The essence of hacking is the exploitation of flaws in the security of a computer, device, software component, or network. These flaws are known as vulnerabilities. The goal of the hacker is to discover the vulnerabilities in a system that will give them the easiest access or control that serves their purposes. Once the vulnerabilities are understood, exploitation of those vulnerabilities can begin, whereby the hacker takes advantage of the system flaws to gain access. Generally, black hat and white hat hackers intend to exploit the vulnerabilities, albeit for different purposes, where gray hats will attempt to notify the owner so that action can be taken to protect the system.
What is VULNERABILITY?
Vulnerabilities in computing and network systems always have and always will exist. No system can be made 100% airtight because someone will always need to be able to access the information or services being protected. Moreover, the presence of human users represents a vulnerability in and of itself because people are notoriously poor at practicing good security. As vulnerabilities are discovered and corrected, new ones almost instantly take their place. The back-and-forth between hacker exploitation and the implementation of security measures represents a veritable arms race, with each side becoming more sophisticated in tandem.
Types of Vulnerabilities:
HUMAN VULNERABILITIES
One seldom-discussed vulnerability is that of the human user. Most users of computers and information systems are not computer experts or cybersecurity professionals. The majority of users know very little about what goes on between their points of interface and the data or services they are accessing. It
is difficult to get people on a large scale to change their habits and to use recommended practices for setting passwords, carefully vetting emails, avoiding malicious websites, and keeping their software up to date. Businesses and government agencies spend a great deal of time and resources training employees to follow proper information security procedures, but it only takes one weak link in the chain to give hackers the window they are looking for to access an entire system or network.
The most sophisticated and expensive firewalls and network intrusion prevention of systems are rendered useless when a single internal user clicks on a malicious link, opens a virus in an email attachment, plugs in a compromised flash drive, or simply gives away their access password over the phone or email. Even when repeatedly reminded of best security practices, common users are the easiest and most consistent vulnerability to discover and exploit. Sometimes human vulnerabilities are as simple as practicing bad password security by leaving passwords written on notes in plain site, sometimes even attached to the hardware being used. Using easily-guessed passwords is another common user mistake. One particular corporate system was compromised when a clever hacker intentionally left a USB flash drive in a company’s parking lot. When an unsuspecting employee found it, they put the drive into their work computer and subsequently unleashed a virus. Most individuals don’t take computer security seriously until an incident occurs, and even then, they often fall back into the same habits. Hackers know this and take advantage of it as often as possible.
SOFTWARE VULNERABILITIES
All computers rely on software (or “firmware”, in some devices) to translate input or user commands into action. The software manages user logins, performs database queries, executes website form submissions, controls hardware and peripherals, and manages other aspects of computer and network functionality that could be exploited by a hacker. Aside from the fact that programmers make mistakes and oversights, it is impossible for software developers to anticipate every feasible vulnerability in their code. The most developers can hope for is to patch and amend their software as vulnerabilities are discovered. This is why it is so important to keep software up to date. Some software vulnerabilities are due to errors in programming, but most are simply due to unanticipated flaws in the design. Software is often secure when used as designed, but unforeseen and unintended combinations of inputs, commands, and conditions often result in unanticipated consequences. Without strict controls on how users interact with software, many software vulnerabilities are discovered by mistake or at random. Hackers make it their business to discover these anomalies as quickly as possible.
What is EXPLOITS
Finding and exploiting vulnerabilities to gain access to systems is both an art and a science. Because of the dynamic nature of information security, there is a constant game of “cat and mouse” going on between hackers and security professionals, and even between nation-state adversaries. In order to stay
ahead (or to at least not get left too far behind), one must not only stay apprised of the latest technology and vulnerabilities, but must also be able to anticipate .how both hackers and security personnel will react to changes in the overall landscape.
Types of EXPLOITS:
ACCESS
The most common goal of exploitation is to gain access to, and some level of control of, a target system. Since many systems have multiple levels of access for the purposes of security, it is often the case that each level of access has its own slate of vulnerabities and are typically more difficult to hack as more vital functionalities are available. The ultimate access coup for a hacker is to reach the superuser or root (a UNIX term) level - known as “getting root” in hacker lingo. This highest level affords the user control of all systems, files, databases, and settings in a given self-contained system.
It can be quite difficult to breach the root level of a secure computer system in a single exploit. More often, hackers will exploit easier vulnerabilities or take advantage of less experienced users to first gain low level access. From that point, further methods can be employed to reach higher levels from
administrators up to root. With root access, a hacker can view, download, and overwrite information at will, and in some cases remove any traces that they were even in the system. For this reason, getting root in a target system is a point of pride as the utmost achievement among both black hat and white hat
hackers.
DENYING ACCESS
In many cases, gaining access to a particular target system is impossible, exceedingly difficult, or not even desired by a hacker. At times, the goal of a hacker is simply to prevent legitimate users from accessing a website or network. This type of activity is known as denial-of-service (DoS). The purpose of conducting a DoS attack can vary. Since it is relatively simple to execute, it is often a beginner exercise for an inexperienced hacker (“newbie”, “n00b”, or “neophyte”) in the parlance) to earn some bragging rights. More experienced hackers can execute sustained DoS attacks that disrupt commercial or government servers for an extended period of time. Thus, organized groups of hackers often hold a website “hostage” and demand a ransom from the owners in exchange for halting the attack, all without ever having to gain access.