Hacking is a process of manipulating and breaking into computer systems, networks, or other electronic devices. Hacking can be done with malicious intent to steal data or disrupt systems and for benign reasons such as exploring technology for educational purposes.
Hacking looks like mundane computer usage. Most people who engage in hacking do not appear as they are shown in television and film. The majority of hacking projects consist of either browsing a website’s back end in order to find vulnerabilities or waiting for a program to discover a weak spot.
With the popularity of coding and programming languages like Python, many people are interested in learning about hacking without understanding it. This blog post will explore how hacking looks like so you know if it’s something you want to try! The first thing most people think of when they hear “hacker” is someone who uses their technical knowledge to break into computers or other digital technologies (usually with malicious intent).
How is hacking done?
Hacking is done through:
> IP address spoofing (changing the IP address that appears only to the target server, not any other computer on the network.) This is a complicated technical task. The hacker needs to have access to a private IP address of another–preferably unprotected–computer in the same network as their victim’s computer. They must have control over an entire router and spoof its default gateway. He also needs sufficient knowledge about TCP/IP stack implementation details—he needs to know how data looks when it travels between hosts on different networks.
For instance, if he wants to send some packet from one host located in 192.168.3.5 network while appearing as coming from another host in 192.168.1.5, he needs to know that in the IP stack, this is accomplished by altering the source address value of the packet from 192.168.3.5 to 192.168.1.5 before sending it out—a process referred to as “overriding source addresses.”
> Tapping wires (also called eavesdropping ). If you can tap a certain line at some point, you can listen in to everything being transmitted over it in both directions, meaning data sent from the victim’s PC (“victim” could be your wife 🙂 ) to her bank’s server and vice versa. This used to be quite popular and was achieved with various devices for monitoring electrical signals of telephone or other cables (such spools of tape recorder connected between phone wires). However, this particular method is becoming obsolete with the growth of wireless networks (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth).
> Trojan horse (also known as “trapdoor” or “backdoor”)—a malicious program that does not do anything harmful by itself but enables a hacker to gain access to the victim’s computer at any moment he/she chooses. A well-crafted backdoor can be extremely hard to detect. A typical scenario of its use consists in uploading it on the victim’s PC via email, downloading it from an infected website, or distributing it on physical media such as CDROMs.
Such a program could also replicate itself through a network, thus letting you infect many computers at one go while multiplying your power! Alternatively, you may have your backdoor infected by some other hacker. This is especially likely to happen if you run an open proxy server or other servers that can be accessed anonymously, such as the IRC network.
How can you tell a fake hacker?
Detected fake hackers can always reveal fraudulent behavior such as:
1. The novice often asks for free advice on domain names registration or Internet marketing.
2. They use email addresses that were created within hours or days of the contact. You will also see their absence in any network forums and discussion groups. Always check the spelling and domain name addresses to avoid these mistakes.
3. They use old or even obsolete programs, like MSN Messenger 6, which are no longer used by anyone and do not identify themselves on social networks such as Facebook accounts with the same photos from their resumes. Also, remember that hackers usually enter their names in CAPITAL letters.
4. After you send them money for services they have never really been performed but deliver all kinds of excuses (for example: “the account is blocked”) for reimbursement requesting false documents. In this case, it is very important to be careful! If a hacker can not do what he was hired to do, your fault. Can you cancel the transaction before sending him any funds?
5. Requests for financial transfers through Western Union or MoneyGram, where you can not track the transaction.
6. Requests a registration fee in advance to deliver its service and then not contact you again. No matter the deal on the network, it will never ask for an amount paid in advance without receiving anything in return. Remember that hackers are interested in only make money by hacking your computer!
The rule of thumb for protecting yourself from all this is simple: if someone offers you free advice, tell him to go there with his services, pay upfront! It’s a scam, so be careful! Also, remember that after purchasing over the Internet, like any other means, it may also be tried to rob their account online banking password or bank card PIN code.
What are the signs of hacking?
List of signs indicating you have been hacked:
- Slow Internet connection or computer performance
- Frequent pop-up ads appearing when surfing the Internet
- Constant blue screens while operating your computer.
- Your computer freezes up often during normal operation.
- Unable to connect to the Internet using the wireless router (router) [if applicable]
- Unexpected disappearance of files or programs on your hard drive or flash drive [if applicable]
- Residual data from a previous user is present in your PC, i.e., previous emails that weren’t sent, web search history, and temp files that were either deleted or not necessary for the last user’s functioning can be found after another person uses the computer.
- Unexpected shutdown of your computer with no explanation for the cause shown in Windows Event Log [if applicable]
- Computer restarts on its own or when you’re not even near it on the network [i.e., at home or work]
- The web browser is redirected to unfamiliar websites automatically without any input from you as its user [if applicable]
- Unauthorized changes were made to settings that you didn’t make yourself, such as guest account status being changed from disabled to enabled, etc., without your knowledge or permission [if applicable]
- Files are being copied and/or deleted continuously by an unknown program (file copy) in the background without your consent and knowledge [if applicable]
- The unexpected appearance of a new program that you didn’t install yourself and would like to uninstall but doesn’t show up in your Control Panel Programs and Features section [if applicable]
- Advertisements or pop-up windows appear, saying something unexpected such as “send us money, and we’ll help you fix the problem.” If so, close the window right away! This is a sure sign of an unreliable site! Do not use their services or provide them with personal information such as credit card numbers, bank account information, etc. Doing so will only place you at great risk for identity theft, fraud and embezzlement by cybercriminals online.
What do hackers usually look for?
A hacker will usually look for the following information
from a website before trying to hack into it:
1. Affiliates – Affiliates are other websites that refer traffic and sales to your sites, such as affiliates in an ad network or other sites linked from your site’s blogroll. By identifying which sites have these types of links, a hacker can target those specific sites or those of similar quality to improve their chances of writing high-quality content that is not removed as spam by a human moderator.
2. Directory listings – Some directories, such as DMOZ, list sites without prior approval. In addition to getting your site listed for free, this allows you to bypass any human moderation or editorial review process that these sites might use.
3. Content – Hackers will look for content on the target website to improve their SEO efforts by using duplicate content.
4. Meta tags – Hackers can use this information to learn how others rank for different keywords and the methods used to do so (which can be copied by a human hacker ).
5. Keywords – If Google indexes a web page or if you find yourself moving up in rankings, then hackers will know too! It is also important to remember that using other people’s content without proper attribution can get your site penalized by Google.
6. Blogrolls – All websites have some form of links pointing back to them. These can include blogrolls, other site’s author pages, and links that you or others on your team have posted elsewhere.
7. Sidebar widgets – Hackers will often install widgets onto their web pages for additional traffic they didn’t pay for.
8. META search keyword – Any self-respecting hacker should understand the SEO techniques people use, no matter how small the website or company is! In particular, they will look for meta tags on websites linked from other sites to learn what keywords people are using on their web pages.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for information on hacking, it’s important to know what the word means. Hackers are not always trying to steal your data or computer; they can also be exploring and finding ways that a system is vulnerable so that they can fix it. They may use their skills to test new technology before its released as well. However, it should be noted that some hackers do try to break into systems with malicious intent.
