THE ART OF EXPLOITATION
The explosive growth of the Internet has brought many good things: electronic commerce, easy access to vast stores of reference material, collaborative computing, e-mail, and new avenues for advertising and information distribution, to name a few. As with most technological advances, there is also a dark side: criminal hackers. Governments, companies, and private citizens around the world are anxious to be a part of this revolution, but they are afraid that some hacker will break into their Web server and replace their logo with pornography, read their e-mail, steal their credit card number from an on-line shopping site, or implant software that will secretly transmit their organization's secrets to the open Internet. With these concerns and others, the ethical hacker can help.
ETHICAL HACKING: Information security is the fastest growing area in the Information Technology (IT) sector. Security would be an easy process if all that had to be done is to install a fire wall and anti - virus software, but the reality is that securing information requires a multi - layered approach. Obtaining this requires adopting measures to prevent the unauthorised use, misuse, modification or denial of use of knowledge, facts, data, or capabilities and it requires taking a proactive approach to manage the risk. This is where ethical hackers come into real play. Ethical hacking is an "art" in the sense that the "artist" must possess the skills and knowledge of a potential attacker (to imitate an attack) and the resources with which they mitigate the vulnerabilities used by attackers. Ethical hacking is the process of analyzing the imposed threat on a given system or network by modelling the actions of an adversary. This paper describes ethical hackers: their skills, their attitudes, and how they go about helping their customers find and plug up security holes. The ethical hacking process is explained in detail. Succesful ethical hackers possess a variety of skills. First and foremost, they must be completely trustworthy. The ethical hacker often holds the " keys to the company," Modern security efforts have to plan for the unplanned and anticipate attacks before they occur. Ethical Hacking is in the boom and it''s high time every company recognizes the need of a potential professional ethical hacker. Ethical hacking is not just necessary; it is inevitable.
OLD SCHOOL HACKERS
HISTORY OF HACKING:
1960s: The Dawn of Hacking
Original meaning of the word "hack" started at MIT; meant elegant, witty or inspired way of doing almost anything; hacks were programming shortcuts ELDER DAYS (1970-1979) : Phone Phreaks and Cap'n Crunch
THE GOLDEN AGE (1980-1991)
1980: Hacker Message Boards and Groups
1983:Kids'Games, Movie "War Games" introduces public to hacking. THE GREAT HACKER WAR
Legion of Doom vs Masters of Deception; online warfare; jamming phone lines. CRACKDOWN (1986-1994)
1986: Congress passes Computer Fraud and Abuse Act; crime to break into computer systems. ■ 1988: The Morris Worm
Robert T. Morris, Jr., launches self-replicating worm on ARPAnet. ■ 1989: The Germans , the KGB and Kevin Mitnick.
■ German Hackers arrested for breaking into U.S. computers; sold information to Soviet KGB. ■ Hacker "The Mentor“ arrested; publishes Hacker's Manifesto. ■ Kevin Mitnick convicted; first person convicted under law against gaining access to interstate network for criminal purposes.
■ 1993: Why Buy a Car When You Can Hack One?
Radio station call-in contest;...