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BASICS_OF_HACKING

HOW TO BECOME HACKER

HACKERS' ATTITUDE

HACKERS & CRACKERS

PREVENTING HACKING

HACKING CULTURE

COMPUTER HACKING

Computer hacking is the practice of modifying computer hardware and software to accomplish a goal outside of the creator’s original purpose. People who engage in computer hacking activities are often called hackers. Since the word “hack” has long been used to describe someone who is incompetent at his/her profession, some hackers claim this term is offensive and fails to give appropriate recognition to their skills.

Hacking is most common among teenagers and young people, although there are many older hackers too. Many hackers are true technology buffs who enjoy learning more about how computers work and consider computer hacking as an form. They often enjoy programming and have expert-level skills in one particular program. For these individuals, computer hacking is a real life application of their problem-solving skills. It’s a chance to demonstrate their abilities, not an opportunity to harm others.

Since a large number of hackers are self-taught prodigies, but there are some organizations who actually employ computer hackers as part of their technical support staff. These individuals use their skills to find flaws in the company’s security system so that they can be repaired quickly. In many cases, this type of computer hacking helps prevent identity theft and other serious computer-related crimes.

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HACKING HISTORY

Computer hackers have existed almost as long as computers. In fact, "hackers" have been in existence for more than a century. In 1878, just two years after the telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell, a group of teenage boys hired to run the switchboards were kicked off a telephone system in New York. The reason? The BOYS were more interested in knowing how the phone system worked than IN making proper connections and directing calls to the correct place. In essence, they were trying to "hack" the system to see how it worked.

Originally, "hacker" did not carry the negative connotations now associated with the term. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, computers were much different.

A Brief History

One might not suspect that the art, computer hacking was created at one of the havens for technological excellence. students developed the technique and borrowed their name from the "hackers" of the late 1800s who found amusement in pranking the emerging telephone companies. Getting their laughs and skills from hacking and cracking into primitive computers and exploiting the Arpanet (predecessor to the internet), they created a novelty that would become the target of federal crackdown in years to come. To define hacking in short, we can say that an artistic criminal offense of breaking into another remote system without the owner's consent for the purpose of stealing information is what is hacking.

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However, the act of hacking started out innocently, and was basically a method of trying to figure out how computer systems worked. The 1970s saw the rise in "phreaking," or phone hacking, headed by John Draper. This method allowed the user of a "blue box,", when used with a Captain Crunch whistle of 2600 hertz which accessed the AT&T long distance system, to make free long distance calls. Hackers initiated with accessing the free phone calls through a varied range of sources, thereby managing to circumvent into the nation's radio system and the phoning system resulting in a tremendous phone fraud nationwide.

After the age of "phreaking," computers became not only the target, but also the forum, for a growing hacker population to communicate. The creation of bulletin board systems (BBS) allowed this communication and the technological possibility of more serious government and credit card hacking became possible. At this time in the early 80's, hacking groups such as the Legion of Doom began to emerge in the United States, giving organization, and thus more power to hackers across the country.

Once this happened, breaking into the computers became a legitimate activity, with its own groups and soon its own voice with the 2600 magazine, launched in 1984. The effects of computer hacking were serious. Two years later, inevitably, Congress launched the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act that outlawed hacking. Over the years, there was a series of noticeable occurrences as the worst consequential effect of computer hacking on more high profile cases, such as the Morris Worm, responsible for infecting government and university systems, and the Mitnick case in 1995, which captured Kevin Mitnick, steeling as many as 20000 credit card numbers.

In 1999, security software became widely known by the public, and with the release of new Windows programs, which were littered with security weaknesses, they became successful because of necessity. This fraudulent act of computer hacking is perhaps the major problem, confronting the rapidly expanding population of Internet users today, with the systems still trying to battle online hackers.

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TYPES OF HACKERS

There are basically two types of hackers: -

1. BLACK HAT HACKER

They are also called "crackers", are hackers who specialize in unauthorized penetration. They may use computers to attack systems for profit, for fun, or for political motivations or as a part of a social cause. Such penetration often involves modification and/or destruction of data, and is done without authorization and hence they should not be confused with ethical hackers.

They also may distribute computer viruses, Internet worms, and deliver spam through the use of botnets. The term may also refer to hackers who crack software to remove protection methods: copy prevention, trial/demo version, serial number, hardware key, date checks, CD check (NO-CD) or software annoyances like nag screens and adware.

