness in computer systems and/or networks to gain access. Hackers are usually skilled computer programmers with knowledge of computer security.
Hackers are classified according to the intent of their actions. The following list classifies hackers according to their intent.
| Symbol | Description |
|---|---|
 | Ethical Hacker (White hat): A hacker who gains access to systems with a view to fix the identified weaknesses. They may also perform penetrationTesting and vulnerability assessments. |
 | Cracker (Black hat): A hacker who gains unauthorized 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. |
 | Script kiddies: A non-skilled person who gains access to computer systems using already made tools. |
 | Hacktivist: A hacker who use hacking to send social, religious, and political, etc. messages. This is usually done by hijacking websites and leaving the message on the hijacked website. |
 | Phreaker: A hacker who identifies and exploits weaknesses in telephones instead of computers. |
What is Cybercrime?
Cyber crime is the use of computers and networks to perform illegal activities such as spreading computer viruses, online bullying, performing unauthorized electronic fund transfers, etc. Most cybercrimes are committed through the internet. Some cybercrimes can also be carried out usingMobile phones via SMS and online chatting applications.
Type of Cybercrime
- The following list presents the common types of cybercrimes:
- Computer Fraud: Intentional deception for personal gain via the use of computer systems.
- Privacy violation: Exposing personal information such as email addresses, phone number, account details, etc. on social media, websites, etc.
- Identity Theft: Stealing personal information from somebody and impersonating that person.
- Sharing copyrighted files/information: This involves distributing copyright protected files such as eBooks and computer programs etc.
- Electronic funds transfer: This involves gaining an un-authorized access to bank computer networks and making illegal fund transfers.
- Electronic money laundering: This involves the use of the computer to launder money.
- ATM Fraud: This involves intercepting ATM card details such as account number and PIN numbers. These details are then used to withdraw funds from the intercepted accounts.
- Denial of Service Attacks: This involves the use of computers in multiple locations to attack servers with a view of shutting them down.
- Spam: Sending unauthorized emails. These emails usually contain advertisements.
What is Ethical Hacking?
Ethical Hacking is identifying weakness in computer systems and/or computer networks and coming with countermeasures that protect the weaknesses. Ethical hackers must abide by the following rules.
- Get written permission from the owner of the computer system and/or computer network before hacking.
- Protect the privacy of the organization been hacked.
- Transparently report all the identified weaknesses in the computer system to the organization.
- Inform hardware and software vendors of the identified weaknesses.
Why Ethical Hacking?
- Information is one of the most valuable assets of an organization. Keeping information secure can protect an organization’s image and save an organization a lot of money.
- Hacking can lead to loss of business for organizations that deal in finance such as PayPal. Ethical hacking puts them a step ahead of the cyber criminals who would otherwise lead to loss of business.
Legality of Ethical Hacking
Ethical Hacking is legal if the hacker abides by the rules stipulated in the above section on the definition of ethical hacking. The International Council of E-Commerce Consultants (EC-Council) provides a certification program that tests individual’s skills. Those who pass the examination are awarded with certificates. The certificates are supposed to be renewed after some time.
Summary
- Hacking is identifying and exploiting weaknesses in computer systems and/or computer networks.
- Cybercrime is committing a crime with the aid of computers and information technology infrastructure.
- Ethical Hacking is about improving the security of computer systems and/or computer networks.
- Ethical Hacking is legal.
Potential Security Threats To Your Computer Systems
A computer system threat is anything that leads to loss or corruption of data or physical damage to the hardware and/or infrastructure. Knowing how to identify computer security threats is the first step in protecting computer systems. The threats could be intentional, accidental or caused by natural disasters.
In this article, we will introduce you to the common computer system threats and how you can protect systems against them.
Topics covered in this tutorial
What is a Security Threat?
Security Threat is defined as a risk that which can potentially harm computer systems and organization. The cause could be physical such as someone stealing a computer that contains vital data. The cause could also be non-physical such as a virus attack. In these tutorial series, we will define a threat as a potential attack from a hacker that can allow them to gain unauthorized access to a computer system.
What are Physical Threats?
A physical threat is a potential cause of an incident that may result in loss or physical damage to the computer systems.
The following list classifies the physical threats into three (3) main categories;
- Internal: The threats include fire, unstable power supply, humidity in the rooms housing the hardware, etc.
- External: These threats include Lightning, floods, earthquakes, etc.
- Human: These threats include theft, vandalism of the infrastructure and/or hardware, disruption, accidental or intentional errors.
To protect computer systems from the above mentioned physical threats, an organization must have physical security control measures.
The following list shows some of the possible measures that can be taken:
- Internal: Fire threats could be prevented by the use of automatic fire detectors and extinguishers that do not use water to put out a fire. The unstable power supply can be prevented by the use of voltage controllers. An air conditioner can be used to control the humidity in the computer room.
- External: Lightning protection systems can be used to protect computer systems against such attacks. Lightning protection systems are not 100% perfect, but to a certain extent, they reduce the chances of Lightning causing damage. Housing computer systems in high lands are one of the possible ways of protecting systems against floods.
- Humans: Threats such as theft can be prevented by use of locked doors and restricted access to computer rooms.
What are Non-physical threats?
A non-physical threat is a potential cause of an incident that may result in;
- Loss or corruption of system data
- Disrupt business operations that rely on computer systems
- Loss of sensitive information
- Illegal monitoring of activities on computer systems
- Cyber Security Breaches
- Others
The non-physical threats are also known as logical threats. The following list is the common types of non-physical threats;
- Virus
- Trojans
- Worms
- Spyware
- Key loggers
- Adware
- Denial of Service Attacks
- Distributed Denial of Service Attacks
- Unauthorized access to computer systems resources such as data
- Phishing
- Other Computer Security Risks
To protect computer systems from the above-mentioned threats, an organization must have logical security measures in place. The following list shows some of the possible measures that can be taken to protect cyber security threats
To protect against viruses, Trojans, worms, etc. an organization can use anti-virus software. In additional to the anti-virus software, an organization can also have control measures on the usage of external storage devices and visiting the website that is most likely to download unauthorized programs onto the user’s computer.
Unauthorized access to computer system resources can be prevented by the use of authentication methods. The authentication methods can be, in the form of user ids and strong passwords, smart cards or biometric, etc.
Intrusion-detection/prevention systems can be used to protect against denial of service attacks.There are other measures too that can be put in place to avoid denial of service attacks.
Summary
- A threat is any activity that can lead to data loss/corruption through to disruption of normal business operations.
- There are physical and non-physical threats
- Physical threats cause damage to computer systems hardware and infrastructure. Examples include theft, vandalism through to natural disasters.
- Non-physical threats target the software and data on the computer systems.
Skills Required to Become a Ethical Hacker
Skills allow you to achieve your desired goals within the available time and resources. As a hacker, you will need to develop skills that will help you get the job done. These skills include learning how to program, use the internet, good at solving problems, and taking advantage of existing security tools.
In this article, we will introduce you to the common programming languages and skills that you must know as a hacker.
Topics covered in this tutorial
- What is a programming language?
- Why should you learn how to program?
- What languages should you learn?
- Other skills
- Summary
What is a programming language?
A programming language is a language that is used to develop computer programs. The programs developed can range from operating systems; data based applications through to networking solutions.
Why should you learn how to program?
- Hackers are the problem solver and tool builders, learning how to program will help you implement solutions to problems. It also differentiates you from script kiddies.
- Writing programs as a hacker will help you to automate many tasks which would usually take lots of time to complete.
- Writing programs can also help you identify and exploit programming errors in applications that you will be targeting.
- You don’t have to reinvent the wheel all the time, and there are a number of open source programs that are readily usable. You can customize the already existing applications and add your methods to suit your needs.
What languages should I learn?
The answer to this question depends on your target computer systems and platforms. Some programming languages are used to develop for only specific platforms. As an example, Visual Basic Classic (3, 4, 5, and 6.0) is used to write applications that run on Windows operating system. It would, therefore, be illogical for you to learn how to program in Visual Basic 6.0 when your target is hacking Linux based systems.
