HACKING AND ITS TYPES

What's Hacking? 

A dark room, many screens running codes on, and a dude with a hoodie on running all of those complicated operations typing a thousand word a second, it's what we call Hacking, right?

well, actually it isn't the case most of the times. People got used to that concept of "Hacking" due to what Hollywood shows, but that isn't really what goes on, and that's indeed doesn't make Hacking a boring thing.

In this article you will know why, and get introduced to the real Hacking world, as I'm taking you in a short journey to know about some of its main concepts..

 

Cyber-Security and Hacking:

To put it simply, Hacking is about gaining access over devices and systems in a different way, which can be authorized and legal, or unauthorized, by someone who doesn't have the right to gain the control through the casual ways..

 

Why it's done?

Well, Hacking a system or a device can be motivated by many factors, and based on that we categorize the type of the Hack.

On the first hand, a Hack can be done for protections purposes, in this case we call it Ethical Hacking, in which a Cyber-Security specialist is hired by the owners of the system, let’s say a company pays a specialist or its Cyber team to break into the system, figure out the flaws in it and find solutions to block those vulnerabilities in order to prevent any real possible threat that may result in leak of confidential data.

On the other hand, Hacks can be done by cyber criminals to gain unauthorized access and control over systems and devices by launching several cyber-attacks exploiting the vulnerabilities to break into the system and leak or steal confidential information.

These attacks have wide aims depending on what the attackers wanted to achieve from launching their attacks, it varies from money to national security purposes, and we call this sort of Hacking by The Black Hacking or the illegal Hacking.

 

Who launch the Cyber-attacks?

Cyber-attacks are mostly carried out by a high skilled Hacker and Cyber-Security specialists, who can be certified Hackers who work independently or for organizations and even governments, or by those who takes Hacking as a life path, and do it for passion, and those can be the black Hackers or the white ones, or both sometimes, we covered in details the types of Hackers here, we recommend taking a look over it after finishing this article.

For now, let's dive a bit deeper knowing about the Cyber-Dudes..

 

The three main types of Hackers:

 

The White-Hat Hackers:

These are the Cyber-Security specialists, they depend on facts, legal and official evidence, focus on the facts and the proofs to solve the problem, they work independently or for companies and organizations.

They try to break into a system, find its vulnerabilities out and work to solve the issues and cover the flaws in the system to prevent them being used by an external side and preserve the data from leakage and stealing.

All their work is legal, and they are authorized to launch their Hacks.

Their source of income?

As mentioned, White-Hats are Ethical Hackers, thus they make money from working from companies, organizations or by doing a work independently.

A good example to take on White-Hackers, Steve Wozniak, Jon Lech Johansen and Kevin Mitnick who actually started as a Black-Hat.

 

The Black-Hat Hackers:

The bad guys, these are the ones who we see their stories in Hollywood. They mostly work independently as almost all of what they do is considered as illegal activity, they crave for the cons, always look for the hidden information and focus on the dark side of things,

Their job relays on finding the flaws in anything their eyes get on, figure out the problems and the weaknesses, and use them against the victim either for good or bad

Their main motive is money, but still some Black-Hats Hack for fun, curiosity or to get their hands over some secret & confidential data, which probably can benefit them in a way or another.

Almost all of their work is illegal, and they do Hacks that they aren’t authorized to do, which makes them considered as Cyber Criminals and put them under a threat to face the law in case their identity was revealed.

Their source of income?

In almost all of the cases the Black-Hats work independently, they are enrolled in illegal Cyber activities by which they earn money, sometimes great numbers depending on the type of the Hack.

They earn my many means, some to mention are:

• Selling Softwares and scripts

• Selling Zero-Days

• Doing Hacks for money in return

• Ransomwares like WannaCry

• Fraud

• Cyber-Attacks on banks and companies

Some of the Black-Hats to mention, Behzad Mesri and Michael Calce.

 

The Grey-Hat Hackers:

The Grey-Hats are the dudes in between, they are enrolled in both legal and illegal Cyber activities, they use their skills for good and bad.

You can find a Grey-Hat working in the Cyber-Security team for a company in the morning and enrolling in Black Hacks at night.

They are inspired by their curiosity, and their motives varies, from money, fun and curiosity to good doings. Thus, they break into systems and devices for satisfy their own desires and sometimes just to help a troubled one.

