Hackin You

Rooting is the process of allowing users of smartphones tablets and
other devices running the Android mobile operating system to attain
privileged control(known as root access) over various Android
subsystems. As Android uses the Linux kernel, rooting an Android
device gives similar access to administrative ( superuser) permissions
as on Linux or any other Unix-like operating system such as FreeBSDor,
OS X

Why rooting is done :

Rooting is often performed with the goal of overcoming limitations
that carriersand hardware manufacturers put on some devices. Thus,
rooting gives the ability (or permission) to alter or replace system
applications and settings, run specialized applications("apps") that
require administrator-level permissions, or perform other operations
that are otherwise inaccessible to a normal Android user. On Android,
rooting can also facilitate the complete removal and replacement of
the device's operating system, usually with a more recent release of
its current operating system.

For how to root android devices see my previous post

Some of the skills that hackers have are programming and computer networking skills. They often use these skills to gain access to systems. The objective of targeting an organization would be to steal sensitive data, disrupt business operations or physically damage computer controlled equipment.Trojans, viruses and worms can be used to achieve the above stated objectives.

In this article, we will introduce you to some of the ways that hackers can use Trojans, viruses and worms to compromise a computer system. We will also look at the counter measures that can be used to protect against such activities.

Topics covered in this tutorial

*.What is a Trojan?
*.What is a worm?
*.What is a virus?
*.Trojans, viruses and worms counter measures

What is a Trojan horse?

A Trojan horse is a program that allows the attack to control the user’s computer from a remote location. The program is usually disguised as something that is useful to the user. Once the user has installed the program, it has the ability to install malicious payloads, create backdoors, install other unwanted applications that can be used to compromise the user’s computer etc.

The list below shows some of the activities that the attacker can perform using a Trojan horse.

*.Use the user’s computer as part of the Botnet when performing distributed denial of service attacks.

*.Damage the user’s computer (crashing, blue screen of death etc.)

*.Stealing sensitive data such as stored passwords, credit card information etc.

*.Modifying files on the user’s computer

*.Electronic money theft by performing unauthorized money transfer transactions

*.Log all the keys that a user presses on the keyboard and sending the data to the attacker. This method is usedto harvest user ids, passwords and other sensitive data.

*.Viewing the users’screenshot

*.Downloading browsing history data

What is a worm?

A worm is a malicious computer program that replicates itself usually over a computer network.

An attacker may use a worm to accomplish the following tasks;

*.Install backdoors on the victim’s computers.  The created backdoor may be used to create zombie computers that are used to send spam emails, perform distributed denial of service attacks etc. the backdoors can also be exploited by other malware.

*.Worms may also slow down the network by consuming the bandwidth as they replicate.

*.Install harmful payload codecarried within the worm.

What is virus?

*.A virus is acomputer program that attaches itself to legitimate programs and files without the user’s consent. Viruses can consume computer resources such as memory and CPU time. The attacked programs and files are said to be “infected”. A computer virus may be used to;

*.Access private data such as user id and passwords

*.Display annoying messages to the user

*.Corrupt data in your computer

*.Log the user’s keystrokes Computer viruses have been known to employ social engineering techniques. These techniques involve deceiving the users to open the files which appear to be normal files such as word or excel documents. Once the file is opened, the virus code is executed and does what it’s intended to do.

Trojans, viruses and worms counter measures

*.In order to protect against such attacks, an organizationcan use the following methods.

*.A policy that prohibits users to download unnecessary files from the internet such as spam email attachments, games, programs that claim to speed up downloads etc.

*.Anti-virus software must be installed on all user computers. The anti-virus software should be updated frequently and scans must beperformed at specified time intervals.

*.Scan external storage devices on an isolated machine especially those that originate from outside the organization.

*.Regular backups of critical data must be made and stored on preferably read only media such as CDs and DVDs.

*.Worms exploit vulnerabilities in the operating systems. Downloading operating system updates can help reduce the infection and replication of worms.

*.Worms can also be avoided by scanning all email attachments before downloading them.

Information plays a vital role inthe running of business, organizations, military operations etc.Information in the wrong hands can lead to loss of business or catastrophic results.

To secure communication, a business can use cryptology to cipher information. Cryptology involves transforming information into non human readable format and vice versa.

In this article, we will introduce you to the world of cryptology and how you can secure information from falling into the wrong hands.

Topics covered in this tutorial

*.What is cryptography?
*.What is cryptanalysis?
*.What is cryptology?
*.Encryption Algorithms

Now!What is Cryptography?