Programming languages that are useful to hackers
| SR NO. | COMPUTER LANGUAGES | DESCRIPTION | PLATFORM | PURPOSE |
| 1 | HTML | Language used to write web pages. | *Cross platform | Web hacking Login forms and other data entry methods on the web use HTML forms to get data. Been able to write and interpret HTML, makes it easy for you to identify and exploit weaknesses in the code. |
| 2 | JavaScript | Client side scripting language | *Cross platform | Web Hacking JavaScript code is executed on the client browse. You can use it to read saved cookies and perform cross site scripting etc. |
| 3 | PHP | Server side scripting language | *Cross platform | Web Hacking PHP is one of the most used web programming languages. It is used to process HTML forms and performs other custom tasks. You could write a custom application in PHP that modifies settings on a web server and makes the server vulnerable to attacks. |
| 4 | SQL | Language used to communicate with database | *Cross platform | Web Hacking Using SQL injection, to by-pass web application login algorithms that are weak, delete data from the database, etc. |
| 5 | Python Ruby Bash Perl | High level programming languages | *Cross platform | Building tools & scripts They come in handy when you need to develop automation tools and scripts. The knowledge gained can also be used in understand and customization the already available tools. |
| 6 | C & C++ | High level programming | *Cross platform | Writing exploits, shell codes, etc. They come in handy when you need to write your own shell codes, exploits, root kits or understanding and expanding on existing ones. |
| 7 | Java CSharp Visual Basic VBScript | Other languages | Java & CSharp are *cross platform. Visual Basic is specific to Windows | Other uses The usefulness of these languages depends on your scenario. |
* Cross platform means programs developed using the particular language can be deployed on different operating systems such as Windows, Linux based, MAC etc.
Other skills
In addition to programming skills, a good hacker should also have the following skills:
- Know how to use the internet and search engines effectively to gather information.
- Get a Linux-based operating system and the know the basics commands that every Linux user should know.
- Practice makes perfect, a good hacker should be hard working and positively contribute to the hacker community. He/she can contribute by developing open source programs, answering questions in hacking forums, etc.
Summary
- Programming skills are essential to becoming an effective hacker.
- Network skills are essential to becoming an effective hacker
- SQL skills are essential to becoming an effective hacker.
- Hacking tools are programs that simplify the process of identifying and exploiting weaknesses in computer systems.
Top 20 Tools for Ethical hacking in 2017
What are Hacking Tools?
Hacking Tools are computer programs and scripts that help you find and exploit weaknesses in computer systems, web applications, servers and networks. There is a variety of such tools available on the market. Some of them are open source while others are commercial solution.
In this list we highlight the top 20 tools for Ethical Hacking of web applications, servers and networks
1) Netsparker
Netsparker is an easy to use web application security scanner that can automatically find SQL Injection, XSS and other vulnerabilities in your web applications and web services. It is available as on-premises and SAAS solution.
Features
- Dead accurate vulnerability detection with the unique Proof-Based Scanning Technology.
- Minimal configuration required. Scanner automatically detects URL rewrite rules, custom 404 error pages.
- REST API for seamless integration with the SDLC, bug tracking systems etc.
- Fully scalable solution. Scan 1,000 web applications in just 24 hours.
Download a demo or launch an online scan trial to scan your website for vulnerabilities now.
2) Acunetix WVS:
Acunetix is the leading web vulnerability scanner. This widely acclaimed tool offers the most advanced SQL Injection and XSS black box scanning technology.
Features:
- Inbuilt vulnerability management helps users to prioritize and manage vulnerability resolution
- Acunetix comes with a Login Sequence Recorder that allows one to access the password protected areas of web sites.
- Fuzz test validation and handling of invalid data
- The new AcuSensor technology lets users reduce the false positive rate
- Automatic Web Application Firewall configuration
- Easily retrieve and execute actions
- Seamlessly integrate into complex, custom workflows and processes
Download link: https://www.acunetix.com/vulnerability-scanner/download/
3) Burp Suite:
Burp Suite is a useful platform for performing Security Testing of web applications. Its various tools work seamlessly together to support the entire pen testing process. It spans from initial mapping to analysis of an application's attack surface.
Features:
It can detect over 3000 web application vulnerabilities.
- Scan open-source software and custom-built applications
- An easy to use Login Sequence Recorder allows the automatic scanning
- Review vulnerability data with built-in vulnerability management.
- Easily provide wide variety of technical and compliance reports
- Detects Critical Vulnerabilities with 100% Accuracy
- Automated crawl and scan
- Advanced scanning feature for manual testers
- Cutting-edge scanning logic
Download link: https://portswigger.net/burp/freedownload
4) Ettercap:
Ettercap is an ethical hacking tool. It supports active and passive dissection includes features for network and host analysis.
Features:
- It supports active and passive dissection of many protocols
- Feature of ARP poisoning to sniff on a switched LAN between two hosts
- Characters can be injected into a server or to a client while maintaining a live connection
- Ettercap is capable of sniffing an SSH connection in full duplex
- Allows sniffing of HTTP SSL secured data even when the connection is made using proxy
- Allows creation of custom plugins using Ettercap's API
Download link: https://ettercap.github.io/ettercap/downloads.html
5) Aircrack:
Aircrack is a trustable ethical hacking tool. It cracks vulnerable wireless connections. It is powered by WEP WPA and WPA 2 encryption Keys.
Features:
- More cards/drivers supported
- Support all types of OS and platforms
- New WEP attack: PTW
- Support for WEP dictionary attack
- Support for Fragmentation attack
- Improved tracking speed
Download link: https://www.aircrack-ng.org/downloads.html
6) Angry IP Scanner:
Angry IP Scanner is open-source and cross-platform ethical hacking tool. It scans IP addresses and ports.
Features:
- Scans local networks as well as the Internet
- Free and open-source tool
- Random or file in any format
- Exports results into many formats
- Extensible with many data fetchers
- Provides command-line interface
- Works on Windows, Mac, and Linux
- No need for Installation
Download link: http://angryip.org/download/#windows
7) GFI LanGuard:
GFI LanGuard is an ethical tool that scan networks for vulnerabilities. It can acts as your 'virtual security consultant' on demand. It allows creating an asset inventory of every device.
Features:
- It helps to maintain a secure network over time is to know which changes are affecting your network and
- Patch management: Fix vulnerabilities before an attack
- Analyze network centrally
- Discover security threats early
- Reduce cost of ownership by centralizing vulnerability scanning
- Help to maintain a secure and compliant network
Download link: https://www.gfi.com/products-and-solutions/network-security-solutions/gfi-languard/download
8) Savvius:
It is an ethical hacking tool. It performance issues and reduces security risk with the deep visibility provided by Omnipeek. It can diagnose network issues faster and better with Savvius packet intelligence.
Features:
- Powerful, easy-to-use network forensics software
- Savvius automates the capture of the network data required to quickly investigate security alerts
- Software and integrated appliance solutions
- Packet intelligence combines deep analysis
- Rapid resolution of network and security issues
- Easy to use Intuitive workflow
- Expert and responsive technical support
- Onsite deployment for appliances
- Commitment to our customers and our products
9) QualysGuard:
Qualys guard helps businesses streamline their security and compliance solutions. It also builds security into their digital transformation initiatives. This tool can also check the performance vulnerability of the online cloud systems.
Features:
- It is trusted globally
- No hardware to buy or manage
- It is a scalable, end-to-end solution for all aspects of IT security
- Vulnerability data securely stored and processed on an n-tiered architecture of load-balanced servers
- It sensor provides continuous visibility
- Data analyzed in real time
- It can respond to threats in a real-time
Download link: https://www.qualys.com/forms/freescan/
10) WebInspect:
WebInspect is automated dynamic application security testing that allows performing ethical hacking techniques. It provides comprehensive dynamic analysis of complex web applications and services.
Features:
- Allows to test dynamic behavior of running web applications to identify security vulnerabilities
- Keep in control of your scan by getting relevant information and statistics at a glance
- Centralized Program Management
- Advanced technologies, such as simultaneous crawl professional-level testing to novice security testers
- Easily inform management on vulnerability trending, compliance management, and risk oversight
Download link: https://saas.hpe.com/en-us/software/webinspect
11) Hashcat:
Hashcat is a robust password cracking ethical hacking tool. It can help users to recover lost passwords, audit password security, or just find out what data is stored in a hash.
Features:
- Open-Source platform
- Multi-Platform Support
- Allows utilizing multiple devices in the same system
- Utilizing mixed device types in the same system
- It supports distributed cracking networks
- Supports interactive pause/resume
- Supports sessions and restore
- Built-in benchmarking system
- Integrated thermal watchdog
- Supports automatic performance tuning
Download link: https://hashcat.net/hashcat/
12) L0phtCrack:
L0phtCrack 6 is useful password audit and recovery tool. It identifies and assesses password vulnerability over local machines and networks.
Features:
- Multicore & multi-GPU support helps to optimize hardware
- Easy to customize
- Simple Password Loading
- Schedule sophisticated tasks for automated enterprise-wide password
- Fix weak passwords issues by forcing password resets or locking accounts
- It allows multiple auditing OSes
Download link: http://www.l0phtcrack.com/#download-form
13) Rainbow Crack:
RainbowCrack is a password cracking tool widely used for ethical hacking. It cracks hashes with rainbow tables. It uses time-memory tradeoff algorithm for this purpose.
