What is the Process of Computer Hacking?
INSTRUCTIONS:
**MLA Format
**Give Examples and the Process of the main types of hacking (ex?: White Hat, Black Hat, Grey Hat, Blue Hat, Red Hat, etc.)
** Please visit “Scientific American.com” as a reference for some of the information.
1. Give a brief background and explanation regarding the development of the topic or theorem.
2. Break the topic into sub-topics to simplify the explanations.
3. Provide clear and comprehensive details in your own words – keep in interesting with facts.
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Institution:
What is the Process of Computer Hacking?
Advancement in technology and growth of businesses and government networks has led to increased number of hackers who try to steal valuable information and disrupt business operations. A hacker is, however, someone who exploits a computer systems vulnerability. Most people believe that hacking is incredible and a form of expertise that is admirable, which is wrong since, hacking is a cybercrime that is mostly done to steal identity and money from people or organizations (Holt, 2020). Hackers gain access to computer systems through many ways, such as Trojans and drive-by-download. The paper discuss and explores the main types, and process of hacking.
The word hacking is developed from the German word “to cut in pieces”, which means gathering information together uses the compiled information into something useful. The hacking work was first developed with a positive intention, where people such as Steve Wozniak were known to expert hackers. Today hacking has been used to exploit computer systems, which is different from its original intended purpose, or meaning (Holt, 2020). However, not all hackers are criminals; some hackers conduct the activity with good intention, known as ethical hackers, who conduct a process known as penetration hacking(Kempen, 2020). An evil hacker takes advantage of the computer vulnerability and blocks access to the system to gather confidential and valuable information from the computer for personal or financial gain. Several hackers in the market, where not all hackers are the same as conduct the same activity.
The hackers include the white hackers, the black hat hackers, the Grey hat hackers, script Kiddies, Green hat hackers, the blue hat hackers, the red hat hackers, and the sponsored hackers. Hackers are categorized into groups of ten, based on the technique used and the intention.
Types, ad Process of Hacking
White hackers: White hackers are considered the type of hackers who have top and professional skills in cybersecurity. White hackers are also known as ethical hackers because they are authorized to and certified to conduct the activity (Kempen, 2020). The hacking, however, is conducted mainly to test the ability of computer systems, such as conducting a penetration test, to discover computer vulnerability. Organizations primarily use white hackers to discover weak points for the development of cybersecurity policies (Holt, 2020). The hackers operate under several rules and regulations and cannot compromise or use private information for their interest. White hackers, however, have boundaries. The main motive of the white hackers is to assist in detecting security gaps in a business, protect companies, and government institutions from cyberattacks, especially cyber-terrorism.
er-terrorism, and assist in developing defense mechanisms for the companies.
Another type of hackers are the black hat hackers, who intrude computer systems with the wrong intention, or anterior motive compared to the white workers. Black hat hackers attack computer systems without any form of certification or authority; most of the time, the activity is conducted without permission and good intentions (Kempen, 2020). Black hat hackers may destroy the system or steal valuable information that might ruin the reputation f the organization or lead to a financial and identity downfall. However, the hackers’ intentions make the hacker a criminal and the primary intention of the hacker. Most of the time, black hat hackers invade organizations, such as health institutions and financial institutions, stealing valuable resources and information, such as account numbers and personal identification information (Holt, 2020)..
Gray hat hackers are other types of hackers who fall between white and black hackers. However, the gray hackers are not certified hackers and work with both good and bad intentions, where mostly the hacking might be for their gain (Kempen, 2020). Gray hackers do not want to steal from people or help people like the ethical hackers; they are confused hackers and conduct hacking for leisure or passing the time. Gray hackers find it fun hacking, and love experimenting with cracking defense, and have the experience.
Green hat hackers, on the other hand, are types of hackers that are learning the activity of hacking. The green hackers are known as the learner; hence they do not have any intentions, such as stealing data or assisting someone (Holt, 2020). The main aim of green hackers is to learn hacking, mostly from other experienced hackers. Most of the time, green hackers become black hackers eventually because they are not certified, although if interested in professionalism, they may become certified hackers in the future (Kempen, 2020).
Other types of hackers are the blue hat hackers, who use hacking to gain attention and popularity. Also, the blue hackers use their hacking skills to settle old scores, where they end up being dangerous because they intended to hack, which is more malicious than gaining knowledge (Holt, 2020). Red hat hackers are also known as eagle-eyed hackers who are almost similar to the white hat hackers in their intentions. However, the red hat hackers worth ruthlessly stopping the black hat hackers from stealing information from an organization. The red hat hackers ruthlessly can affect the entire information system; hence they do not apply any protocol or rules compared to the white hat hackers. The script kiddies are a type of hackers where their half-knowledge or intention is malicious (Kempen, 2020).
The script kiddies hack computer systems with a script from other hackers, with the immediate attention of getting attention and validation from peers. Most of the time, the script kiddies are juveniles and mostly do not complete the hacking process but feel proud for trying. The mainly used jacking script for the kiddies is the denial of service attack (DOS) script. The hacker floods the network with traffic, which prevents people from using websites and applications, especially when needed most, such as the black Friday market day.