2. WHITE HAT HACKER

White hat hackers, also known as "ethical hackers," are computer security experts, who specialize in penetration testing, and other testing methodologies, to ensure that a company's information systems are secure. Such people are employed by companies where these professionals are sometimes called "sneakers." Groups of these people are often called tiger teams or red teams. These security experts may utilize a variety of methods to carry out their tests, including social engineering tactics, use of hacking tools, and attempts to evade security to gain entry into secured areas.

The National Security Agency offers certifications such as the CNSS 4011. Such a certification covers orderly, ethical hacking techniques and team management. Aggressor teams are called "red" teams. Defender teams are called "blue" teams.

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BASICS OF HACKING

Certainly you have many sources of information available that can give computer hacking basics. There is actually some misconception about who a real hacker is. Hacking computers is performed by one who knows computers very well - even the extra tricks of a computer and electronics. Any one can easily tweek these according to his needs and become hacker. This is the way the term used when Bill Gates was inventing Windows.

Those who are often referred to as hackers today, should actually be called "crackers" - people who do not have unauthorized access, like a safe-cracker. If you doubt me, and want to know how to be a hacker then do a search on the term "professional hacker," and you will find many professional and legitimate computer training courses being offered. They are the ones learning the real hacker secrets.

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HOW TO BECOME HACKER

Everyone has heard of one individual or another that was caught while hacking computers that belonged to this or that organization. Because hacking into computers is highly illegal and punishable, it should be mentioned that this article will not mention any real specifics about the subject, and we would rather gladly encourage you to become a real hacker - professionally.

This para, will however, give a brief overview of criminal hackers, some of their methods, and a few things you can do to make your own computer safer from hack attacks. Here are those things you need to learn on how to become a hacker.

STEPS TO BE A HACKER

ADOPT THE MINDSET OF A HACKER
Hackers solve problems and build things, and they believe in freedom and voluntary mutual help. To be accepted as a hacker, you have to behave as though you have this kind of attitude yourself. And to behave as though you have the attitude, you have to really believe the attitude. So, if you want to be a hacker, repeat the following things until you believe them:
- The world is full of fascinating problems waiting to be solved. Successful athletes get their motivation from a kind of physical delight in making their bodies perform, in pushing themselves past their own physical limits. Similarly, you have to get a basic thrill from solving problems, sharpening your skills, and exercising your intelligence.
- No problem should ever have to be solved twice. The thinking time of other hackers is precious - so much so that it's almost a moral duty for you to share information, solve problems and then give the solutions away just so other hackers can solve new problems instead of having to perpetually re-address old ones.
- Boredom and drudgery are evil. When hackers are bored or have to drudge at stupid repetitive work, they aren't doing what only they can do - solve new problems. To behave like a hacker, you have to want to automate away the boring bits as much as possible.
- Freedom is good. The authoritarian attitude has to be fought wherever you find it, lest it smother you and other hackers. Not all authority figures are authoritarian, however; authoritarians thrive on censorship and secrecy. And they distrust voluntary cooperation and information-sharing.
- Attitude is no substitute for competence. Hackers won't let posers waste their time, but they worship competence - especially competence at hacking, but competence at anything is valued. Competence at demanding skills that few can master is especially good, and competence at demanding skills that involve mental acuteness, craft, and concentration is best.
LEARN HOW TO PROGRAM
The best way to learn is to read some stuff written by masters of the form, write some things yourself, read a lot more, write a little more, read a lot more, write some more, and repeat until your writing begins to develop the kind of strength and economy you see in your models. To be a real hacker, however, you need to get to the point where you can learn a new language in days by relating what's in the manual to what you already know. This means you should learn several very different languages. Besides being the most important hacking languages, the following represent very different approaches to programming, and each will educate you in valuable ways.
- Python is a good language to start off with because it's cleanly designed, well documented, and relatively kind to beginners. Despite being a good first language, it is not just a toy; it is very powerful and flexible and well suited for large projects. Java is an alternative, but its value as a first programming language has been questioned.
- If you get into serious programming, you will have to learn , the core language of Unix (C++ is very closely related to C; if you know one, learning the other will not be difficult). C is very efficient with your machine's resources, but will soak up huge amounts of your time on debugging and is often avoided for that reason (unless machine efficiency is essential).
- Perl is worth learning for practical reasons; it's very widely used for active web pages and system administration, so that even if you never write Perl you should learn to read it. Many people use Perl to avoid C programming on jobs that don't require C's machine efficiency.
- LISP is worth learning for a different reason - the profound enlightenment experience you will have when you finally get it. That experience will make you a better programmer for the rest of your days, even if you never actually use LISP itself a lot. You can get some beginning experience with LISP fairly easily by writing and modifying editing modes for the Emacs text editor, or Script-Fu plugins for the GIMP.

