Hacking Attack and their Counter Measure

Galley discusses three types of attacks against computer systems: Physical, Syntactic

and Semantic. A physical attack uses conventional weapons, such as bombs or fire. A

syntactic attack uses virus-type software to disrupt or damage a computer system or

network. A semantic attack is a more subtle approach. Its goal is to attack users'

confidence by causing a computer system to produce errors and unpredictable results.

Syntactic attacks are sometimes grouped under the term "malicious software" or

"malware". These attacks may include viruses, worms, and Trojan horses. One

common vehicle of delivery formal ware is email.

Semantic attacks involve the modification of information or dissemination of

incorrect information. Modification of information has been perpetrated even without

the aid of computers, but computers and networks have provided new opportunities to

achieve this. Also, the dissemination of incorrect information to large numbers of

people quickly is facilitated by such mechanisms as email, message boards, and

websites

Hacking tricks can be divided into different categories elaborated below:

Trojan programs that share files via instant messenger

Instant messaging allows file-sharing on a computer. All present popular instant

messengers have file sharing abilities, or allow users to have the above functionality

by installing patches or plug-ins; this is also a major threat to present information

security. These communication software also make it difficult for existing hack prevention method to prevent and control information security. Hackers use instant

communication capability to plant Trojan program into an unsuspected program; the

planted program is a kind of remotely controlled hacking tool that can conceal itself

and is unauthorized. 

A hacker need not open a new port to perform transmissions; he can perform his

operations through the already opened instant messenger port. Even if a computer

uses dynamic IP addresses, its screen name doesn't change.

Hijacking and Impersonation

There are various ways through which a hacker can impersonate other users. The most

commonly used method is eavesdropping on unsuspecting users to retrieve user

accounts, passwords and other user related information.

The theft of user account number and related information is a very serious

problem in any instant messenger. For instance, a hacker after stealing a user's

information impersonate the user; the user's contacts not knowing that the user's

account has been hacked believe that the person they're talking to is the user, and are

persuaded to execute certain programs or reveal confidential information. Hence, theft

of user identity not only endangers a user but also surrounding users. Guarding

against Internet security problems is presently the focus of future research; because

without good protection, a computer can be easily attacked, causing major losses.

Hackers wishing to obtain user accounts may do so with the help of Trojans

designed to steal passwords. If an instant messenger client stores his/her password on

his/her computer, then a hacker can send a Trojan program to the unsuspecting user.

When the user executes the program, the program shall search for the user's password

and send it to the hacker. 

Denial of Service

There are many ways through which a hacker can launch a denial of service (DoS)

attack on an instant messenger user. A Partial DoS attack will cause a user end to

hang, or use up a large portion of CPU resources causing the system to become

unstable.

There are many ways in which a hacker can cause a denial of service on an instant

messenger client. One common type of attack is flooding a particular user with a large

number of messages. The popular instant messaging clients contain protection against

flood-attacks by allowing the victim to ignore certain users. However, there are many

tools that allow the hacker to use many accounts simultaneously, or automatically

create a large number of accounts to accomplish the flood-attack.

Phishing

The word phishing comes from the analogy that Internet scammers are using email

lures to fish for passwords and financial data from the sea of Internet users. The term

was coined in 1996 by hackers who were stealing AOL Internet accounts by

scamming passwords from unsuspecting AOL users. Since hackers have a tendency to

replacing “f'” with “ph” the term phishing was derived.

Phishing Techniques

Phishing techniques can be divided into different categories, some of which are elaborated below:

Link manipulation

Most methods of phishing use some form of technical deception designed to make a

link in an email (and the spoofed website it leads to) appear to belong to the spoofed

organization. Misspelled URLs or the use of sub domains are common tricks used by

phishers, such as this example URL, http://www.yourbank.com.example.com/.

Another common trick is to make the anchor text for a link appear to be valid, when

the link actually goes to the phishers' site.

An old method of spoofing used links containing the '@' symbol, originally

intended as a way to include a username and password (contrary to the standard). For

example, the link 
http://www.google.com@members.tripod.com/might deceive a

casual observer into believing that it will open a page on www.google.com. whereas it

actually directs the browser to a page on members.tripod.com, using a username of

www.google.com: the page opens normally, regardless of the username supplied.

Such URLs were disabled in Internet Explorer, while the Mozilla and Opera web

browsers opted to present a warning message and give the option of continuing to the

site or canceling.

Filter evasion

Phishers have used images instead of text to make it harder for anti-phishing filters to

detect text commonly used in phishing emails.

Website forgery

Once the victim visits the website the deception is not over. Some phishing scams use

JavaScript commands in order to alter the address bar. This is done either by placing a

picture of a legitimate URL over the address bar or by closing the original address bar

and opening a new one with the legitimate URL.
An attacker can even use flaws in a trusted website's own scripts against the

victim. These types of attacks (known as cross-site scripting) are particularly

problematic, because they direct the user to sign in at their bank or service's own web

page, where everything from the web address to the security certificates appears

correct. In reality, the link to the website is crafted to carry out the attack, although it

is very difficult to spot without specialist knowledge. Just such a flaw was used in

2006 against Pay Pal.

