We hear the term hacking very often. It can range from as simple as shoulder-surfing to destroying very complex and expensive systems. There are many types of hacking. In this post, I am going to share various types of hacking.
Hacking has been a part of computing for approximately 57 years. The term HACKER was originated in 1960 when the first known event of hacking took place at MIT(Massachusetts Institute of Technologies).
Technically, we can say that ‘hacking is a process of gaining unauthorized access to computer resources’. In other words (in a simple expression), it is the process of ‘breaking’ into someone’s computer without permission.
It is indeed quite the opposite of what you must have seen in the movies. Movies show hacking a very fast process (with a monitor filled with running green texts).
In reality, hacking is a long boring process of data collection in bits and pieces and using these small data to exploit into someone’s rights 0r system (for an example, access to the targets Facebook account).
Then, who is a Hacker?
Definitely, the person who does the act of hacking is called a hacker. For example, I am a friend of a System Administrator. As a friend, he would not hesitate to share some of his information to me. He would share me where he keeps his confidential files (that may contain his passwords for various accounts). If I take this advantage and get hold of more and more information, at a time I would get the passwords for the systems he is controlling. If I get access to these systems I am a hacker!
So, we can say, anyone who seeks and exploits a weakness in any computer or information systems using any means are known as hackers.
Types of Hacking
- Ethical Hacking
- Website Hacking
- Network Hacking
- Email Hacking
- Password Hacking
- Computer Hacking
- Online Banking Hacking
What do these mean?
- Ethical Hacking: Not all hackings are done with negative intentions. There are professional hackers who are handsomely paid in organizations to protect their systems from being hacked. They usually do for testing proposes. Hence, ethical hacking is where a person finds weaknesses in the computer system and get them fixed before other hackers with bad intentions exploit it.
- Website Hacking: Someone can prevent the owner of a website from being able to access his privileges, like updating and deleting some posts. Such type of hacking which involves taking control of the website owner and make changes in the information. To avoid hacks on websites, secure them with SSL.
- Network Hacking: Network Hacking generally means gathering information about domain using the various tools. Tools like Telnet, Ping, Tracert, etc. can be used to gather information about a target network.
- Email Hacking: It is the unauthorized access to email accounts and using it without the permission of its owner. It can be done in many ways. The most prevalent method is by phishing.
- Password Hacking: The process of trying to crack the secret passwords from the data that had been already stored in the computer system.
- Computer Hacking: Person will steal information from PC like Computer ID and password by applying hacking methods.
- Online Banking Hacking: These types of hacking are those which involves unauthorized accessing bank accounts by various means such as by creating fake websites (or cloning legitimate websites).
All the types of hacks mentioned above can be done effectively using the concepts of social engineering. Basically, it is the non-technical method of hacking which involves the art of manipulation of human behavior to gain unauthorized access.
Why do Hackers Hack?
Not all hackers do their ‘magic’ with the same intentions. There are many reasons why people try to hack. Some of the reasons are listed below:
- Just for fun.
- Steal important information.
- To damage the system
- Destroy someone’s privacy
- Money Extortion
- System security testing
- Destroy enemies computer network during the war.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Hacking
Here let me share why and why not to try hacking. In terms of legality, it is ABSOLUTELY illegal if you do it without the victim’s permission. Let us explore more into it point by point:
- It helps us to recover lost information in case we lost our password.
- To perform penetration testing to strengthen computer security.
- Teaches us that technology is not really 100% secure.
- It’s illegal
- It can harm someone’s privacy.
- A malicious attack on the system.
- Unauthorized access to private information isn’t good.
- Criminals can use it to their advantage.
Important Takeaway – How to give a password to an account?
- Choose a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. Never choose passwords that someone can guess, for example for girlfriend or boyfriend’s name, pet’s name or some meaningful words or terms. Rather passwords should be a mixture of letters, numbers, and symbols and long enough (at least 8 charactered passwords)
- Create a unique password. Never keep the same password for all the accounts.
We should keep our password protected by not exposing to untrusted sites. The password should be with the combinations of characters, numbers, digits and special symbols. Practice using exact web address and we should close our internet while not in use.
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