Joseph Owen

 Aims:  To look at types of hackers  To look at different types of attacks  How to protect your network  Objectives  You will know 3 types of hackers  You will know 6 types of attacks  You will know how to protect your networks against these types of attacks

 The best way to protect your website, is to know how others try and attack it  Nothing in this lecture will teach you any details about using the attacks  Any attempt to attack/gain access to networks is illegal under the Computer Misuse Act, 1990

 1. Unauthorised access to computer material  2. Unauthorised access with intent to commit of facilitate commission of further offences  3. Unauthorised acts with intent to impair, or with recklessness as to impairing, operation of computer, etc.  3a. Making, supplying or obtaining articles for use in offence under section 1 or 3 

 Due to the threat of attack, many companies employ a team to protect their network  Quite often this team know how to get into the network, then close the hole behind them  You could make very good money doing so  You sign documents to say what you are doing, and declare you will not use your skills for the wrong reasons

 Quite often major companies will not report attacks  If a bank was target successfully and it made the news  People would worry about their savings etc…  They would take their money elsewhere

 Otherwise known as ethical hackers  The hacking they undertake is legal and/or permitted by the company  Used to reinforce systems, and stop other hackers  This does not include, hacking for ‘the greater good’

 Unlike white hat, grey hat hackers are breaking the law  They general feel they are doing so for good  They do not hack for personal gain, but the gain of others, although they can sometimes request a fee for fixing defects  This could include, other hackers, companies, small firms, government etc…

 100% illegal  Hacking for personal gain, including financial, blackmail etc…  They can hack into networks to steal, replace or destroy data  Could often be a team of hackers, who may not even know each other, working anonymously

 Script kiddie  Someone who uses existing scripts to attempt to hack  Hacktivist  A form of electronic protests  Blue hat  Used in the beta stage of software development

 The first recorded computer virus  Written by Bob Thomas in 1971  It used an open port to enter the computer, display a message and self replicate to other computers on the network  I’m the creeper, catch me if you can!

 DOS/Ddos  Packet sniffing  Man in the middle  Password cracking  SQL injection  Social engineering

 Where data packets are sent in massive quantities to an IP address to put a strain on the web server  This stops legitimate users being able to access the site due to the ‘high traffic’  Distributed (DDoS) is where ‘zombie’ computers are led by master computers DDoS – Packet Sniffing – Man in the middle – Password Cracking – SQL injection – Social Engineering

The zombie computers may be legitimate users who are unaware their machine is being used in an attack Due to the nature of the web this can be spread worldwide

 A server side firewall, preventing the packets reaching your server  Discuss with your ISP, as they may provide solutions and/or protection against attacks  DDoS mitigation services, where you can pay a fee for someone to reroute the packets to a dummy server DDoS – Packet Sniffing – Man in the middle – Password Cracking – SQL injection – Social Engineering

 A device will sit in the network intercepting packets  This could be between router and computer  Between you and you ISP  Can either be:  Filtered, configured to take certain information such as passwords  Unfiltered, takes everything it can  Software was initially used legally to detect network faults DDoS – Packet Sniffing – Man in the middle – Password Cracking – SQL injection – Social Engineering

ComputerRouter ISP

ComputerRouter ISP Sniffer

ComputerRouter ISP Sniffer

 Use higher levels of encryption  Use HTTPS channels to reduce the risk of data leaks  Use a variety of passwords for different applications/devices  This will limit the damage if they successfully gain data DDoS – Packet Sniffing – Man in the middle – Password Cracking – SQL injection – Social Engineering

 Network eavesdropping  A machine inserts itself into a network and starts conversations with the computers or servers, tricking them into thinking that they are the other party  Works in real time, so no suspicion caused DDoS – Packet Sniffing – Man in the middle – Password Cracking – SQL injection – Social Engineering

Party 1Party 2 Party 1MITM Party 2 Expected Reality

 Encryption that the MITM will not be able to decipher  HTTPS  Security certificates  As you can see, similar to stopping packet sniffers DDoS – Packet Sniffing – Man in the middle – Password Cracking – SQL injection – Social Engineering

 This attack can have many variations:  Password Guessing  Brute Force  Dictionary attacks  Password resetting  Hash decrypting  Many people reuse the same passwords for many logins so results can be catastrophic DDoS – Packet Sniffing – Man in the middle – Password Cracking – SQL injection – Social Engineering

 Use secure passwords   Don’t reuse passwords  Update passwords  Never disclose your passwords DDoS – Packet Sniffing – Man in the middle – Password Cracking – SQL injection – Social Engineering

 Using SQL (Structured Querying Language) to fool data input fields  Most online forms have a database running in the background  Instead of putting your name in a form, enter code to retrieve information DDoS – Packet Sniffing – Man in the middle – Password Cracking – SQL injection – Social Engineering

 The most common form of attack  Tricking the user into giving away their details  A rich relative from Nigeria  The ‘bank’ needing your details  Very effective on the non computer literate DDoS – Packet Sniffing – Man in the middle – Password Cracking – SQL injection – Social Engineering

 Never give away information regarding your accounts  Never give away personal information (might be used for security questions)  Educate your friends/family/staff about the dangers DDoS – Packet Sniffing – Man in the middle – Password Cracking – SQL injection – Social Engineering

 Root kit  Software to undermine the computer system  Key loggers  Records the keys pressed on a keyboard and sends them to the attacker  Trojan horse  Pretends to be legitimate software, but it is really a virus