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GET ONE OF THE OPEN SOURCE
Get one of the open-source Unixes and learn to use and run it. Unix is the operating system of the Internet. While you can learn to use the Internet without knowing Unix, you can't be an Internet hacker without understanding Unix. For this reason, the hacker culture today is pretty strongly Unix-centered. So, bring up a Unix (like Linux but there are other ways and yes, you can run both Linux and Microsoft Windows on the same machine). Learn it. Run it. Tinker with it. Talk to the Internet with it. Read the code. Modify the code.
- There are other operating systems in the world besides Unix. But they're distributed in binary - you can't read the code, and you can't modify it. Trying to learn to hack on a Microsoft Windows machine or under any other closed-source system is like trying to learn to dance while wearing a body cast. Under Mac OS X it's possible, but only part of the system is open source, you're likely to hit a lot of walls, and you have to be careful not to develop the bad habit of depending on Apple's proprietary code.
- Download Linux online or (better idea) find a local Linux user group to help you with installation.
- While other distros have their own areas of strength, Ubuntu is far and away the most accessible to Linux newbies.
- A good way to dip your toes in the water is to boot up what Linux fans call a live CD, a distribution that runs entirely off a CD without having to modify your hard disk. This will be slow, because CDs are slow, but it's a way to get a look at the possibilities without having to do anything drastic.

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LEARN HOW TO USE THE WORLD WIDE WEB AND WRITE WRITE HTML Most of the things the hacker culture has built do their work out of sight, helping run factories and offices and universities without any obvious impact on how non-hackers live. The Web is the one big exception, the huge shiny hacker toy that even politicians admit has changed the world. For this reason alone (and a lot of other good ones as well) you need to learn how to work the Web. This doesn't just mean learning how to drive a browser (anyone can do that), but learning how to write HTML, the Web's markup language. If you don't know how to program, writing HTML will teach you some mental habits that will help you learn. So build a home page. Try to stick to XHTML, which is a cleaner language than classic HTML.

IF YOU DON'T HAVE FUNCTIONAL ENGLISH, LEARN IT: English is the working language of the hacker culture and the Internet, and you will need to know it to function in the hacker community. Translations of technical books written in English are often unsatisfactory (when they get done at all). Being a native English-speaker does not guarantee that you have language skills good enough to function as a hacker. If your writing is semi-literate, ungrammatical, and riddled with misspellings, many hackers will tend to ignore you. While sloppy writing does not invariably mean sloppy thinking, the correlation is strong. If you can't yet write competently, learn to.
EARN RESPECT AS A HACKER : Like most cultures without a money economy, hackerdom runs on reputation. You're trying to solve interesting problems, but how interesting they are, and whether your solutions are really good, is something that only your technical peers or superiors are normally equipped to judge. This is why you aren't really a hacker until other hackers consistently call you one. Specifically, hackerdom is what anthropologists call a gift culture. You gain status and reputation in it not by dominating other people, nor by being beautiful, nor by having things other people want, but rather by giving things away: your time, your creativity, and the results of your skill.
- Write open-source software. Write programs that other hackers think are fun or useful, and give the program sources away to the whole hacker culture to use. Hackerdom's most revered demigods are people who have written large, capable programs that met a widespread need and given them away, so that now everyone uses them.
- Help test and debug open-source software. Any open-source author who's thinking will tell you that good beta-testers (who know how to describe symptoms clearly, localize problems well, can tolerate bugs in a quickie release, and are willing to apply a few simple diagnostic routines) are worth their weight in rubies. Try to find a program under development that you're interested in and be a good beta-tester. There's a natural progression from helping test programs to helping debug them to helping modify them. You'll learn a lot this way, and generate good karma with people who will help you later on.
- Publish useful information. Another good thing is to collect and filter useful and interesting information into web pages or documents like Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) lists, and make those generally available. Maintainers of major technical FAQs get almost as much respect as open-source authors.
- Help keep the infrastructure working. The hacker culture (and the engineering development of the Internet, for that matter) is run by volunteers. There's a lot of necessary but unglamorous work that needs done to keep it going - administering mailing lists, moderating newsgroups, maintaining large software archive sites, developing RFCs and other technical standards. People who do this sort of thing well get a lot of respect, because everybody knows these jobs are huge time sinks and not as much fun as playing with code. Doing them shows dedication.
- Serve the hacker culture itself. This is not something you'll be positioned to do until you've been around for while and become well-known for one of the four previous items. The hacker culture doesn't have leaders, exactly, but it does have culture heroes and tribal elders and historians and spokespeople. When you've been in the trenches long enough, you may grow into one of these. Beware: hackers distrust blatant ego in their tribal elders, so visibly reaching for this kind of fame is dangerous. Rather than striving for it, you have to sort of position yourself so it drops in your lap, and then be modest and gracious about your status.

