HACKING STRATEGIES:By Carlos G. Coca

“Hacker”Then and now

Originally a person who was skilled at programming language who was able to create/alter web content.

Now: “A person who illegally gains access to and sometimes tampers with information in a computer system.” Merriam-Webster definition

Types of Hackers

White Hat Help prevent weak

systems from being hacked.

Make web safer for individuals.

Black Hat Cause problems for

individuals, companies and government.

Steal identities, money and add viruses.

Ways to hack:

SQL injections

Worms

Encryption

SQL Injections

SQL = Structured Query Language Used to interact with databases.

Step 1: Hackers find holes in coding design.

Step 2: Add their own SQL into a database.

Step 3: Obtain information.

Ways to prevent

Whitelisting Enables a program

to check through a list of allowed characters.

Harder to give the database orders since they’re not allowed in the application.

Blacklisting Tells program to

immediately deny: Certain characters. Combinations of

characters.

Malware – Worms

Infect systems and search for other systems to infect without user interaction.

Starts slow then “snowballs” and becomes more and more devastating.

Conflicker worm.

Encryption

Encryption is used to hide passwords. Hackers attack in three ways.

Brute force attack: Program goes through every possible

combination. Dictionary attack:

Uses a downloaded list of common passwords and enters them rapidly.

Cryptanalysis attack: Takes a long hash and breaks it down into

smaller segments and tries answering smaller pieces of the puzzle at one time.

Questions?