Features:
- Full time-memory trade-off tool suites, including rainbow table generation
- It Support rainbow table of any hash algorithm
- Support rainbow table of any charset
- Support rainbow table in raw file format (.rt) and compact file format
- Computation on multi-core processor support
- GPU acceleration with multiple GPUs
- Runs on Windows OS and Linux
- Unified rainbow table file format on every supported OS
- Command line user interface
- Graphics user interface
Download link: http://project-rainbowcrack.com/index.htm
14) IKECrack:
IKECrack is an open source authentication crack tool. This ethical hacking tool is designed to brute-force or dictionary attack. This tool also allows performing cryptography tasks.
Features:
- IKECrack is a tool that allows performing Cryptography tasks
- Initiating client sends encryption options proposal, DH public key, random number, and an ID in an unencrypted packet to the gateway/responder.
- It is freely available for both personal and commercial use. Therefore, it is perfect choice for user who wants an option for Cryptography programs
Download link: http://ikecrack.sourceforge.net/
15) IronWASP:
IronWASP is an open source software for ethical hacking too. It is web application vulnerability testing. It is designed to be customizable so that users can create their custom security scanners using it.
Features:
- GUI based and very easy to use
- It has powerful and effective scanning engine
- Supports for recording Login sequence
- Reporting in both HTML and RTF formats
- Checks for over 25 types of web vulnerabilities
- False Positives and Negatives detection support
- It supports Python and Ruby
- Extensible using plug-ins or modules in Python, Ruby, C# or VB.NET
Download link: http://ironwasp.org/download.html
16) Medusa
Medusa is one of the best online brute-force, speedy, parallel password crackers ethical hacking tool. This tool is also widely used for ethical hacking.
Features:
- It is designed in such a way that it is speedy, massively parallel, modular, login brute-forcer
- The main aim of this tool is to support as many services which allow remote authentication
- Allows to perform Thread-based parallel testing and Brute-force testing
- Flexible user input. It can be specified in a variety of ways
- All the service module exists as an independent .mod file.
- No modifications are needed to the core application to extend the supported list of services for brute-forcing
Download link: http://foofus.net/goons/jmk/medusa/medusa.html
17) NetStumbler
NetStumbler is used to detect wireless networks on the Windows platform.
Features:
- Verifying network configurations
- Finding locations with poor coverage in a WLAN
- Detecting causes of wireless interference
- Detecting unauthorized ("rogue") access points
- Aiming directional antennas for long-haul WLAN links
Download link: http://www.stumbler.net/
18) SQLMap
SQLMap automates the process of detecting and exploiting SQL Injection weaknesses. It is open source and cross platform. It supports the following database engines.
- MySQL
- Oracle
- Postgre SQL
- MS SQL Server
- MS Access
- IBM DB2
- SQLite
- Firebird
- Sybase and SAP MaxDB
It supports the following SQL Injection Techniques;
- Boolean-based blind
- Time-based blind
- Error-based
- UNION query
- Stacked queries and out-of-band.
Download link: http://sqlmap.org/
19) Cain & Abel
Cain & Abel is a Microsoft Operating System passwords recovery tool. It is used to -
- Recover MS Access passwords
- Uncover password field
- Sniffing networks
- Cracking encrypted passwords using dictionary attacks, brute-force, and cryptanalysis attacks.
20) Nessus
Nessus can be used to perform;
- Remote vulnerability scanner
- Password dictionary attacks
- Denial of service attacks.
It is closed source, cross platform and free for personal use.
Download link: http://www.tenable.com/products/nessus-vulnerability-scanner
- How social engineering Works?
- Common Social Engineering Techniques
- Social Engineering Counter Measures
- Gather Information: This is the first stage, the learns as much as he can about the intended victim. The information is gathered from company websites, other publications and sometimes by talking to the users of the target system.
- Plan Attack: The attackers outline how he/she intends to execute the attack
- Acquire Tools: These include computer programs that an attacker will use when launching the attack.
- Attack: Exploit the weaknesses in the target system.
- Use acquired knowledge: Information gathered during the social engineering tactics such as pet names, birthdates of the organization founders, etc. is used in attacks such as password guessing.
- Familiarity Exploit: Users are less suspicious of people they are familiar with. An attacker can familiarize him/herself with the users of the target system prior to the social engineering attack. The attacker may interact with users during meals, when users are smoking he may join, on social events, etc. This makes the attacker familiar to the users. Let’s suppose that the user works in a building that requires an access code or card to gain access; the attacker may follow the users as they enter such places. The users are most like to hold the door open for the attacker to go in as they are familiar with them. The attacker can also ask for answers to questions such as where you met your spouse, the name of your high school math teacher, etc. The users are most likely to reveal answers as they trust the familiar face. This information could be used to hack email accounts and other accounts that ask similar questions if one forgets their password.
- Intimidating Circumstances: People tend to avoid people who intimidate others around them. Using this technique, the attacker may pretend to have a heated argument on the phone or with an accomplice in the scheme. The attacker may then ask users for information which would be used to compromise the security of the users’ system. The users are most likely give the correct answers just to avoid having a confrontation with the attacker. This technique can also be used to avoid been checked at a security check point.
- Phishing: This technique uses trickery and deceit to obtain private data from users. The social engineer may try to impersonate a genuine website such as Yahoo and then ask the unsuspecting user to confirm their account name and password. This technique could also be used to get credit card information or any other valuable personal data.
- Tailgating: This technique involves following users behind as they enter restricted areas. As a human courtesy, the user is most likely to let the social engineer inside the restricted area.
- Exploiting human curiosity: Using this technique, the social engineer may deliberately drop a virus infected flash disk in an area where the users can easily pick it up. The user will most likely plug the flash disk into the computer. The flash disk may auto run the virus, or the user may be tempted to open a file with a name such as Employees Revaluation Report 2013.docx which may actually be an infected file.
- Exploiting human greed: Using this technique, the social engineer may lure the user with promises of making a lot of money online by filling in a form and confirm their details using credit card details, etc.
- To counter the familiarity exploit, the users must be trained to not substitute familiarity with security measures. Even the people that they are familiar with must prove that they have the authorization to access certain areas and information.
- To counter intimidating circumstances attacks, users must be trained to identify social engineering techniques that fish for sensitive information and politely say no.
- To counter phishing techniques, most sites such as Yahoo use secure connections to encrypt data and prove that they are who they claim to be. Checking the URL may help you spot fake sites. Avoid responding to emails that request you to provide personal information.
- To counter tailgating attacks, users must be trained not to let others use their security clearance to gain access to restricted areas. Each user must use their own access clearance.
- To counter human curiosity, it’s better to submit picked up flash disks to system administrators who should scan them for viruses or other infection preferably on an isolated machine.
- To counter techniques that exploit human greed, employees must be trained on the dangers of falling for such scams.
- Social engineering is the art of exploiting the human elements to gain access to un-authorized resources.
- Social engineers use a number of techniques to fool the users into revealing sensitive information.
- Organizations must have security policies that have social engineering countermeasures.
- What is cryptography?
- What is cryptanalysis?
- What is cryptology?
- Encryption Algorithms
- Hacking Activity: Hack Now!
- Amount of time available
- Computing power available
- Storage capacity available
- Brute force attack– this type of attack uses algorithms that try to guess all the possible logical combinations of the plaintext which are then ciphered and compared against the original cipher.
- Dictionary attack– this type of attack uses a wordlist in order to find a match of either the plaintext or key. It is mostly used when trying to crack encrypted passwords.
- Rainbow table attack– this type of attack compares the cipher text against pre-computed hashes to find matches.
- SHA– this is the acronym for Secure Hash Algorithm. SHA algorithms are used to generate condensed representations of a message (message digest). It has various versions such as;
- SHA-0: produces 120-bit hash values. It was withdrawn from use due to significant flaws and replaced by SHA-1.
- SHA-1: produces 160-bit hash values. It is similar to earlier versions of MD5. It has cryptographic weakness and is not recommended for use since the year 2010.
- SHA-2: it has two hash functions namely SHA-256 and SHA-512. SHA-256 uses 32-bit words while SHA-512 uses 64-bit words.
- SHA-3: this algorithm was formally known as Keccak.
- RC4– this algorithm is used to create stream ciphers. It is mostly used in protocols such as Secure Socket Layer (SSL) to encrypt internet communication and Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) to secure wireless networks.
- BLOWFISH– this algorithm is used to create keyed, symmetrically blocked ciphers. It can be used to encrypt passwords and other data.
- Open CrypTool 1
- Replace the text with Never underestimate the determination of a kid who is time-rich and cash-poor
- Click on Encrypt/Decrypt menu
- Point to Symmetric (modern) then select RC4 as shown above
- The following window will appear
- Select 24 bits as the encryption key
- Set the value to 00 00 00
- Click on Encrypt button
- You will get the following stream cipher
- Click on Analysis menu
- Point to Symmetric Encryption (modern) then select RC4 as shown above
- You will get the following window
- Remember the assumption made is the secret key is 24 bits. So make sure you select 24 bits as the key length.
