29/04/2015
Terms hackers use and their meanings.
Adware: Adware can mean the software that automatically generates advertisements in a program that is otherwise free, such as an online video game. But in this context it more commonly means a kind of spyware that tracks your browsing habits covertly to generate those ads.
Anonymous: A non-hierarchical hacktivist collective, Anonymous uses hacking (and arguably cracking) techniques to register political protest in campaigns known as “ .” Best known for their distributed denial of services (DDoS) attacks, past activities have included attacks against the Church of Scientology ; Visa,
Paypal, and others who withdrew their services from WikiLeaks ’
Julian Assange after that group began releasing war documents; and others purporting to support the Arab Spring; and a campaign that brought down the website of the Westboro Baptist Church . are usually marked with the release of a video of a reader in a Guy Fawkes mask using a computer generated voice. Offshoot groups include AntiSec and LulzSec.
AntiSec: An Anonymous splinter group, AntiSec was best known for the hack of security firm Stratfor, publishing credit card numbers and email addresses taken from the company’s site. Jeremy Hammond was arrested for alleged Anti-Sec activities under the alias sup_g.
Back door: A back door, or trap door, is a hidden entry to a computing device or software that bypasses security measures, such as logins and password protections. Some have alleged that manufacturers have worked with government intelligence to build backdoors into their products. Malware is often designed to exploit back doors.
Black hat: Black hat hackers are those who engage in hacking for illegal purposes, often for financial gain, though also for notoriety. Their hacks (and cracks) result in inconvenience and loss for both the owners of the system they hack and the users.
Bot: A program that automates a usually simple action so that it can be done repeatedly at a much higher rate for a more sustained period than a human operator could do it. Like most things in the world of hacking, bots are, in themselves, benign and used for a host of legitimate purposes, like online content delivery. However, they are often used in conjunction with cracking, and that’s where its public notoriety comes from. Bots can be used, for instance, to make the content calls that make up denial of service attacks. Bot is also a term used to refer to the individual hijacked computers that make up a botnet.
Botnet: A botnet is a group of computers controlled without their owners’ knowledge and used to send spam or make denial of service attacks. Malware is used to hijack the individual computers, also known as “zombies,” and send directions through them. They are best known in terms of large spam networks, frequently based in the former Soviet Union.
Brute force attack: Also known as an exhaustive key search, a brute force attack is an automated search for every possible password to a system. It is an inefficient method of hacking compared to others like phishing. It’s used usually when there is no alternative. The process can be made shorter by focusing the attack on password elements likely to be used by a specific system.
Clone phishing: Clone phishing is the modification of an existing, legitimate email with a false link to trick the recipient into providing personal information.
Code: Code is the machine-readable, usually text-based instructions that govern a device or program. Changing the code can change the behavior of the device or program.
Compiler: A compiler is a program that translates high-level language (source code in a programming language) into executable machine language. Compilers are sometimes rewritten to create a back door without changing a program’s source code.
Cookie: Cookies are text files sent from your Web browser to a server, usually to customize information from a website.
Cracking: To break into a secure computer system, frequently to do damage or gain financially, though sometimes in political protest.
Denial of service attack (DoS): DoS is used against a website or computer network to make it temporarily unresponsive. This is often achieved by sending so many content requests to the site that the server overloads. Content requests are the instructions sent, for instance, from your browser to a website that enables you to see the website in question. Some have described such attacks as the Internet equivalent of street protests and some groups, such as Anonymous frequently use it as a protest tool.
Distributed denial of service attack (DDoS): A DoS using a number of separate machines. This can be accomplished by seeding machines with a Trojan and creating a botnet or, as is the case with a number of Anonymous attacks, by using the machines of volunteers.
Doxing: Discovering and publishing the identity of an otherwise anonymous Internet user by tracing their online publically available accounts, metadata, and documents like email accounts, as well as by hacking, stalking, and harassing.
Firewall: A system using hardware, software, or both to prevent unauthorized access to a system or machine.
Gray hat: Just like the rest of life, hacking is often less black or white than it is gray. The term gray hat hacker reflects that reality. A gray hat hacker will break the law in the pursuit of a hack, but does not do so maliciously or for personal gain. Many would argue Anonymous are gray hats.
Hacking: Hacking is the creative manipulation of code, distinguished, albeit amorphously, from programming by focusing on the manipulation of already written code in the devices or software for which that code was already written. Metaphorically it extends to social engineering in its manipulation of social code to effect change. Many prefer to use the term cracking to describe hacking into a machine or program without permission. Hackers are sometimes divided into white hat, black hat, and gray hat hackers.
Hacktivist: A hacker whose goals are social or political. Examples range from reporting online anonymously from a country that attacks free speech to launching a DDoS campaign against a company whose CEO has issued objectionable statements. Not to be confused with slacktivism, which refers to push-button activism in which a supporter of a social or political campaign’s goals does nothing but register their support online, for instance by “liking” a page.
Hash: A hash is a number generated by an algorithm from a string of characters in a message or other string. In a communications system using hashes, the sender of a message or file can generate a hash, encrypt the hash, and send it with the message. On decryption, the recipient generates another hash. If the included and the generated hash are the same, the message or file has almost certainly not been tampered with.
IP: Internet protocol address. It’s the distinctive numeral fingerprint that each device carries that’s connected to a network using Internet Protocol. If you have a device’s IP you can often identify the person using it, track its activity, and discover its location. These addresses are apportioned by the regional Internet registries of the IANA (the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority). Crackers can use knowledge of your IP address to your computer via one of its ports, the points that regulate information traffic flow.
IRC: Internet relay chat is a protocol used by both groups and for one-on-one conversations. Often utilized by hackers to communicate or share files. Because they are usually unencrypted, hackers sometimes use packet sniffers to steal personal information from them.
Keystroke logging: Keystroke logging is the tracking of which keys are pressed on a computer (and which touchscreen points are used). It is, simply, the map of a computer/human interface. It is used by gray and black hat hackers to record login IDs and passwords. Keyloggers are usually secreted onto a device using a Trojan delivered by a phishing email.
Logic bomb: A virus secreted into a system that triggers a malicious action when certain conditions are met. The most common version is the time bomb.
LulzSec: LulzSec is an Anonymous offshoot. It’s best-known actions were hacking user information from the website of Sony Pictures and for allegedly shutting down the CIA website with a DDoS attack. LulzSec’s best known, however, for Hector Xavier Monsegur, a.k.a. “Sabu,” a hacker turned FBI informant, whose intel led to the arrest of four other LulzSec members. He faces the possibility of a long prison term despite his cooperation.
Malware: A software program designed to hijack, damage, or steal information from a device or system. Examples include spyware, adware, rootkits, viruses, keyloggers, and many more. The software can be delivered in a number of ways, from decoy websites and spam to USB drives.
Master: The computer in a botnet that controls, but is not controlled by, all the other devices in the network. It’s also the computer to which all other devices report, sending information, such as credit card numbers, to be processed. Control by the master of the bots is usually via IRC.