Cryptography is the study and application of techniques that hide the real meaning of information by transforming it into non human readable formats and vice versa.Let’s illustrate this with the aid of an example. Suppose you want to send the message “I LOVE APPLES”, you can replace every letter in the phrase with the third successive letter in the alphabet. The encrypted message will be “K NQYG CRRNGV”. To decrypt our message, we will have to go back three letters in the alphabet using the letter that we want to decrypt. The process of transforming information into non human readable form is called encryption.The process of reversing encryption is called decryption.Decryption is done using a secret key which is only known to the legitimate recipients of the information. The key is used to decrypt the hidden messages. This makes the communication secure because even if the attacker manages to get the information, it would not make sense to them.The encrypted information is known as a cipher.

What is Cryptanalysis?

Cryptology encrypts messages using a secret key.Cryptanalysis is the art of trying to decrypt the encrypted messages without the use of the key that was used to encrypt the messages. Cryptanalysis uses mathematical analysis & algorithms to decipher the ciphers. The success of cryptanalysis attacks depends on;

*.Amount of time available

*.Computing power available

*.Storage capacity available

The following is a list of the commonly used Cryptanalysis attacks;

*.Brute force attack– this type of attack uses algorithms that try to guess all the possible logical combinations of the plain text which are then ciphered and compared against the original cipher.

*.Dictionary attack– this type of attack uses a wordlist in order to find a match of either the plain text or key. It is mostly used when trying to crack encrypted passwords.

*.Rainbow table attack– this type of attack compares the cipher text against pre-computed hashes to find matches.

What is crypotology?

Cryptology combines the techniques of cryptography and cryptanalysis.

Encryption Algorithms MD5– this is the acronym for Message-Digest 5. It is used to create 128 bit hash values. Theoretically, hashes cannot be reversed into the original plain text. MD5 is used to encrypt passwords as well as check data integrity.  MD5 is not collision resistant. Collision resistance is the difficulties in finding two values that produce the same hash values.

*.SHA– this is the acronym for Secure Hash Algorithm. SHA algorithms are used to generate condensed representations of a message (message digest). It has various versions such as;

*.SHA-0:  produces 120 bit hash values. It was withdrawn from use due to significant flaws and replaced by SHA-1.

*.SHA-1:  produces 160 bit hash values. It is similar to earlier versions of MD5. It has cryptographic weakness and is not recommended for use since the year 2010.

*.SHA-2:  it has two hash functions namely SHA-256 and SHA-512. SHA-256 uses 32 bit words while SHA-512 uses 64 bit words.

*.SHA-3: this algorithm was formally known as Keccak.

*.RC4– this algorithm is used to create stream ciphers. It is mostly used in protocols such as Secure Socket Layer (SSL)to encrypt internet communication and Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)to secure wireless networks.

*.BLOWFISH– this algorithm is used to create keyed, symmetric blocked ciphers. It can be used to encrypt passwords and other data.

Learn everything about ethical hacking tools and skills

Skills allow you to achieve your desired goals within the available time and resources. As a hacker, you will need to develop skills that will help youget the job done. These skills include learning how to program, use the internet, goodat solving problems, and takingadvantage of existing security tools.

In this article, we will introduce you to the common programming languages and skills that you must know as a hacker.We will also look at tools that you can use to identify and exploit security weaknesses in computer systems.

Topics covered in this tutorial

*.What is a programming language?
*.Why you should learn how to program?
*.Other Skills

What is a programming language?A programming language is a language that is used to develop computer programs. The programs developed can range from operating systems;data based applications through to networking solutions.

Why you should learn how to program?

*.Hackers are problem solver and tool builders, learning how to program will help you implement solutions to problems. It also differentiates you from script kiddies.

*.Writing programs as a hacker, will help you to automat many taskswhich would usually take lots of time to complete.

*.Writing programs can also help you identify and exploit programming errors in applicationsthat you will be targeting.

*.You don’t have to reinvent thewheel all the time, there are a number of open source programs that are readily usable.

You can customize the already existing applications and adding your own methods to suit your needs.

What languages should I learn?

The answer to this questiondepends on your target computer systems and platforms. Some programminglanguages are used to develop for only specific platforms. As an example, Visual Basic Classic (3, 4, 5, and 6.0) is used to write applications that run on windows operating system. It would therefore be illogical for you to learn how to program in Visual Basic 6.0 when your target is hacking Linux based systems.

Other skills

In addition to programming skills, a good hacker should also have the following skills:

*.Know how to use the internet and search engines effectivelyto gather information.

*.Get aLinux based operating systemand the know the basics commands that every Linux user should know.

*.Practicemakes perfect, a good hacker should be hard working andpositively contribute to the hacker community. He/she can contribute by developing open source programs, answering questions in hacking forums etc.