- Click on the Start button. You will get the following window
- Note: the time taken to complete the Brute-Force Analysis attack depends on the processing capacity of the machine been used and the key length. The longer the key length, the longer it takes to complete the attack.
- When the analysis is complete, you will get the following results.
- Note: a lower Entropy number means it is the most likely correct result. It is possible a higher than the lowest found Entropy value could be the correct result.
- Select the line that makes the most sense then click on Accept selection button when done
- Cryptography is the science of ciphering and deciphering messages.
- A cipher is a message that has been transformed into a nonhuman readable format.
- Deciphering is reversing a cipher into the original text.
- Cryptanalysis is the art of deciphering ciphers without the knowledge of the key used to cipher them.
- Cryptology combines the techniques of both cryptography and cryptanalyst.
- What is password strength?
- Password cracking techniques
- Password Cracking Tools
- Password Cracking Counter Measures
- Hacking Assignment: Hack Now!
- Length: the number of characters the password contains.
- Complexity: does it use a combination of letters, numbers, and symbol?
- Unpredictability: is it something that can be guessed easily by an attacker?
- Dictionary attack– This method involves the use of a wordlist to compare against user passwords.
- Brute force attack– This method is similar to the dictionary attack. Brute force attacks use algorithms that combine alpha-numeric characters and symbols to come up with passwords for the attack. For example, a password of the value “password” can also be tried as p@$$word using the brute force attack.
- Rainbow table attack– This method uses pre-computed hashes. Let’s assume that we have a database which stores passwords as md5 hashes. We can create another database that has md5 hashes of commonly used passwords. We can then compare the password hash we have against the stored hashes in the database. If a match is found, then we have the password.
- Guess– As the name suggests, this method involves guessing. Passwords such as qwerty, password, admin, etc. are commonly used or set as default passwords. If they have not been changed or if the user is careless when selecting passwords, then they can be easily compromised.
- Spidering– Most organizations use passwords that contain company information. This information can be found on company websites, social media such as facebook, twitter, etc. Spidering gathers information from these sources to come up with word lists. The word list is then used to perform dictionary and brute force attacks.
- An organization can use the following methods to reduce the chances of the passwords been cracked
- Avoid short and easily predicable passwords
- Avoid using passwords with predictable patterns such as 11552266.
- Passwords stored in the database must always be encrypted. For md5 encryptions, its better to salt the password hashes before storing them. Salting involves adding some word to the provided password before creating the hash.
- Most registration systems have password strength indicators, organizations must adopt policies that favor high password strength numbers.
- Dictionary attack
- Brute force
- Cryptanalysis
- Open Cain and Abel, you will get the following main screen
- Make sure the cracker tab is selected as shown above
- Click on the Add button on the toolbar.
- The following dialog window will appear
- The local user accounts will be displayed as follows. Note the results shown will be of the user accounts on your local machine.
- Right click on the account you want to crack. For this tutorial, we will use Accounts as the user account.
- The following screen will appear
- Right click on the dictionary section and select Add to list menu as shown above
- Browse to the 10k most common.txt file that you just downloaded
- Click on start button
- If the user used a simple password like qwerty, then you should be able to get the following results.
- Note: the time taken to crack the password depends on the password strength, complexity and processing power of your machine.
- If the password is not cracked using a dictionary attack, you can try brute force or cryptanalysis attacks.
- Password cracking is the art of recovering stored or transmitted passwords.
- Password strength is determined by the length, complexity, and unpredictability of a password value.
- Common password techniques include dictionary attacks, brute force, rainbow tables, spidering and cracking.
- Password cracking tools simplify the process of cracking passwords.
- Use the user’s computer as part of the Botnet when performing distributed denial of service attacks.
- Damage the user’s computer (crashing, blue screen of death, etc.)
- Stealing sensitive data such as stored passwords, credit card information, etc.
- Modifying files on the user’s computer
- Electronic money theft by performing unauthorized money transfer transactions
- Log all the keys that a user presses on the keyboard and sending the data to the attacker. This method is used to harvest user ids, passwords, and other sensitive data.
- Viewing the users’ screenshot
- Downloading browsing history data
- Install backdoors on the victim’s computers. The created backdoor may be used to create zombie computers that are used to send spam emails, perform distributed denial of service attacks, etc. the backdoors can also be exploited by other malware.
- Worms may also slowdown the network by consuming the bandwidth as they replicate.
- Install harmful payload code carried within the worm.
- A virus is a computer program that attaches itself to legitimate programs and files without the user’s consent. Viruses can consume computer resources such as memory and CPU time. The attacked programs and files are said to be “infected”. A computer virus may be used to;
- Access private data such as user id and passwords
- Display annoying messages to the user
- Corrupt data in your computer
- Log the user’s keystrokes
- To protect against such attacks, an organization can use the following methods.
- A policy that prohibits users from downloading unnecessary files from the Internet such as spam email attachments, games, programs that claim to speed up downloads, etc.
- Anti-virus software must be installed on all user computers. The anti-virus software should be updated frequently, and scans must be performed at specified time intervals.
- Scan external storage devices on an isolated machine especially those that originate from outside the organization.
- Regular backups of critical data must be made and stored on preferably read-only media such as CDs and DVDs.
- Worms exploit vulnerabilities in the operating systems. Downloading operating system updates can help reduce the infection and replication of worms.
- Worms can also be avoided by scanning, all email attachments before downloading them.
- What is IP & Mac Address
- What is Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) Poisoning?
- Hacking Activity: Configure Static ARP in Windows
- Linux based: these work by ignoring unsolicited ARP reply packets.
- Microsoft Windows: the ARP cache behavior can be configured via the registry. The following list includes some of the software that can be used to protect networks against sniffing;
- AntiARP– provides protection against both passive and active sniffing
- Agnitum Outpost Firewall–provides protection against passive sniffing
- XArp– provides protection against both passive and active sniffing
- Mac OS: ArpGuard can be used to provide protection. It protects against both active and passive sniffing.
- aprcalls the ARP configure program located in Windows/System32 directory
- -a is the parameter to display to contents of the ARP cache
- What is network sniffing?
- Active and passive sniffing
- Hacking Activity: Sniff Network
- What is Media Access Control (MAC) Flooding
- Capture sensitive data such as login credentials
- Eavesdrop on chat messages
- Capture files have been transmitted over a network
- Telnet
- Rlogin
- HTTP
- SMTP
- NNTP
- POP
- FTP
- IMAP
- Open Wireshark
- You will get the following screen
- Select the network interface you want to sniff. Note for this demonstration, we are using a wireless network connection. If you are on a local area network, then you should select the local area network interface.
- Click on start button as shown above
- Open your web browser and type in http://www.techpanda.org/
- The login email is admin@google.com and the password is Password2010
- Click on submit button
- A successful logon should give you the following dashboard
- Go back to Wireshark and stop the live capture
- Filter for HTTP protocol results only using the filter textbox
- Locate the Info column and look for entries with the HTTP verb POST and click on it
- Just below the log entries, there is a panel with a summary of captured data. Look for the summary that says Line-based text data: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
- You should be able to view the plaintext values of all the POST variables submitted to the server via HTTP protocol.
- Some switches have the port security feature. This feature can be used to limit the number of MAC addresses on the ports. It can also be used to maintain a secure MAC address table in addition to the one provided by the switch.
- Authentication, Authorization and Accounting servers can be used to filter discovered MAC addresses.
- Restriction to network physical media highly reduces the chances of a network sniffer been installed
- Encrypting messages as they are transmitted over the network greatly reduces their value as they are difficult to decrypt.
- Changing the network to a Secure Shell (SSH)network also reduces the chances of the network been sniffed.
- Network sniffing is intercepting packages as they are transmitted over the network
- Passive sniffing is done on a network that uses a hub. It is difficult to detect.
- Active sniffing is done on a network that uses a switch. It is easy to detect.
- MAC flooding works by flooding the MAC table address list with fake MAC addresses. This makes the switch to operate like a HUB
- Security measures as outlined above can help protect the network against sniffing.
- What is a wireless network?
- How to access a wireless network?
- Wireless Network Authentication WEP & WPA
- How to Crack Wireless Networks
- How to Secure wireless networks
- Hacking Activity: Crack Wireless Password
- The integrity of the packets is checked using Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC32). CRC32 integrity check can be compromised by capturing at least two packets. The bits in the encrypted stream and the checksum can be modified by the attacker so that the packet is accepted by the authentication system. This leads to unauthorized access to the network.