 

Their source of income?

Grey-Hats usually make money in both illegal and legal ways, as they may earn from working for companies and agencies, as well as from launching illegal Cyber-Attacks on organizations, individuals and banks to steal money or steal confidential data that can be used to blackmail or have the upper hand in any negotiations.

A good example of the Grey-Hat is the character Elliot from the famous TV series Mr. Robot.

 

Why it’s important to know about Cyber-Security?

Nowadays tech is a part of almost each house, and even till the point that some people’s lives relay completely on tech, thus as the consumption of these new techs raise, the amount & level of Cyber-Crimes will raise as well, therefore, every one of us is under a threat of being a maniac’s next victim. Besides, there’s an important thing to consider that not all of the Cyber-Criminals Hack for money, as mentioned, some do it for fun or curiosity, but some other may be way more sick-minded to do real horrible stuff that can literally destroy someone’s life.

So don’t say that you have nothing to hide or that you fear none of this crap, because once you realize that all of your life and data are between a stranger’s hands, you will wake up to the fact that you have a lot to keep for yourself, but in many cases it’d be already too late to get away from the results of the lie that you have been convincing yourself by without any loses.

Educating yourself about Cyber-Security doesn’t mean spending days working and studying, and it doesn’t require you to be a geek, but simply is about having a basic knowledge about the Cyber possible threats, and how to keep yourself and data safe..

 

How to protect yourself against any possible Cyber-Threat?

Well, it isn’t as complicated as it sounds, just following some essentials steps, and surfing the internet wisely and carefully are enough to keep you safe from 70-90% of the threat..

 

Invest in your privacy:

Investing in your privacy protection is essential and not an option. Thus, invest in a good antivirus to keep your device clean and well defended against most of the threats and viruses.

Keep updated and up to date:

It’s essential to keep your OS updated. Companies don’t always launch updates only for the sake of adding new features, but in many cases these updates are launched to block a vulnerability found in the OS that was a Zero-Day exploited by Hackers, therefore keep your devices updated and avoid using unknown & cracked softwares as they can be a serious source of threat to your data.

Set a Two-Step Verification on:

Set a two-step verification to the apps and socials you use in order to prevent or at least make it harder to gain control over your accounts and leave another step standing between your data and the penetrator.

Avoid installing or clicking on unknown links and media:

You have to keep in mind that not only links can be evil links that can lead to you being Hacked, but as well media, like files, pictures music files, vides and many other, as for example a payload can be encrypted and injected in a png file that you may download on your device and get an open door that’s going to be sending your data and sometimes allow the Hacker to gain full control over your device without you even knowing about any of that.

Therefore, avoid clicking on unknown links or at least scan them before doing so, and disable the auto-download feature for media on apps.

For a normal user, you can use VirusTotal site to scan links and files.

 

What to do if I’m Hacked?

In case someone managed to Hack into your device, and they are blackmailing you for money or whatever, the first thing you have to keep in mind is that most of such “Hacks” are carried out by unexperienced rookie Script-Kiddies, because a real Hacker despite of his hat will be worrying about something a bit bigger than just Hacking random people..

Therefore, first to do is not to fall for their manipulation & blackmailing, never give them what they want, and follow some basic steps:

• Disconnect the device you sus it's Hacked from the internet immediately.
• Close any socials or emails that the Hacker can reach you by, or at least don't use them for a while.
• Format your device and look for the proper way to remove the virus or the Trojan.
• Ask for someone's help, it can be someone you trust who may be able to help.
• Report to the police in case none of that helped and the Hacker kept blackmailing or threatening you.

At the end, and as a normal user, you may have to sacrifice some of your data for sake of removing the Trojan, Virus, RAT or whatever that has been installed on your device.

 

Conclusion:

The tech world is developing each day, and as it takes a big part of our lives, we have to pay attention to the threats of the tech we use, by educating ourselves about the basics that should be known by everyone and pay enough attention to what we are doing on the internet.

Always keep in mind that not everyone is good, and as there are the normal criminals who kill, steal, and terrorize, there are sick minded people who have some knowledge about Hacking and use this knowledge for bad doings, therefore, it’s a good idea to protect ourselves from those Cyber-Maniacs as much as we care about staying safe, and keeping away from the casual criminals.

Thanks for reading!