Hacker

What is a Hacker?

A hacker is an individual skilled in computer technology, particularly in programming and problem-solving, who uses their expertise to explore and manipulate computer systems and networks. The term “hacker” can have different connotations depending on the context.

Types of Hackers

White Hat Hackers (Ethical Hackers)

These are cybersecurity professionals who use their skills to identify and fix security vulnerabilities in systems. They are often employed by organizations to conduct penetration testing and security assessments to prevent malicious attacks.

Black Hat Hackers

These hackers exploit security weaknesses for personal gain, to steal information, disrupt services, or cause harm. Their activities are illegal and unethical, including actions such as creating malware, conducting data breaches, and other forms of cybercrime.

Grey Hat Hackers

Falling somewhere between ethical and malicious hackers, gray hats may exploit security weaknesses without permission but often report the issues to the affected organization, sometimes seeking a fee for their services. Their actions are typically driven by curiosity or a sense of challenge rather than malicious intent.

Hacktivists

These hackers use their skills for political or social purposes. They conduct cyber-attacks to promote their ideological agendas, which can include defacing websites, leaking sensitive information, or disrupting services to draw attention to their cause.

Script Kiddies

A derogatory term for inexperienced individuals who use existing hacking tools or scripts to exploit vulnerabilities without fully understanding the underlying technology or techniques. They are not considered true hackers by the hacker community.

Researcher

These individuals study vulnerabilities in software, hardware, and networks to improve overall security. Their work often involves developing new security tools, techniques, and methodologies to defend against cyber threats.

Hacking Attacks

Phishing

Phishing is a type of cyber attack where hackers attempt to deceive individuals into providing sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, or other personal details. This is usually done by masquerading as a trustworthy entity online or through e-mail.

Malware

Hackers use malware (malicious software) to perform a variety of malicious activities on victims’ computers, networks, or mobile devices. Viruses to corrupt or delete data, disrupt operations, or use the infected systems to spread further. Worms to create botnets, disrupt network services, or deliver other malicious payloads.They use Trojans to create backdoors, steal data, or allow remote control of the infected system. Ransomware encrypts data and is used for extortion through ransom payments.

Denial of Service (DoS) Attacks

A Denial of Service (DoS) attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal functioning of a targeted server, service, or network by overwhelming it with a flood of illegitimate requests, rendering it unable to respond to legitimate traffic. This type of attack aims to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users, causing downtime and potentially significant financial and reputational damage.

A Distributed Denial of Service attack is a more powerful form of DoS attack, where the traffic comes from multiple sources, often a botnet—a network of compromised computers controlled by the attacker. The distributed nature makes it more difficult to mitigate as the traffic can come from numerous, geographically dispersed systems.

Man-in-the-Middle Attacks

A Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attack is a cyberattack where an attacker secretly intercepts and potentially alters the communication between two parties who believe they are directly communicating with each other. This type of attack aims to steal sensitive information, manipulate communication, or inject malicious content without the knowledge of the communicating parties.

HackerTools

Hackers use a variety of tools to conduct cyberattacks, perform network reconnaissance, exploit vulnerabilities, and maintain unauthorized access to systems. These tools range from simple scripts to sophisticated software designed for specific types of attacks.

Reconnaissance Tools like Nmap help hackers gather information about their targets to plan their attacks. Vulnerability Scanners like OpenVAS and Nessus scan systems and networks for vulnerabilities that can be exploited. Exploitation Tools like the Metasploit Frameworkcan be used to exploit vulnerabilities and gain unauthorized access to systems. Password Cracking Tools like Hashcat attempt to recover passwords from data that has been stored or transmitted.

The evolving threat landscape means new tools and techniques make carrying out cyberattacks easier for hackers. Ransomware as a Service (RaaS) is where ransomware developers provide their malicious software to affiliates or clients in exchange for a share of the profits generated from ransomware attacks. This model lowers the barrier to entry for cybercriminals, as it allows individuals with limited technical expertise to launch sophisticated ransomware attacks.

How to Protect Against Hackers

There are several cybersecurity measures that companies and individuals can take to protect against attacks by hackers.

Some of them include:

• Enabling controlled access to network resources.
• Following strong password recommendations and enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA).
• Blocking executable content from emails.
• Using advanced protection against ransomware.
• Keeping software updated with the latest security patches.
• Training employees and individuals on good cybersecurity practices.
• Using VPNs.
• Monitoring network activity.
• Using advanced threat detection solutions that can detect new and unknown attacks.

Notable Hacking Incidents

Some of the biggest cyber attacks include those in the recent past.

• The WannaCry Ransomware attack in 2017 impacted hundreds and thousands of systems across 150 countries. Attackers exploited the Windows operating system and users faced data encryption with huge ransom payments to restore their data.
• Yahoo experienced two massive data breaches affecting over 3 billion accounts in 2013 and 2014. Names, email addresses, dates of birth, hashed passwords, and security questions and answers were compromised.
• In the Marriott International Data Breach (2018), hackers accessed the Starwood guest reservation database and stole the Information of up to 500 million guests, including names, passport numbers, and payment information.
• In May 2023, a critical vulnerability in the MOVEit Transfer software was discovered and exploited by cybercriminals. The vulnerability allowed attackers to gain unauthorized access to the MOVEit Transfer system, potentially compromising the data of its users. The exploit affected numerous organizations using MOVEit Transfer, including government agencies, financial institutions, healthcare organizations, and other sectors that rely on secure data transfers.

Defending Against Hackers with Deception Technology

Hackers have evolved to living-off-the-land, file-less, malware-less, becoming stealthier and persistent, making them very hard to detect. Existing security solutions detect threats by analyzing activity against real assets. Traditional security layers are passive and only look for attacker behavior, activity, IoCs (Indicators of Compromise), or side effects. These are not enough to stop sophisticated cyberattacks.

Deception technology provides a new complementary dimension of security, by deploying deceptions. Decoys are not part of the enterprise business processes and any activity against decoys provides a high-fidelity alert. Advanced solutions like Acalvio ShadowPlex leverage dynamic deception technology and predictive analytics to form a new cybersecurity layer that can help defenders take back the advantage.

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