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HACKERS ATTITUDE

Hackers solve problems and build things, and they believe in freedom and voluntary mutual help. To be accepted as a hacker, you have to behave as though you have this kind of attitude yourself. And to behave as though you have the attitude, you have to really believe the attitude.

But if you think of cultivating hacker attitudes as just a way to gain acceptance in the culture, you'll miss the point. Becoming the kind of person who believes these things is important for you - for helping you learn and keeping you motivated. As with all creative arts, the most effective way to become a master is to imitate the mind-set of masters, not just intellectually but emotionally as well.

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HACKERS & CRACKERS

In order to study the comparison the between the hackers and crackers, it is important to understand the respective definitions. While apparently the words hacking and cracking seems synonymous, yet there exist certain points of distinctions between the two and the meaning of the words will always be heated topics of debate. unattainable have went on opening new horizons in almost every aspects of life, and the technology is of no exception to this nature of human

AIMS OF HACKERS AND CRACKERS

The computer hackers actually trespass or circumvent artistically, yet scientifically into the other computer system with a hunger to know the programmable systems, how they perform and their internal structures, while cracking is slight different in sense. Cracking means to break off the computer's security system. This is a subject matter of hard-core science with an aesthetic undertone of artistic skill that has attracted a few millions of teenagers and young adults all over the world.

WHO IS A HACKER AND WHAT IS HIS AIM

Delving deep into the concepts, we can compare the hackers and crackers. A hacker is a person who commits the fraudulent act or the penal offense of exploring into the other computers in order to know the details of the programmable system and how they work. On the other level, a cracker is a person just more secretive as compared to the hacker. The cracker breaks through the system's security and proves to be far more dangerous than the hackers who just quench his or her thirst by simply discovering the workings of a system.

Hence the crackers can potentially be much more perilous as compared to the hackers. While it is often believed that the hacking is simply exploring into the other computer system with an intention to know how the programmable system works, which is not a fraudulent task unless any sort of vandalism and theft is done by this, another huge section stands strictly against the view and look at the act from the view point of a crime.

WHO IS A CRACKER AND WHAT IS HIS AIM?

A cracker is a technical person who has mastered the art of breaking systems, often not for acquiring knowledge, by the dint of few programs and softwares used as tools. They are more interested in the system's security without the need of great deal of knowledge, thereby not benefiting much.

On the other hand, a hacker who cracks and hacks systems is not only interested in breaking the security of the system but also in knowing about the system's details, by which he gains much more than by simply cracking systems. Unlike a cracker, a hacker generally does not have intention destroy data maliciously or to steel things.

A cracker who is often termed to be a cyber burglar brings out significant harm to the network or steels the information like passwords or credit card numbers. A Trojan is capable enough to recognize and record even every single keystroke that you make. Hence even if you do not store any personal or financial records in your system, the hackers can still be able to obtain the information by recognizing the keystrokes.

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PREVENTING HACKING

HACKER TRICKS AND PREVENTION TECHNIQUES

In movies or TV series where hackers are involved, we may have seen them apply their computer knowledge in order to perform certain hacker tricks that saved the day. Swordfish", hackers have been able to elevate themselves to the level of heroes with only a keyboard and a mouse. However, hackers attacks and hacker prevention is more difficulty, and complex, in real life.

