This blogs is all about why hackers hack and understanding the motivations behind cyber attacks and how to protect your systems ?
Before understanding why hackers hack, let's first understand what actually hacking is?
In the Computer Security context, Hacking means gaining unauthorized access to data in a system or simply an attempt to bypass a computer systems security, mechanism to gain control over it or to perform any illegitimate activity for personal gain or creating a threat on one’s security to better describe hacking, one needs to first understand hackers. One can easily assume them to be intelligent and highly skilled in computers or someone who likes to tinker with software or electronic systems. Hackers enjoy exploring and learning how computer systems operate. They love discovering new ways to work electronically. In fact, breaking a security system requires more intelligence and expertise than actually creating one.
Why hacker hack?
The main reason why hackers hack is because they can hack. Hacking is a casual hobby for some Hackers - they just hack to see what they can hack and what they can’t hack, usually by testing their own systems. Many Hackers are the guys who get kicked out of corporate and government IT and security organizations. They try to bring down the status of the organization by attacking or stealing information.
The knowledge that Malicious Hackers gain and the ego that comes with that knowledge is like an addiction. Some hackers want to make your life miserable, and others simply want to be famous. Some common motives of malicious Hackers are revenge, curiosity, boredom, challenge, theft for financial gain, blackmail, extortion, and corporate work pressure. Many Hackers say they do not hack to harm or profit through their bad activities, which helps them justify their work. They often do not look for money full of pocket. Just proving a point is often a good enough reward for them.
Prevention from Hackers
What can be done to prevent Hackers from finding new holes in software and exploiting them?
• Information security research teams exist—to try to find these holes and notify vendors before they are exploited. There is a beneficial competition occurring between the Hackers securing systems and the Hackers breaking into those systems. This competition provides us with better and stronger security, as well as more complex and sophisticated attack techniques.
• Defending Hackers create Detection Systems to track attacking Hackers, while the attacking Hackers developbypassing techniques, which are eventually resulted in bigger and better detecting and tracking systems. The net result of this interaction is positive, as it produces smarter people, improved security, more stable software, inventive problem solving techniques, and even a new economy.
• Now when you need protection from Hackers, whom you want to call, “The Ethical Hackers”. An Ethical Hacker possesses the skills, mindset, and tools of a Hacker but is also trustworthy. Ethical Hackers perform the hacks as security tests computer systems.
• Ethical Hacking — also known as Penetration Testing or White-Hat Hacking — involves the same Tools, Tricks and Techniques that Hackers use, but with one major difference:
• Ethical hacking is Legal.
• Ethical hacking is performed with the target’s permission. The intent of Ethical Hacking is to discover vulnerabilities from a Hacker’s viewpoint so systems can be better secured. Ethical Hacking is part of an overall information Risk Management program that allows for ongoing security improvements. Ethical hacking can also ensure that vendors’ claims about the security of their products are legitimate.
• As Hackers expand their knowledge, so should you. You must think like them to protect your systems from them. You, as the ethical Hacker, must know activities Hackers carry out and how to stop their efforts. You should know what to look for and how to use that information to thwart Hackers’ efforts.
• You don’t have to protect your systems from everything. You can’t.
• The only protection against everything is to unplug your computer systems and lock them away so no one can touch them—not even you.
• That’s not the best approach to information security. What’s important is to protect your systems from known Vulnerabilities and common Hacker attacks.
• It’s impossible to overcome all possible vulnerabilities of your systems. You can’t plan for all possible attacks - especially the ones that are currently unknown which are called Zero Day Exploits. These are the attacks which are not known to the world. However in Ethical Hacking, the more combinations you try - the more you test whole systems instead of individual units - the better your chances of discovering vulnerabilities.