On the other hand, other hackers, such as the national-sponsored hackers, the hacktivists, and the whistle-blowers, the whistle blowers, work in the organization and decide to conduct hacking for exposure of illegal business going on or confidential information to run the organizations reputation. Hacktivists are types of hackers that work compromising government websites as activists (Wang, and Yang, 2017). The hacktivist steals government information for use in politics and other social gains, such as fame. On the other hand, national-sponsored hackers are certified hackers that gain or take information from other countries for security preparations, such as an impending danger like terrorism (Kempen, 2020). The national or state-sponsored hackers only report to the government.
How Hackers gain Access
Hackers gain access to information technology systems through several ways, for instance, through Trojan, drive-by downloads, and rootkits. A Trojan is a type of malware used by hackers that are considered harmless or disguised as harmless. The main intention of the hacker is to get the user to install the Trojan into their computer systems, which assist in getting information from the system. The Trojan assist in opening the back doors, logging the keystrokes, and giving the hacker access to the computer system (Holt, 2020). The popular way the user installs the Trojan into the system is by clicking an email attachment created in the form of a friend’s account that has already been compromised. It isn’t very easy to identity a Trojan because the attachment or content is received from a trusted source. On the other hand, a hacker can use other means that make the user open the Trojan, for instance, the use of threatening information from the bank or FBI, hence stealing critical information.
A rootkit is another type of malware similar to Trojan, used in the form of code injected into a computer system. The rootkits allow the hacker to use the computer system without restriction or administrative control without the user’s knowledge. However, a rootkit attacks and replaces critical information and hides the information by changing the system logs. Also, the rootkits open the backdoor and can infect different files, and documents, affecting the overall process. Infection of a rootkit can be avoided by frequent updating of software and developing cybersecurity policies that generally protect the computer systems from any infection (Holt, 2020). On the other hand, the company or an individual can update anti-viruses, which assist an organization not to be victims of any malicious activity. Drive-by-downloads are a process used by hackers, where the users have to click on something to download the malware. Most of the time, the attacker uses advertisements to infect several sites, such as the lyrics domain. Com, which was infected in 2004 (Holt, 2020). It is, however, complicated to tell whether a site is infected by malware s; here, in case a user wants to check if a page is infected, they use the blacklist alert.org to check the blacklisted pages.
What hackers do after the access
After accessing a companies information systems and information, hackers conduct several activities, such as transforming the computer into a zombie, traps the computer system in a bonnet, and performing the exploitation process (Luke, et, al.,2017). The infection of malware turns the computer into a zombie, delivered as a Trojan or use of bot programs and other forms of malware.
The hacker uses command and control servers to control the botnet, making the computer a zombie, hence easily controlled by the hacker without the user’s knowledge. Trapping a computer into a botnet is an effective way hackers use to make the computer a zombie (Luke, et,al.,2017). Once the computer becomes a botner, the hacker uses the bot herder several ways, such as sending Trojan spams or viruses that steal information from the system. Once the hacker uses the botnets to send viruses and spam, the attacker exploits the computer system and exports it by holding the system hostage. After holding the computer system hostage, the hackers of cyber attackers ask for ransomware which is very expensive to most organizations.
The attackers ask for ransom by asking the users to pay the money or never access the information or identity. Most of the time, the ransom ranges from three hundred dollars to two thousand dollars for a crypto locker., according to the Microsoft malware protection center (Luke, et,al.,2017). Some of the major, and prevalent attacks that have taken place in the past, include the Koobface, the zero access, mac-flashback, ad the crypto locker, which took place in 2003.
Over the years, the government and other private sectors have worked towards preventing and fighting cyber criminality, especially hackers (Babko-Malaya, et, al.,2017). The organization has done that by using several policies that have worked and some not worked fully, especially with the increasing rate o technological innovations and creativity. Hackers, however, are part of cybercriminals, although not all hackers are malicious. Some hackers, such as the white hat and the red hat hackers, are ethical and primarily use penetration tests to discover vulnerabilities and assist in developing cybersecurity policies and procedures (Babko-Malaya, et, al.,2017). However, most hackers are malicious and work on streaming valuable information from the government, business organizations, and personal gain, such as the blue hackers that steal information to settle old scores. Other hackers include the gray hackers, the blue hackers, the green hat, script kiddies, the hacktivist, and the national-sponsored hackers (Holt, 2020). Hackers are not heroes because they tend to steal what the country or the government has worked on gaining.
References
Babko-Malaya, O., Cathey, R., Hinton, S., Maimon, D., & Gladkova, T. (2017, December). Detection of hacking behaviors and communication patterns on social media. In 2017 IEEE international conference on big data (Big Data) (pp. 4636-4641). IEEE.
Holt, T. J. (2020). Computer hacking and the hacker subculture. The Palgrave Handbook of International Cybercrime and Cyberdeviance, 725-742.
Holt, T. J. (2020). Computer hacking and the hacker subculture. The Palgrave Handbook of International Cybercrime and Cyberdeviance, 725-742.
Kempen, A. (2020). Are all hackers bad?. Servamus Community-based Safety and Security Magazine, 113(6), 38-39.
Lubke, J., Britt, V. G., Paulus, T. M., & Atkins, D. P. (2017). Hacking the literature review: Opportunities and innovations to improve the research process. Reference and User Services Quarterly, 56(4), 285-295.
Wang, Y., & Yang, J. (2017, March). Ethical hacking and network defense: choose your best network vulnerability scanning tool. In 2017 31st International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications Workshops (WAINA) (pp. 110-113). IEEE.