A Universal Man-in-the-middle Phishing Kit, discovered by RSA Security,

provides a simple-to-use interface that allows a phisher to convincingly reproduce

websites and capture log-in details entered at the fake site.

Phone phishing

Not all phishing attacks require a fake website. Messages that claimed to be from a

bank told users to dial a phone number regarding problems with their bank accounts.

Once the phone number (owned by the phisher, and provided by a voice over IP

service) was dialed, prompts told users to enter their account numbers and PIN. Voice

phishing sometimes uses fake caller-ID data to give the appearance that calls come

from a trusted organization.

Fake Web sites

Fake bank websites stealing account numbers and passwords have become

increasingly common with the growth of online financial transactions. Hence, when

using online banking, we should take precautions like using a secure encrypted

customer's certificate, surf the net following the correct procedure, etc.

First, the scammers create a similar website homepage; then they send out e-mails

with enticing messages to attract visitors. They may also use fake links to link internet

surfers to their website. Next, the fake website tricks the visitors into entering their

personal information, credit card information or online banking account number and

passwords. After obtaining a user's information, the scammers can use the information

to drain the bank accounts, shop online or create fake credit cards and other similar

crimes.

Spoofing

A technique used to gain unauthorized access to computers, whereby the intruder

sends messages to a computer with an IP address indicating that the message is

coming from a trusted host. To engage in IP spoofing, a hacker must first use a variety

of techniques to find an IP address of a trusted host and then modify the packet

headers so that it appears that the packets are coming from that host.

A closely interconnected and often confused term with phishing and pharming is

spoofing. A "spoofer", in Internet terms, is defined generally as the "cracker" who

alters, or "forges", an e-mail address, passwords).

Spoofing Attacks Techniques

Spoofing attacks can be divided into different categories, some of which are

elaborated below:

Man-in-the-middle attack and internet protocol spoofing

An example from cryptography is the man-in-the-middle attack, in which an attacker

spoofs Alice into believing they're Bob, and spoofs Bob into believing they're Alice,

thus gaining access to all messages in both directions without the trouble of any.

Spyware

Spyware is computer software that can be used to gather and remove confidential

information from any computer without the knowledge of the owner. Everything the

surfer does online, including his passwords, may be vulnerable to spyware. Spyware

can put anyone in great danger of becoming a victim of identity theft. 

Solutions

As the spyware threat has worsened, a number of techniques have emerged to

counteract it. These include programs designed to remove or to block spyware, as

well as various user practices which reduce the chance of getting spyware on a

system. Nonetheless, spyware remains a costly problem. When a large number of

pieces of spyware have infected a Windows computer, the only remedy may involve

backing up user data, and fully reinstalling the operating system.

Security practices

To deter spyware, computer users have found several practices useful in addition to

installing anti-spyware programs.

Many system operators install a web browser other than IE, such as Opera or

Mozilla Fire-fox. Although these have also suffered some security vulnerabilities,

their comparatively small market share compared to Internet Explorer makes it

uneconomic for hackers to target users on those browsers. Though no browser is

completely safe, Internet Explorer is at a greater risk for spyware infection due to its

large user base as well as vulnerabilities such as ActiveX.

Electronic Bulletin Boards

Chat rooms and electronic bulletin boards have become breeding grounds for identity

theft. When criminals have obtained personal identifying information such as credit

card numbers or social security numbers, they visit hacker chat rooms and post

messages that they have personal information for sale.

Information Brokers

Information brokers have been around for decades, however, a new breed of

information broker has emerged in recent years; the kind that sells personal

information to anyone requesting it electronically via the Internet Driven by greed,

some information brokers are careless when they receive an order. They fail to verify

the identity of the requesting party and do little, if any, probing into the intended use

of the information.

Internet Public Records

There are two ways public records are accessible electronically. Some jurisdictions

post them on their government web sites, thereby providing free or low-cost access to

records. Government agencies and courts also sell their public files to commercial

data compilers and information brokers. They in turn make them available on a fee

basis, either via web sites or by special network hookups.

Identity theft

The crime of identity theft and other types of fraud will be fueled by easy access to

personal identifiers and other personal information via electronic public records. Such

information includes Social Security numbers, credit card and bank account numbers,

and details about investments.

Solutions

What can be done to mitigate the negative consequences of making public records

containing personal information available on the Internet and from other electronic

services? Governments are not likely to make the decision to keep such records off

the Internet altogether. Indeed, they should not. The public policy reasons for making

public records available electronically are irrefutable - promoting easier access to

government services as well as opening government practices to the public and

fostering accountability.

But there are several approaches government agencies and court systems can take

to minimize the harm to individuals when sensitive personal information is to be

posted on the Internet while at the same time promoting government accountability.

Regulating the information broker industry

The information broker industry must be regulated. At present, information brokers

purchase public records from local, state, and federal government agencies and

repackage them for sale to subscribers. They add data files from commercial data

sources such as credit reports and consumer survey data. 

Requiring more accountability of the private investigator industry

The private investigator profession, a major user of public records information, must

be regulated in those states where there are no oversight agencies. Further, existing

regulations must be tightened and made uniform nationwide, perhaps by federal law.

Private investigators must be held to strong standards regarding their access to and

use of sensitive personal information. They should be held accountable when they

misuse personal information.

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