ETHICAL hacking

By G. RAKHAV KRISHNA II It M. GANDHI RAJAN II IT

WHAT IS HACKING ?

Act of Illegally entering a Computer System and making unauthorized changes to the files and data contained within. That causes se-vere damage to the files which are very sensitive.

Events that gave meaning to hacking

The first hacker appeared in 1960’s at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

During the 1970’s a different kind of hacker ap-peared: Phone Phreaker or Phone Hacker.

In the 1980’s, phreaks started to migrate to com-puters and the first Bulletin Board System (BBS) appeared.

During the 1990’s, when the use of Internet widespread around the world, hackers multi-plied!!

Why do people hack?

Just for fun. To Show off To Steal other information secretly To Notify many people their thoughts To Destroy enemy’s computer network

during the war To get others attention

Types of hackers White Hat Hackers: A White Hat who specializes in penetration testing and in other testing methodologies to ensure the security of an organization’s information systems. Black Hat Hackers: A Black Hat is the villain or bad guy, especially in a western movie in which such a character would stereotypically wear a black hat in contrast to the hero’s white hat. Gray Hat Hackers: A Grey Hat in the hacking community, refers to a skilled hacker whose activities fall somewhere between white and black hat hackers on a variety of spectra.

Types of hackersScript Kiddies: Use Scripts or programs developed by others to attack computer

Systems and Networks Objective – To impress their friends or gain credit in computer –

enthusiast communitiesHacktivism: Hacktivism is the act of hacking or breaking into a computer sys-

tem, for a politically or socially motivated purpose. The individual who performs an act of hacktivism is said to be a

hacktivist. Ex: ANONYMOUS

Classes of Attack

1.Authentication2.Client – Side Attacks3.Command Execution4.Information Disclosure

What do hackers do after hacking!!!

Patch security hole hence the other hackers can’t intrude Clear logs and hide themselves Install rootkit(backdoor) * The hacker who hacked the System can use the system later. * It contains Trojan virus, and so on Install irc related program * identd, irc, eggdrop, bnc Install scanner program * mscan, sscan, nmap Install exploit program Install denial of service program Use all of installed programs silently

Hacking - Methodology

1. Preparation2. Foot Printing3. Enumeration & Fingerprinting4. Identification of Vulnerabilities5. Attack – Exploit the Vulnerabilities6. Gaining Access7. Escalating Privilege8. Covering Tracks9. Creating Back Doors

Why can’t We Defend Against Hackers?There are many unknown security holeHackers need to know only one security

hole to hack the systemAdmin need to know all security holes to

defend the systemSomehow it should defended by some-

thing that gave this Concept of Ethical Hacking ….

Definition on ETHICAL HACKINGEthical Hacking suits this quotes “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fearthe result of a hundred battles.” 

An Ethical Hacker is a computer and network ex-pert who attacks a security system on behalf of its owners, seeking vulnerabilities that a mali-cious hacker could exploit. Ethical Hacking is also known as penetration testing.

 

Definition on ETHICAL HACKING -Cont

It is legal Permission is obtained from the targetPart of an overall security programIdentify vulnerabilities visible from the Internet Ethical hackers possesses same skills, mindset

and tools of a hacker but the attacks are done in a non-destructive manner.

Ethical Hackers but not Criminal Hackers

Completely trustworthyStrong programming and computer networking

skillsLearn about the system and trying to find its

weaknesses.Techniques of Criminal hackers – Detection –

PreventionPublished research papers or released security

softwareNo Ex-hackers

Its takes time to become an Ethical hacker!

The basic knowledge that an Ethical Hacker should have knowledge about different fields, is as follows:Microsoft: Skills in operation, configuration and

management.Should know about hacking wireless networksRouters: knowledge of routers, routing protocols and

access control lists.Should know how to handle virus and wormsFirewalls: configurations and operation of intrusion

detection systems.

Its takes time to become an Ethical hacker!

Should have the basic knowledge of web based password breaking procedure

Should have the basic knowledge of SQL injection Should have the knowledge of IP hacking Should have the knowledge of application hacking. Project Management: leading, planning, organization and control-

ling a penetration testing team.Ethical Hacking Commandments: Working Ethically Respecting privacy Not crashing your Systems.

Ethical Hacking - Methodology

Reconnaissance Probe and Attack Listening First Access Advancement Stealth Takeover Cleanup Ethical Hacking Process

1. Reconnaissance To be able to attack a system systematically, a hacker has to know

as much as possible about the target. It is important to get an overview of the network and the used sys-

tems. Information as DNS servers, administrator contacts and IP ranges

can be collected. Different kind of tools used are network mapping, network and

vulnerability scanning tools . Cheops for example is a very good network mapping tool which is

able to generate networking graphs. A network mapping tool is very helpful when doing an internal

ethical hack. At the end of the reconnaissance phase, an at-tacker should have a bunch of information about the target.

2. Probe and Attack

The probe and attack phase is about digging in, going closer and getting a feeling for the target.

It’s time to try the collected, possible vulnerabilities from the reconnaissance phase.

Tools used are many-sided as web exploits, buffer overflows as well as brute-force can be required.

Even Trojans like NetBus can be deployed to capture keystrokes , get screenshots or start applications and a host.