- WEP uses the RC4 encryption algorithm to create stream ciphers. The stream cipher input is made up of an initial value (IV) and a secret key. The length of the initial value (IV) is 24 bits long while the secret key can either be 40 bits or 104 bits long. The total length of both the initial value and secret can either be 64 bits or 128 bits long.The lower possible value of the secret key makes it easy to crack it.
- Weak Initial values combinations do not encrypt sufficiently. This makes them vulnerable to attacks.
- WEP is based on passwords; this makes it vulnerable to dictionary attacks.
- Keys management is poorly implemented. Changing keys especially on large networks is challenging. WEP does not provide a centralized key management system.
- The Initial values can be reused
- The collision avoidance implementation can be broken
- It is vulnerable to denial of service attacks
- Pre-shares keys use passphrases. Weak passphrases are vulnerable to dictionary attacks.
- Passive cracking– this type of cracking has no effect on the network traffic until the WEP security has been cracked. It is difficult to detect.
- Active cracking– this type of attack has an increased load effect on the network traffic. It is easy to detect compared to passive cracking. It is more effective compared to passive cracking.
- Aircrack– network sniffer and WEP cracker. Can be downloaded from http://www.aircrack-ng.org/
- WEPCrack– this is an open source program for breaking 802.11 WEP secret keys. It is an implementation of the FMS attack. http://wepcrack.sourceforge.net/
- Kismet- this can include detector wireless networks both visible and hidden, sniffer packets and detect intrusions. http://www.kismetwireless.net/
- WebDecrypt– this tool uses active dictionary attacks to crack the WEP keys. It has its own key generator and implements packet filters. http://wepdecrypt.sourceforge.net/
- CowPatty– this tool is used to crack pre-shared keys (PSK) using brute force attack. http://wirelessdefence.org/Contents/coWPAttyMain.htm
- Cain & Abel– this tool can be used to decode capture files from other sniffing programs such as Wireshark. The capture files may contain WEP or WPA-PSK encoded frames. http://www.softpedia.com/get/Security/Decrypting-Decoding/Cain-and-Abel.shtml
- Sniffing– this involves intercepting packets as they are transmitted over a network. The captured data can then be decoded using tools such as Cain & Abel.
- Man in the Middle (MITM) Attack– this involves eavesdropping on a network and capturing sensitive information.
- Denial of Service Attack– the main intent of this attack is to deny legitimate users network resources. FataJack can be used to perform this type of attack. More on this in article
- Metasploit
- Wireshark
- Aircrack-ng
- NMap
- Ophcrack
- Kali Operating System. You can download it from here https://www.kali.org/downloads/
- Be within the target network’s radius. If the users of the target network are actively using and connecting to it, then your chances of cracking it will be significantly improved.
- Sufficient knowledge of Linux based operating systems and working knowledge of Aircrack and its various scripts.
- Patience, cracking the keys may take a bit of sometime depending on a number of factors some of which may be beyond your control. Factors beyond your control include users of the target network using it actively as you sniff data packets.
- Changing default passwords that come with the hardware
- Enabling the authentication mechanism
- Access to the network can be restricted by allowing only registered MAC addresses.
- Use of strong WEP and WPA-PSK keys, a combination of symbols, number and characters reduce the chance of the keys been cracking using dictionary and brute force attacks.
- Firewall Software can also help reduce unauthorized access.
- Download Cain & Abel from the link provided above.
- Open Cain and Abel
- Ensure that the Decoders tab is selected then click on Wireless Passwords from the navigation menu on the left-hand side
- Click on the button with a plus sign
- Assuming you have connected to a secured wireless network before, you will get results similar to the ones shown below
- The decoder will show you the encryption type, SSID and the password that was used.
- Wireless network transmission waves can be seen by outsiders, this possesses many security risks.
- WEP is the acronym for Wired Equivalent Privacy. It has security flaws which make it easier to break compared to other security implementations.
- WPA is the acronym for Wi-Fi Protected Access. It has security compared to WEP
- Intrusion Detection Systems can help detect unauthorized access
- A good security policy can help protect a network.
- Types of Dos Attacks
- How DoS attacks work
- DoS attack tools
- DoS Protection: Prevent an attack
- Hacking Activity: Ping of Death
- Hacking Activity: Launch a DOS attack
- DoS– this type of attack is performed by a single host
- Distributed DoS– this type of attack is performed by a number of compromised machines that all target the same victim. It floods the network with data packets.
- Nemesy– this tool can be used to generate random packets. It works on windows. This tool can be downloaded from http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/25599/nemesy13.zip.html . Due to the nature of the program, if you have an antivirus, it will most likely be detected as a virus.
- Land and LaTierra– this tool can be used for IP spoofing and opening TCP connections
- Blast– this tool can be downloaded from http://www.opencomm.co.uk/products/blast/features.php
- Panther- this tool can be used to flood a victim’s network with UDP packets.
- Botnets– these are multitudes of compromised computers on the Internet that can be used to perform a distributed denial of service attack.
- Attacks such as SYN flooding take advantage of bugs in the operating system. Installing security patches can help reduce the chances of such attacks.
- Intrusion detection systems can also be used to identify and even stop illegal activities
- Firewalls can be used to stop simple DoS attacks by blocking all traffic coming from an attacker by identifying his IP.
- Routers can be configured via the Access Control List to limit access to the network and drop suspected illegal traffic.
- “ping” sends the data packets to the victim
- “10.128.131.108” is the IP address of the victim
- “-t” means the data packets should be sent until the program is stopped
- “-l” specifies the data load to be sent to the victim
- Right click on the taskbar
- Select start task manager
- Click on the network tab
- You will get results similar to the following
- Download Nemesy from http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/25599/nemesy13.zip.html
- Unzip it and run the program Nemesy.exe
- You will get the following interface
- 0 as the number of packets means infinity. You can set it to the desired number if you do not want to send, infinity data packets
- The size field specifies the data bytes to be sent and the delay specifies the time interval in milliseconds.
- A denial of service attack’s intent is to deny legitimate users access to a resource such as a network, server etc.
- There are two types of attacks, denial of service and distributed denial of service.
- A denial of service attack can be carried out using SYN Flooding, Ping of Death, Teardrop, Smurf or buffer overflow
- Security patches for operating systems, router configuration, firewalls and intrusion detection systems can be used to protect against denial of service attacks.
- Web server vulnerabilities
- Types of Web Servers
- Types of Attacks against Web Servers
- Effects of successful attacks
- Web server attack tools
- How to avoid attacks on Web server
- Hacking Activity: Hack a WebServer
- Default settings– These settings such as default user id and passwords can be easily guessed by the attackers. Default settings might also allow performing certain tasks such as running commands on the server which can be exploited.
- Misconfigurationof operating systems and networks – certain configuration such as allowing users to execute commands on the server can be dangerous if the user does not have a good password.
- Bugs in the operating system and web servers– discovered bugs in the operating system or web server software can also be exploited to gain unauthorized access to the system.
- Lack of security policy and procedures– lack of a security policy and procedures such as updating antivirus software, patching the operating system and web server software can create security loop holes for attackers.
- Apache– This is the commonly used web server on the internet. It is cross platform but is it’s usually installed on Linux. Most PHP websites are hosted on Apache servers.
- Internet Information Services (IIS)– It is developed by Microsoft. It runs on Windows and is the second most used web server on the internet. Most asp and aspx websites are hosted on IIS servers.
- Apache Tomcat – Most Java server pages (JSP) websites are hosted on this type of web server.
- Other web servers – These include Novell's Web Server and IBM’s Lotus Domino servers.
- Denial of Service Attacks– With this type of attack, the web server may crash or become unavailable to the legitimate users.
- Domain Name System Hijacking – With this type of attacker, the DNS setting are changed to point to the attacker’s web server. All traffic that was supposed to be sent to the web server is redirected to the wrong one.
- Sniffing– Unencrypted data sent over the network may be intercepted and used to gain unauthorized access to the web server.
- Phishing– With this type of attack, the attack impersonates the websites and directs traffic to the fake website. Unsuspecting users may be tricked into submitting sensitive data such as login details, credit card numbers, etc.
- Pharming– With this type of attack, the attacker compromises the Domain Name System (DNS) servers or on the user computer so that traffic is directed to a malicious site.
- Defacement– With this type of attack, the attacker replaces the organization’s website with a different page that contains the hacker’s name, images and may include background music and messages.
- An organization’s reputation can be ruined if the attacker edits the website content and includes malicious information or links to a porn website
- The web server can be used to install malicious software on users who visit the compromised website. The malicious software downloaded onto the visitor’s computer can be a virus, Trojan or Botnet Software, etc.