Hollywood has a tendency to oversimplify things so the general public can understand them. After all, only a small percentage of the population has enough skills to perform this kind of demonstrations. So, if you want to prevent hacking there are some basics that need to be learned first.

TRICKS AND TECHNIQUES USED BY HACKERS TO ATTACK

The first most common technique used technique used by hackers is scanning. Hackers have created tools that scan computers for weak spots. It can be an operating system that hasn't been upgraded or a port in the computer that it is open without the knowledge of the user.

Hackers use this "open window" to get inside your computer in order to do whatever they want to do. The interesting thing about this is that these hacker tools are available for free in the Internet. So, with a couple of hours of instructions, almost every computer user can become a hacker.

Another way that hackers can access your machine is through malware: programs designed to capture vital information from your computer, like login users and passwords. Malware could be hidden in a PowerPoint presentation sent by email or even in an innocent Instant Messenger message window.

HOW TO PREVENT HACKER ATTACKS

Hackers are always looking for a way to get into computers of other persons. It can be something as simple as phising confidential information (like credit card or bank account numbers) to complex hacking routines that use your computer as a repository for illegal content (like music or movies with copyright).

Unfortunately there is no magical software to prevent hackers; and it will never exist. It doesn't matter how much money or resources you invest in designing the perfect system, someone will find the way to crack it. Even the biggest government agencies like NASA, CIA and NSA have been victims of hackers. And the same thing happens in the private sector with companies like Citigroup or Wal-Mart.

EFFECTIVE WAYS TO STOP HACKERS

So, what can you do to protect your tiny machine from hacker tricks? Fortunately, there are some measures that we can take, and it doesn't require us to be a Neo or Hugh Jackman's character from the movie "Swordfish". These hacker protection tips are simple and effective and will defined you from most of the attacks

OS UPDATES

The first thing to do in computer hacking prevention is to assure yourself that all your software is up to date; especially your operating system and your web browser. Why? Because they are the two things that hackers will try to attack first if they want to get into your computer.

FIREWALL

The second thing that you need to do is to install a firewall. As a matter of fact internet firewall hacker protection has become so necessary that Microsoft now ships it for free as part of their Windows XP operating system. It took them some years to admit it, but the truth is that their software was an easy target for the hackers and crackers that lurked through the World Wide Web.

In case you don't want to use Windows XP firewall, there are many alternatives in the market. Companies like Symantec and Zone Labs have produced software firewalls for some time and have become a necessity for all the computers of corporate America. If you don't know which one you want to buy, use the trial periods. Usually you can use the firewall for 15 to 30 days; that amount of time is more than enough to make your decision. The next step in security is to have an antivirus installed. There are free versions like AVG antivirus, or pay per year licenses, like Norton Antivirus (also from Symantec). As in the case of firewalls, there are many varieties available in the market; use the trial periods for choosing wisely.

ANTI SPYWARE/ADWARE

Finally, there is the anti-spyware program. As if viruses were not enough, companies from around the world decided to create programs that could pick up data from your computer in order to acquire information for their databases. It may not be as dangerous as a virus, but it is an intrusion to your privacy. Wipe them out with this piece of software.

Nowadays hacker prevention has become a task for all of us. No longer is it the responsibility of the system administrator of our company. After all, he can install all the security of the world in the company's network, but if you let a virus in because of your carelessness, he won't be able to stop it. The same goes for your computer at home. You are the only one responsible for it. Remember that new hacker tricks appear as each day goes by, so you need to be prepared.

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HACKING CULTURE

Hacker culture is composed by all those experiences and human manifestations that are related to the exploit of hardware and software. Right now there are three kinds of hackers. The first and most known kind of hacker is the black hat hacker, or the individual who uses his knowledge for obtaining a personal benefit. Usually, it means stealing information that can be sold in the black market.

The most daring black hat hackers are able to crack bank accounts, leaving no trace behind. Fortunately, bank security and worldwide cooperation has been able to place some restrictions and control over these individuals.

On the other side of the balance is the white hack hacker, a computer security expert who works with organizations and helps them with their computer network security problems.

Finally, there are the grey hat hackers. This kind of hackers is composed by people who walk the thin line between white hat hackers and black hat hackers. Usually, their tendency will be influenced by their need of money or their lust for recognition among the hacker community.

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