By Carlos G. Coca

 Originally a person who was skilled at programming language who was able to create/alter web content.  Now: “A person who illegally gains access to and sometimes tampers with information in a computer system.”  Merriam-Webster definition

White Hat  Help prevent weak systems from being hacked.  Make web safer for individuals. Black Hat  Cause problems for individuals, companies and government.  Steal identities, money and add viruses.

 SQL injections  Worms  Encryption

 SQL = Structured Query Language  Used to interact with databases.  Step 1: Hackers find holes in coding design.  Step 2: Add their own SQL into a database.  Step 3: Obtain information.

Whitelisting  Enables a program to check through a list of allowed characters.  Harder to give the database orders since they’re not allowed in the application. Blacklisting  Tells program to immediately deny:  Certain characters.  Combinations of characters.

 Infect systems and search for other systems to infect without user interaction.  Starts slow then “snowballs” and becomes more and more devastating.  Conflicker worm.

 Encryption is used to hide passwords.  Hackers attack in three ways.  Brute force attack:  Program goes through every possible combination.  Dictionary attack:  Uses a downloaded list of common passwords and enters them rapidly.  Cryptanalysis attack:  Takes a long hash and breaks it down into smaller segments and tries answering smaller pieces of the puzzle at one time.