Security Hacking or Data Breach
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Hacking is an illegal process of accessing data and information of a person or a company. A hacker, the person who is involved in such activities, can use different techniques in combination to bypass the security of the data. “The hacking process is not a one-step procedure. Rarely, a hacker will get online and use one method to have the full control of a remote computer. The paper discusses the different methods and techniques that hacker use to breach security imposed by computer” (Spivey, 2007).
A professional hacker always has computer skills. However, the hacker should equip himself with additional facets that he must master. A hacker will also need to have physical and interpersonal skills that involve human interactions. A hacker can disguise themselves as the person one is talking on the phone. Research have realized that the false stereotype of a hacker is, in fact, a hacker’s greatest assets.
Hackers can also act as garbage collectors. They often take on this role for they know many people do not shred their credit card statements before they throw them away. The piece of paper that one thinks that is dirty is a hacker’s gold mine. The process of fishing in the garbage to find password is known as dumpster diving (Spivey, 2007).
Managers face such scenarios on a weekly basis. The vendors try to trick the client so that they can be given the information they require. Unfortunately, a lot of people fall into this trap, and a lot of network information is leaked.
A hacker will try to have a valid user account and its password. Most of the time, this is the only way a hacker can bypass the security. They can use the account to pass firewalls and other intrusion detection systems until they can obtain the root access or set up a new account for themselves. The hacker usually tricks someone to give them that information. For example, nowadays, companies are using virtual private networks (VPN) to enable their employees to access remotely the company’s network from home. The method is popular for people to work from home, but it also a weak spot for hackers. Hackers will impersonate an IT technician and ask one of the IT staff to give them the password, pretending that they have lost it.
Newbies at home are the actual targets by the hacker who will disguise themselves as ISP technician support. The newbies at home think that they are safe from scammers and hackers. The hackers usually send a mass message to people and wait for the newbies to come along. They will set up a fake account and pretend that they are AOL employees. As the newbie respond by continuing chatting to the hacker in disguise, they will provide everything from usernames and passwords to credit cards.
Social spying is another technique that hackers use. They usually observe to acquire the information that they require. The small business owners are well protected from social engineering for they know the other small companies very well. An example of social spying works in ATMs. Many people who own ATM will just flush out their cards and punch the pin number on the ATM. What they do not realize is that someone might be memorizing their PIN and would have all the information that they require accessing the funds. Social spying is also used by hackers through snooping others as they are actively typing their user information (Mann, 2008).
References
Mann, I. (2008). Hacking the human: Social engineering techniques and security countermeasures. Aldershot, England: Gower.
Spivey, M. D. (2007). Practical hacking techniques and countermeasures. Boca Raton, FL: Auerbach Publications.