- Compromised user data may be used for fraudulent activities which may lead to business loss or lawsuits from the users who entrusted their details with the organization
- Metasploit– this is an open source tool for developing, testing and using exploit code. It can be used to discover vulnerabilities in web servers and write exploits that can be used to compromise the server.
- MPack– this is a web exploitation tool. It was written in PHP and is backed by MySQL as the database engine. Once a web server has been compromised using MPack, all traffic to it is redirected to malicious download websites.
- Zeus– this tool can be used to turn a compromised computer into a bot or zombie. A bot is a compromised computer which is used to perform internet-based attacks. A botnet is a collection of compromised computers. The botnet can then be used in a denial of service attack or sending spam mails.
- Neosplit – this tool can be used to install programs, delete programs, replicating it, etc.
- Patch management– this involves installing patches to help secure the server. A patch is an update that fixes a bug in the software. The patches can be applied to the operating system and the web server system.
- Secure installation and configuration of the operating system
- Secure installation and configuration of the web server software
- Vulnerability scanning system– these include tools such as Snort, NMap, Scanner Access Now Easy (SANE)
- Firewalls can be used to stop simple DoS attacks by blocking all traffic coming the identify source IP addresses of the attacker.
- Antivirus software can be used to remove malicious software on the server
- Disabling Remote Administration
- Default accounts and unused accounts must be removed from the system
- Default ports & settings (like FTP at port 21) should be changed to custom port & settings (FTP port at 5069)
- A target www.techpanda.org
- Bing search engine
- SQL Injection Tools
- PHP Shell, we will use dk shell http://sourceforge.net/projects/icfdkshell/
- Enter the URL http://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/web-sites-on-web-server/ in your web browser
- Enter www.techpanda.org as the target
- Click on Check button
- You will get the following results
- Enter the URL www.bing.com into your web browser. This will only work with Bing so don’t use other search engines such as google or yahoo
- Enter the following search query
- “ip:69.195.124.112” limits the search to all the websites hosted on the web server with IP address 69.195.124.112
- “.php?id=” search for URL GET variables used a parameters for SQL statements.
- Open the URL where you uploaded the dk.php file.
- You will get the following window
- Clicking the Symlink URL will give you access to the files in the target domain.
- Web server stored valuable information and are accessible to the public domain. This makes them targets for attackers.
- The commonly used web servers include Apache and Internet Information Service IIS
- Attacks against web servers take advantage of the bugs and Misconfiguration in the operating system, web servers, and networks
- Popular web server hacking tools include Neosploit, MPack, and ZeuS.
- A good security policy can reduce the chances of been attacked
- What is a web application? What are Web Threats?
- How to protect your Website against hacks?
- Hacking Activity: Hack a Website!
- SQL Injection – the goal of this threat could be to bypass login algorithms, sabotage the data, etc.
- Denial of Service Attacks– the goal of this threat could be to deny legitimate users access to the resource
- Cross Site Scripting XSS– the goal of this threat could be to inject code that can be executed on the client side browser.
- Cookie/Session Poisoning– the goal of this threat is to modify cookies/session data by an attacker to gain unauthorized access.
- Form Tampering – the goal of this threat is to modify form data such as prices in e-commerce applications so that the attacker can get items at reduced prices.
- Code Injection – the goal of this threat is to inject code such as PHP, Python, etc. that can be executed on the server. The code can install backdoors, reveal sensitive information, etc.
- Defacement– the goal of this threat is to modify the page been displayed on a website and redirecting all page requests to a single page that contains the attacker’s message.
- SQL Injection– sanitizing and validating user parameters before submitting them to the database for processing can help reduce the chances of been attacked via SQL Injection. Database engines such as MS SQL Server, MySQL, etc. support parameters, and prepared statements. They are much safer than traditional SQL statements
- Denial of Service Attacks – firewalls can be used to drop traffic from suspicious IP address if the attack is a simple DoS. Proper configuration of networks and Intrusion Detection System can also help reduce the chances of a DoS attack been successful.
- Cross Site Scripting – validating and sanitizing headers, parameters passed via the URL, form parameters and hidden values can help reduce XSS attacks.
- Cookie/Session Poisoning– this can be prevented by encrypting the contents of the cookies, timing out the cookies after some time, associating the cookies with the client IP address that was used to create them.
- Form tempering – this can be prevented by validating and verifying the user input before processing it.
- Code Injection - this can be prevented by treating all parameters as data rather than executable code. Sanitization and Validation can be used to implement this.
- Defacement – a good web application development security policy should ensure that it seals the commonly used vulnerabilities to access the web server. This can be a proper configuration of the operating system, web server software, and best security practices when developing web applications.
- Open http://www.techpanda.org/
- For practice purposes, it is strongly recommended to gain access using SQL Injection. Refer to this article for more information on how to do that.
- The login email is admin@google.com, the password is Password2010
- If you have logged in successfully, then you will get the following dashboard
- Click on Add New Contact
- Enter the following as the first name
- Enter the remaining details as shown below
- Click on Save Changes
- Your dashboard will now look like the following screen
- Since the cross site script code is stored in the database, it will be loaded everytime the users with access rights login
- Let’s suppose the administrator logins and clicks on the hyperlink that says Dark
- He/she will get the window with the session id showing in the URL
- You will need Firefox web browser for this section and Tamper Data add-on
- Open Firefox and install the add as shown in the diagrams below
- Search for tamper data then click on install as shown above
- Click on Accept and Install…
- Click on Restart now when the installation completes
- Enable the menu bar in Firefox if it is not shown
- Click on tools menu then select Tamper Data as shown below
- You will get the following Window. Note: If the Windows is not empty, hit the clear button
- Click on Start Tamper menu
- Switch back to Firefox web browser, type http://www.techpanda.org/dashboard.php then press the enter key to load the page
- You will get the following pop up from Tamper Data
- The pop-up window has three (3) options. The Tamper option allows you to modify the HTTP header information before it is submitted to the server.
- Click on it
- You will get the following window
- Copy the PHP session ID you copied from the attack URL and paste it after the equal sign. Your value should now look like this
- Click on OK button
- You will get the Tamper data popup window again
- Uncheck the checkbox that asks Continue Tampering?
- Click on submit button when done
- You should be able to see the dashboard as shown below
- A web application is based on the server-client model. The client side uses the web browser to access the resources on the server.
- Web applications are usually accessible over the internet. This makes them vulnerable to attacks.
- Web application threats include SQL Injection, Code Injection, XSS, Defacement, Cookie poisoning, etc.
- A good security policy when developing web applications can help make them secure.
- How SQL Injection Works
- Hacking Activity: SQL Inject a Web Application
- Other SQL Injection attack types
- Automation Tools for SQL Injection
- How to Prevent against SQL Injection Attacks
- Hacking Activity: Use Havji for SQL Injection
- The above form accepts the email address, and password then submits them to a PHP file named index.php.
- It has an option of storing the login session in a cookie. We have deduced this from the remember_me checkbox. It uses the post method to submit data. This means the values are not displayed in the URL.
- The above statement uses the values of the $_POST[] array directly without sanitizing them.
- The password is encrypted using MD5 algorithm.
- xxx@xxx.xxx ends with a single quote which completes the string quote
- OR 1 = 1 LIMIT 1 is a condition that will always be true and limits the returned results to only one record.
- -- ' AND … is a SQL comment that eliminates the password part.
- Step 1: Enter xxx@xxx.xxx as the email address
- Step 2: Enter xxx') OR 1 = 1 -- ]
- Click on Submit button
- You will be directed to the dashboard
- The statement intelligently assumes md5 encryption is used
- Completes the single quote and closing bracket
- Appends a condition to the statement that will always be true
- Deleting data
- Updating data
- Inserting data
- Executing commands on the server that can download and install malicious programs such as Trojans
- Exporting valuable data such as credit card details, email, and passwords to the attacker’s remote server
- Getting user login details etc
- SQLSmack - http://www.securiteam.com/tools/5GP081P75C.html
- SQLPing 2 - http://www.sqlsecurity.com/downloads/sqlping2.zip?attredirects=0&d=1
- SQLMap - http://sqlmap.org/
- User input should never be trusted - It must always be sanitized before it is used in dynamic SQL statements.
- Stored procedures – these can encapsulate the SQL statements and treat all input as parameters.
- Prepared statements –prepared statements to work by creating the SQL statement first then treating all submitted user data as parameters. This has no effect on the syntax of the SQL statement.
- Regular expressions –these can be used to detect potential harmful code and remove it before executing the SQL statements.
- Database connection user access rights –only necessary access rights should be given to accounts used to connect to the database. This can help reduce what the SQL statements can perform on the server.
- Error messages –these should not reveal sensitive information and where exactly an error occurred. Simple custom error messages such as “Sorry, we are experiencing technical errors. The technical team has been contacted. Please try again later” can be used instead of display the SQL statements that caused the error.