The probe and attack phase can be very time consuming, espe-cially if brute force attack techniques

3. Listening

This is again a phase 2 process i.e. scanning which is a combina-tion of Probe and attack and listening.

Listening to network traffic or to application data can sometimes help to attack a system or to advance deeper into a network.

Listening is especially powerful as soon as one has control of an important communication bottleneck.

Sniffers are heavily used during the listening phase. Multiple snif -fers, from very simple to more complexes, from console based to GUI driven exist for all operating systems.

Some sniffers, like ettercap can even poison ARP tables to enable sniffing in switched environments and open totally new opportuni-ties for listening to network traffic.

4. First Access

This is a phase 3 process. It is not about getting root access, it’s about getting any access to

a system be it a user or root account. Once this option is available it’s time to go for higher access levels

or new systems which are now reachable through the acquired system.

5. Advancement

Maintaining access is a combination of Advancement and Stealth process.

The advancement phase is probably the most creative demanding stage, as unlimited possibilities are open.

Sniffing network traffic may unveil certain passwords, needed usernames or e-mail traffic with usable information.

Sending mails to administrators faking some known users may help in getting desired information or even access to a new system.

Probably one also has to alter configuration files to enable or dis-able services or features.

Last but not least, installing new tools and helpful scripts may help to dig in deeper or to scan log files for more details.

6. Stealth

Some systems may be of high value – systems which act as routers or firewalls, systems where a root ac-count could be acquired.

To have access to such systems at a later time it is important clean relevant log files.

7. Takeover

Takeover is a phase 5 process. Once root access could be attained, the system can be considered

won. From there on it’s possible to install any tools, do every action and

start every services on that particular machine. Depending on the machine it can now be possible to misuse trust

relationships, create new relationships or disable certain secu-rity checks.

8. Cleanup

This could be instructions in the final report on how to remove cer-

tain trojans but most of the time this will be done by the hacker itself.

Removing all traces as far as possible is kind of a duty for the hacking craft.

An ethical hack always poses a certain risks if not properly done. A hacker could use the deployed tools or hide his attacks in all the

attacks from the ethical hack. He could also try to attack the attackers system, therefore gain entry to the ethical hackers system and collect all information free of charge and already sorted and prepared.

Preparing an ethical hack and hold a high level of security is a challenging task which should only be done by professionals.

Tools that could be used !!!

How can we Protect the System

Patch Security hole often Encrypt important data * pgp, ssh Do not run unused daemon Remove unused setuid/setgid program Setup loghost Backup the system often Setup firewall Setup IDS(Intrusion Detection Systems) * snort

What should do after hacked?

Shutdown the SystemSeparate the system from networkRestore the system with backupReinstall all programsConnect the system to the network

Certification program to be an Ethical Hacker

• This is a necessary certification course to be an Ethical Hacker• Only those who are clearing this course are taken as a member

of Ethical hacking team in a specific company

Things an Ethical Hacker should come to know!!!

Laws involving technology change as rapidly as tech-

nology itself Find what is legal for you locally Laws change from place to place Be aware of what is allowed and what is not allowed

What you cannot do legally as an Ethical hacker

Accessing a computer without permission is illegal Other illegal actions Installing worms or viruses Denial of Service attacks Denying users access to network resources Be careful your actions do not prevent customer from

doing their jobs

Ethical hacking Team

IBM started to hire and to maintain an Ethical Hacking Team due to some hacking incidents that really made them to stuck.

Now every company is having an Ethical Hacking Team. These Ethical Hackers will be asked to maintain fake identification

in their own organization. Some company’s are using these hackers to find the vulnerabili-

ties in their architecture in adding to that they use these hack-ers to hack the other company to access their information. Greedy!!!!!

Ethical hackers are paid a high salary. Normally their salary scale will be more than ₹50,00,000 per annum.

Advantage and Disadvantage

Ethical hacking nowadays is the backbone of network security. Each day its relevance is increasing, the major pros & cons of ethical hacking are given below:Advantages:• “To catch a thief you have to think like a thief”• Helps in closing the open holes in the system network.• Provides security to banking and financial establishments• Prevents website defacements.• An evolving technique.Disadvantages:• All depends upon the trust worthiness of the ethical hacker• Hiring professionals is expensive.

Future Enhancements: As it an evolving branch the scope of enhancement in technology

is immense. No ethical hacker can ensure the system security by using the same technique repeatedly. He would have to im-prove, develop and explore new avenues repeatedly.

More enhanced software’s should be used for optimum protection. Tools used, need to be updated regularly and more efficient once need to be developed.

Conclusion:

Student:A student should understand that no software is made with zero Vulnerability. So while they are studying they should study the various possibilities and should study how to prevent that be-cause they are the professionals of tomorrow.

Professionals:Professionals should understand that business is directly related to security. So they should make new software with vulnerabilities as less as possible. If they are aware of these then they won’t be cau-tious enough in security matters.

Conclusion: -cont The Security is a kind of trade off which has to be taken care off. Hacking has entered the age of mass production. People strongly disagree the concept of Ethical hacking and they

consider the Ethical hacking be like “Giving the keys to the thief”.

However it may be.. Ethical Hacking may be defined as legal or il-legal, ethical or unethical. With the present poor security on the internet, ethical hacking may be the most effective way to plug security holes and prevent intrusions.

Thank You!!!

ANY QUERIES???