Common Hacking Tactics

An illegal activity to get unauthorized information by modifying a system’s features and exploiting its loopholes can be called Unethical hacking. In this world where most of the things happen online, hacking provides wider opportunities for the hackers to gain unauthorized access to the unclassified information like credit card details, email account details and other personal information. So, it is also important to know some common hacking tactics that are commonly used to get your personal information in an unauthorized way.

1.    Denial of Service (DoS)

-   Hammering a website's equipment with too many requests for information, effectively clogging the system, slowing the performance of even crashing site.

-   User who attempts to visit the site will be denied access.

2.    Scams

-   Widespread probes of the internet to determine types of computers services and connections.

3.    Sniffer

-      Packets, capturing passwords or entire contents.

4.    Spoofing

-   Faking email address or webpage to trick users into passing along critical information like password, credit card numbers.

5.    Trojan Horse

A Trojan Horse or Trojan is a type of malware that is often disguised as legitimate software. Trojans can be employed by cyber-thieves and hackers trying to gain access to users' systems. Users are typically tricked by some form of social engineering into loading and executing Trojans on their systems. The term "Trojan Horse" is derived from a story of the Trojan War about the subterfuge that the Greeks used to enter the independent city of Troy and win the war. The Greeks constructed a huge wooden horse, and hide a select force of men inside including Odysseus.

6.    War Dialing

-   Program automatically dials thousands of telephones numbers in search of a way through a modem connection.

7.    Password Cracker

-   Software that can guess passwords.

8.    Cracker

-  A Computer Criminal who penetrates a computer to steal information or damage programs in some way.

-   A malicious hacker

-   Also called black hats

-   hackers becomes obsessed with gaining entry to high secure computer system.

9.    Bacn (Bacon)

-   Email message the recipient has accepted to receive it.

-   Newsletter, alerts and automated reminders.

10.  Cyber Gangs

-   Bring crackers together by means of internet and physical meetings.

-   Reinforce their immature and often destructive aims.

11.  Computer Virus Authors/Virus

A computer virus is a type of malicious software that, when executed, replicates itself by modifying other computer programs and inserting its own code. When this replication succeeds, the affected areas are then said to be "infected" with a computer virus

Virus writers use social engineering deceptions and exploit detailed knowledge of security vulnerabilities to initially infect systems and to spread the virus. The vast majority of viruses target systems running Microsoft Windows, employing a variety of mechanisms to infect new hosts, and often using complex anti-detection/stealth strategies to evade antivirus software. Motives for creating viruses can include seeking profit desire to send a political message, personal amusement, to demonstrate that a vulnerability exists in software, for sabotage and denial of service, or simply because they wish to explore cyber security issues, artificial life and evolutionary algorithms.

12.  Identity Theft

-   A criminal poses as someone else.

13.  Cyber War

-   A country's information system could be paralyzed from a massive attack by destructive software.

14.  Phishing

Phishing is the fraudulent attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by disguising as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.

15.  Zombie

-   A computer that has been hijacked by a cracker without owner's knowledge and used to perform malicious task on the internet.

16.  Multi Slacking

-   Playing games at computer instead of working.

17.  Spam

-   Unsolicited commercial email, the electronic equivalent of:

-    Junk Mail

-   To send an email message to great numbers of recipient without regard for their need to know.