- SQL Injection is an attack type that exploits bad SQL statements
- SQL injection can be used to bypass login algorithms, retrieve, insert, and update and delete data.
- SQL injection tools include SQLMap, SQLPing, and SQLSmack, etc.
- A good security policy when writing SQL statement can help reduce SQL injection attacks.
- Quick Note on Linux
- Linux Hacking Tools
- How to prevent Linux hacks
- Hacking Activity: Hack a Linux system using PHP
- Nessus– this tool can be used to scan configuration settings, patches, and networks etc. it can be found at http://www.tenable.com/products/nessus
- NMap. This tool can be used to monitor hosts that are running on the server and the services that they are utilizing. It can also be used to scan for ports. It can be found at http://nmap.org/
- SARA – SARA is the acronym for Security Auditor’s Research Assistant. As the name implies, this tool can be used to audit networks against threats such as SQL Injection, XSS etc. it can be found at http://www-arc.com/sara/sara.html
- Patch management– patches fix bugs that attackers exploit to compromise a system. A good patch management policy will ensure that you constantly apply relevant patches to your system.
- Proper OS configuration– other exploits take advantage of the weaknesses in the configuration of the server. Inactive user names and daemons should be disabled. Default settings such as common passwords to application, default user names and some port numbers should be changed.
- Intrusion Detection System– such tools can be used to detect unauthorized access to the system. Some tools have the ability to detect and prevent such attacks.
- “…konsole.php?cmd=ls%20-l”assigns the value ls –l to the variable cmd.
- “rm” removes the files
- “rf” makes the rm command run in a recursive mode. Deleting all the folders and files
- “/” instructs the command to start deleting files from the root directory
- Linux is a popular operating system for servers, desktops, tablets and mobile devices.
- Linux is open source, and the source code can be obtained by anyone. This makes it easy to spot the vulnerabilities.
- Basic and networking commands are valuable to Linux hackers.
- Vulnerabilities are a weakness that can be exploited to compromise a system.
- A good security can help to protect a system from been compromised by an attacker.
- Exploitability –What is needed to exploit the security vulnerability? Highest exploitability when the attack needs only web browser and lowest being advanced programming and tools.
- Detectability –How easy is it to detect the threat? Highest being the information displayed on URL, Form or Error message and lowest being source code.
- Impact or Damage –How much damage will be done if the security vulnerability is exposed or attacked? Highest being complete system crash and lowest being nothing at all.
- An attacker can inject malicious content into the vulnerable fields.
- Sensitive data like User Names, Passwords, etc. can be read from the database.
- Database data can be modified (Insert/Update/ Delete).
- Administration Operations can be executed on the database
- Input Fields
- URLs interacting with the database.
- SQL injection on the Login Page
- White listing the input fields
- Avoid displaying detailed error messages that are useful to an attacker.
- Making the use of this security vulnerability, an attacker can inject scripts into the application, can steal session cookies, deface websites, and can run malware on the victim's machines.
- Input Fields
- URLs
- White Listing input fields
- Input Output encoding
- Session IDs exposed on URL can lead to session fixation attack.
- Session IDs same before and after logout and login.
- Session Timeouts are not implemented correctly.
- Application is assigning same session ID for each new session.
- Authenticated parts of the application are protected using SSL and passwords are stored in hashed or encrypted format.
- The session can be reused by a low privileged user.
- Making use of this vulnerability, an attacker can hijack a session, gain unauthorized access to the system which allows disclosure and modification of unauthorized information.
- The sessions can be high jacked using stolen cookies or sessions using XSS.
- Airline reservation application supports URL rewriting, putting session IDs in the URL:http://Examples.com/sale/saleitems;jsessionid=2P0OC2oJM0DPXSNQPLME34SERTBG/dest=Maldives(Sale of tickets to Maldives)An authenticated user of the site wants to let his friends know about the sale and sends an email across. The friends receive the session ID and can be used to do unauthorized modifications or misuse the saved credit card details.
- An application is vulnerable to XSS, by which an attacker can access the session ID and can be used to hijack the session.
- Applications timeouts are not set properly. The user uses a public computer and closes the browser instead of logging off and walks away. The attacker uses the same browser some time later, and the session is authenticated.
- All the authentication and session management requirements should be defined as per OWASP Application Security Verification Standard.
- Never expose any credentials in URLs or Logs.
- Strong efforts should be also made to avoid XSS flaws which can be used to steal session IDs.
- Using this vulnerability, an attacker can gain access to unauthorized internal objects, can modify data or compromise the application.
- In the URL.
- Implement access control checks.
- Avoid exposing object references in URLs.
- Verify authorization to all reference objects.
- Using this vulnerability as an attacker can change user profile information, change status, create a new user on admin behalf, etc.
- User Profile page
- User account forms
- Business transaction page
- Mandate user's presence while performing sensitive actions.
- Implement mechanisms like CAPTCHA, Re-Authentication, and Unique Request Tokens.
- Making use of this vulnerability, the attacker can enumerate the underlying technology and application server version information, database information and gain information about the application to mount few more attacks.
- URL
- Form Fields
- Input fields
- The application server admin console is automatically installed and not removed. Default accounts are not changed. The attacker can log in with default passwords and can gain unauthorized access.
- Directory Listing is not disabled on your server. Attacker discovers and can simply list directories to find any file.
- A strong application architecture that provides good separation and security between the components.
- Change default usernames and passwords.
- Disable directory listings and implement access control checks.
- By using this vulnerability, an attacker can steal, modify such weakly protected data to conduct identity theft, credit card fraud or other crimes.
- Application database.
- Ensure appropriate strong standard algorithms. Do not create own cryptographic algorithms. Use only approved public algorithms such as AES, RSA public key cryptography, and SHA-256, etc.
- Ensure offsite backups are encrypted, but the keys are managed and backed up separately.
- Making use of this vulnerability attacker can gain access to the unauthorized URLs, without logging into the application and exploit the vulnerability. An attacker can access sensitive pages, invoke functions and view confidential information.
- URLs
- Attacker notices the URL indicates the role as "/user/getaccounts." He modifies as "/admin/getaccounts".
- An attacker can append role to the URL.
- Implement strong access control checks.
- Authentication and authorization policies should be role-based.
- Restrict access to unwanted URLs.
- Making use of this web security vulnerability, an attacker can sniff legitimate user's credentials and gaining access to the application.
- Can steal credit card information.
- Data sent over the network.
- Enable secure HTTP and enforce credential transfer over HTTPS only.
- Ensure your certificate is valid and not expired.
- An attacker can send a URL to the user that contains a genuine URL appended with encoded malicious URL. A user by just seeing the genuine part of the attacker sent URL can browse it and may become a victim.
- Simply avoid using redirects and forwards in the application. If used, do not involve using user parameters in calculating the destination.
- If the destination parameters can't be avoided, ensure that the supplied value is valid, and authorized for the user.
What is Social Engineering? Attacks, Techniques & Prevention
What is Social Engineering?
Social engineering is the art of manipulating users of a computing system into revealing confidential information that can be used to gain unauthorized access to a computer system. The term can also include activities such as exploiting human kindness, greed, and curiosity to gain access to restricted access buildings or getting the users to installing backdoor software.
Knowing the tricks used by hackers to trick users into releasing vital login information among others is fundamental in protecting computer systems
In this tutorial, we will introduce you to the common social engineering techniques and how you can come up with security measures to counter them.
Topics covered in this tutorial
How social engineering Works?
HERE,
Common Social Engineering Techniques:
Social engineering techniques can take many forms. The following is the list of the commonly used techniques.
Social Engineering Counter Measures
Most techniques employed by social engineers involve manipulating human biases. To counter such techniques, an organization can;
Summary
Cryptography Tutorial: Cryptanalysis, RC4, CrypTool
Information plays a vital role in the running of business, organizations, military operations, etc. Information in the wrong hands can lead to loss of business or catastrophic results. To secure communication, a business can use cryptology to cipher information. Cryptology involves transforming information into the Nonhuman readable format and vice versa.
In this article, we will introduce you to the world of cryptology and how you can secure information from falling into the wrong hands.
Topics covered in this tutorial
What is Cryptography?
Cryptography is the study and application of techniques that hide the real meaning of information by transforming it into nonhuman readable formats and vice versa.
Let’s illustrate this with the aid of an example. Suppose you want to send the message “I LOVE APPLES”, you can replace every letter in the phrase with the third successive letter in the alphabet. The encrypted message will be “K NQYG CRRNGV”. To decrypt our message, we will have to go back three letters in the alphabet using the letter that we want to decrypt. The image below shows how the transformation is done.
The process of transforming information into nonhuman readable form is called encryption.
The process of reversing encryption is called decryption.
