Ethical Hacking Module 06: System Hacking

Flashcards on System Hacking based on CEH methodology

System Hacking Goal: Gaining Access

To bypass access controls to gain access to the system; Techniques used: Password cracking, vulnerability exploitation, social engineering.

System Hacking Goal: Escalating Privileges

To acquire the rights of another user or an admin; Technique used: Exploiting known system vulnerabilities.

System Hacking Goal: Executing Applications

To create and maintain remote access to the system; Techniques used: Trojans, spywares, backdoors, keyloggers.

System Hacking Goal: Hiding Files

To hide attackers' malicious activities, and to steal data; Techniques used: Rootkits, steganography.

System Hacking Goal: Covering Tracks

To hide the evidence of compromise; Technique used: Clearing logs.

Password Cracking

Techniques are used to recover passwords from computer systems to gain unauthorized access to vulnerable systems.

Shoulder Surfing

A non-electronic password attack where the attacker looks at either the user's keyboard or screen while he/she is logging in.

Social Engineering

Convincing people to reveal passwords.

Dumpster Diving

Searching for sensitive information in the user's trash-bins, printer trash bins, and in/on the user's desk for sticky notes.

Dictionary Attack

A dictionary file is loaded into the cracking application that runs against user accounts.

Brute-Force Attack

The program tries every combination of characters until the password is broken.

Rule-based Attack

This attack is used when the attacker gets some information about the password.

Default Password

A password supplied by the manufacturer with new equipment that is password protected. Attackers use default passwords present in a list of words or dictionary used to perform password guessing attacks.

Trojan/Spyware/Keylogger Attack

The attacker installs a Trojan/Spyware/Keylogger on the victim's machine to collect the victim's usernames and passwords, running in the background and sending credentials back to the attacker.

Wire Sniffing

Attackers run packet sniffer tools on the local area network (LAN) to access and record the raw network traffic, potentially capturing sensitive information like passwords.

Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) Attack

The attacker acquires access to the communication channels between the victim and the server to extract the information needed.

Replay Attack

Packets and authentication tokens are captured using a sniffer, and after relevant information is extracted, the tokens are placed back on the network to gain access.

Distributed Network Attack (DNA)

A technique used for recovering passwords from hashes or password-protected files using the unused processing power of machines across the network.

LophtCrack

A tool designed to audit passwords and recover applications.

ophcrack

A Windows password cracker based on rainbow tables, featuring a Graphical User Interface and running on multiple platforms.

RainbowCrack

Cracks hashes with rainbow tables using a time-memory tradeoff algorithm.

Vulnerability Exploitation

Involves the execution of multiple complex, interrelated steps to gain access to a remote system by identifying and exploiting a vulnerability.

Buffer Overflow

A common vulnerability in applications or programs that accepts more data than the allocated buffer, allowing attackers to inject malicious code.

Privilege Escalation

An attack that takes advantage of design flaws, programming errors, bugs, and configuration oversights in the OS and software application to gain administrative access.

Horizontal Privilege Escalation

Acquiring the same privileges that have already been granted, by assuming the identity of another user with the same privileges.

Vertical Privilege Escalation

Gaining higher privileges than those existing.

Keylogger

Programs or hardware devices that monitor each keystroke as the user types on a keyboard, logs onto a file, or transmits them to a remote location.

Spyware

A stealthy program that records the user's interaction with the computer and the Internet without the user's knowledge and sends the information to the remote attackers.

Rootkit

Programs that hide their presence as well as attacker's malicious activities, granting them full access to the server or host.

Steganography

A technique of hiding a secret message within an ordinary message and extracting it at the destination to maintain confidentiality of data.

Steganalysis

The art of discovering and rendering covert messages using steganography.

Covering Tracks

Techniques intruders use after gaining administrator access to a system to avoid detection, such as clearing or manipulating logs.