Decryption is done using a secret key which is only known to the legitimate recipients of the information. The key is used to decrypt the hidden messages. This makes the communication secure because even if the attacker manages to get the information, it will not make sense to them.
The encrypted information is known as a cipher.
What is Cryptanalysis?
Cryptanalysis is the art of trying to decrypt the encrypted messages without the use of the key that was used to encrypt the messages. Cryptanalysis uses mathematical analysis & algorithms to decipher the ciphers. The success of cryptanalysis attacks depends
The following is a list of the commonly used Cryptanalysis attacks;
What is cryptology?
Cryptology combines the techniques of cryptography and cryptanalysis.
Encryption Algorithms
MD5– this is the acronym for Message-Digest 5. It is used to create 128-bit hash values. Theoretically, hashes cannot be reversed into the original plain text. MD5 is used to encrypt passwords as well as check data integrity. MD5 is not collision resistant. Collision resistance is the difficulties in finding two values that produce the same hash values.
Hacking Activity: Use CrypTool
In this practical scenario, we will create a simple cipher using the RC4 algorithm. We will then attempt to decrypt it using brute-force attack. For this exercise, let us assume that we know the encryption secret key is 24 bits. We will use this information to break the cipher.
We will use CrypTool 1 as our cryptology tool. CrypTool 1 is an open source educational tool for crypto logical studies. You can download it from https://www.cryptool.org/en/ct1-downloads
Creating the RC4 stream cipher
We will encrypt the following phrase
Never underestimate the determination of a kid who is time-rich and cash-poor
We will use 00 00 00 as the encryption key.
Attacking the stream cipher
Summary
How to Crack a Password
What is Password Cracking?
Password cracking is the process of attempting to gain Unauthorized access to restricted systems using common passwords or algorithms that guess passwords. In other words, it’s an art of obtaining the correct password that gives access to a system protected by an authentication method.
Password cracking employs a number of techniques to achieve its goals. The cracking process can involve either comparing stored passwords against word list or use algorithms to generate passwords that match
In this Tutorial, we will introduce you to the common password cracking techniques and the countermeasures you can implement to protect systems against such attacks.
Topics covered in this tutorial
What is password strength?
Password strength is the measure of a password’s efficiency to resist password cracking attacks. The strength of a password is determined by;
Let’s now look at a practical example. We will use three passwords namely
1. password
2. password1
3. #password1$
For this example, we will use the password strength indicator of Cpanel when creating passwords. The images below show the password strengths of each of the above-listed passwords.
Note: the password used is password the strength is 1, and it’s very weak.
Note: the password used is password1 the strength is 28, and it’s still weak.
Note: The password used is #password1$ the strength is 60 and it’s strong.
The higher the strength number, better the password.
Let’s suppose that we have to store our above passwords using md5 encryption. We will use an online md5convertor to convert our passwords into md5 hashes.
The table below shows the password hashes
| Password | MD5 Hash | Cpanel Strength Indicator |
|---|---|---|
| password | 5f4dcc3b5aa765d61d8327deb882cf99 | 1 |
| password1 | 7c6a180b36896a0a8c02787eeafb0e4c | 28 |
| #password1$ | 29e08fb7103c327d68327f23d8d9256c | 60 |
We will now use http://www.md5this.com/ to crack the above hashes. The images below show the password cracking results for the above passwords.
As you can see from the above results, we managed to crack the first and second passwords that had lower strength numbers. We didn’t manage to crack the third password which was longer, complex and unpredictable. It had a higher strength number.
Password cracking techniques
There are a number of techniques that can be used to crack passwords. We will describe the most commonly used ones below;
Spidering sample dictionary attack wordlist
1976 <founder birth year> smith jones <founder name> acme <company name/initials> built|to|last <words in company vision/mission> golfing|chess|soccer <founders hobbies
Password cracking tool
These are software programs that are used to crack user passwords. We already looked at a similar tool in the above example on password strengths. The website www.md5this.com uses a rainbow table to crack passwords. We will now look at some of the commonly used tools
John the Ripper
John the Ripper uses the command prompt to crack passwords. This makes it suitable for advanced users who are comfortable working with commands. It uses to wordlist to crack passwords. The program is free, but the word list has to be bought. It has free alternative word lists that you can use. Visit the product website http://www.openwall.com/john/ for more information and how to use it.
Cain & Abel
Cain & Abel runs on windows. It is used to recover passwords for user accounts, recovery of Microsoft Access passwords; networking sniffing, etc. Unlike John the Ripper, Cain & Abel uses a graphic user interface. It is very common among newbies and script kiddies because of its simplicity of use. Visit the product website http://www.softpedia.com/get/Security/Decrypting-Decoding/Cain-and-Abel.shtml for more information and how to use it.
Ophcrack
Ophcrack is a cross-platform Windows password cracker that uses rainbow tables to crack passwords. It runs on Windows, Linux and Mac OS. It also has a module for brute force attacks among other features. Visit the product website http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/ for more information and how to use it.
Password Cracking Counter Measures
Hacking Activity: Hack Now!
In this practical scenario, we are going to crack Windows account with a simple password. Windows uses NTLM hashes to encrypt passwords. We will use the NTLM cracker tool in Cain and Abel to do that.
Cain and Abel cracker can be used to crack passwords using;
We will use the dictionary attack in this example. You will need to download the dictionary attack wordlist here 10k-Most-Common.zip
For this demonstration, we have created an account called Accounts with the password qwerty on Windows 7.
Password cracking steps
Summary
Worm, Virus & Trojan Horse: Ethical Hacking Tutorial
Some of the skills that hackers have are programming and computer networking skills. They often use these skills to gain access to systems. The objective of targeting an organization would be to steal sensitive data, disrupt business operations or physically damage computer controlled equipment. Trojans, viruses, and worms can be used to achieve the above-stated objectives.
In this article, we will introduce you to some of the ways that hackers can use Trojans, viruses, and worms to compromise a computer system. We will also look at the countermeasures that can be used to protect against such activities.
Topics covered in this tutorial
What is a Trojan horse?
A Trojan horse is a program that allows the attack to control the user’s computer from a remote location. The program is usually disguised as something that is useful to the user. Once the user has installed the program, it has the ability to install malicious payloads, create backdoors, install other unwanted applications that can be used to compromise the user’s computer, etc.
The list below shows some of the activities that the attacker can perform using a Trojan horse.
What is a worm?
A worm is a malicious computer program that replicates itself usually over a computer network. An attacker may use a worm to accomplish the following tasks;
What is a Virus?
Computer viruses have been known to employ social engineering techniques. These techniques involve deceiving the users to open the files which appear to be normal files such as Word or Excel documents. Once the file is opened, the virus code is executed and does what it’s intended to do.
Trojans, Viruses, and Worms counter measures
Trojan, Virus, and Worm Differential Table
| Trojan | Virus | Worm | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Definition | Malicious program used to control a victim’s computer from a remote location. | Self replicating program that attaches itself to other programs and files | Illegitimate programs that replicate themselves usually over the network |
| Purpose | Steal sensitive data, spy on the victim’s computer, etc. | Disrupt normal computer usage, corrupt user data, etc. | Install backdoors on victim’s computer, slow down the user’s network, etc. |
| Counter Measures | Use of anti-virus software, update patches for operating systems, security policy on usage of the internet and external storage media, etc.Learn ARP Poisoning with ExamplesWhat is IP and MAC Addresses
IP Address is the acronym for Internet Protocol address. An internet protocol address is used to uniquely identify a computer or device such as printers, storage disks on a computer network. There are currently two versions of IP addresses. IPv4 uses 32-bit numbers. Due to the massive growth of the internet, IPv6 has been developed, and it uses 128-bit numbers.
IPv4 addresses are formatted in four groups of numbers separated by dots. The minimum number is 0, and the maximum number is 255. An example of an IPv4 address looks like this;
127.0.0.1
IPv6 addresses are formatted in groups of six numbers separated by full colons. The group numbers are written as 4 hexadecimal digits. An example of an IPv6 address looks like this;
2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334
In order to simplify the representation of the IP addresses in text format, leading zeros are omitted, and the group of zeros is completed omitted. The above address in a simplified format is displayed as;
2001:db8:85a3:::8a2e:370:7334
MAC Address is the acronym for media access control address. MAC addresses are used to uniquely identify network interfaces for communication at the physical layer of the network. MAC addresses are usually embedded into the network card.
A MAC address is like a serial number of a phone while the IP address is like the phone number.
Exercise
We will assume you are using windows for this exercise. Open the command prompt.
Enter the command
ipconfig /all
You will get detailed information about all the network connections available on your computer. The results shown below are for a broadband modem to show the MAC address and IPv4 format and wireless network to show IPv6 format.
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2 Comments
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