What Is Hacking?
Hacking refers to activities that seek to compromise digital devices, such as computers, smartphones, tablets, and even entire networks. Hacking means gaining access to someone’s computer, mobile phone or any electronic device to steal private data forcefully without the user’s permission.
The person who commits the hack is called a hacker. Hackers are skilled computer programmers with knowledge of computer security systems. Hacking attacks can occur in many ways such as phishing, malware, etc and there are many types of hacking attacks such as phishing attack, malware attack, key locker attack, waterhole attack etc.
In this article, we will explain what all these hacking attacks are and how they are done and how to avoid this hacking attack.
What Is Phishing And Phishing Attack?
Phishing is a type of social engineering attack often used to steal user data, including login credentials and credit card numbers. It occurs when an attacker, masquerading as a trusted entity, dupes a victim into opening an email, instant message, or text message. Phishing attacks are the practice of sending fraudulent communications that appear to come from a reputable source.
Phishing is a fraud email that sends you an unsolicited email that even sends you an email incorrectly but that email looks like a real bank email. The goal is to steal sensitive data like credit card and login information or to install malware on the victim’s machine.
The phishing email contains a link that takes you to a fake webpage and asks you to fill in your bank information, and if you fill in that information, it goes straight to the hackers’ server then they send you an attachment and you have to download the attachment.
Most people associate phishing with e-mail messages that spoof, banks, credit cards, companies or other business like Amazon and eBay. These messages look authentic and attempt to get victims to reveal their personal information and if you download that attachment, malware is installed on your system and those people access your account.
You can stay safe by-
1. Checking the domain name
2. Checking the spelling
What Is Malware And Malware Attack?
Malware is software designed to steal statistics. Clicking on any operating system, website, a link that is fake can install malware on your computer. Malware is often created by teams of hackers usually, they’re just looking to make money, either by spreading the malware themselves or selling it to the highest bidder on the Dark Web.
There are a variety of ways a malicious hacker can gain access to a person’s private or personal machine. Types of malware can include computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses and spyware. Malware is a type of virus that can hack a file system without going to a hard disk. Spyware This is designed to spy on you which can read your activities, passwords, etc.
The malware collects information about the usage of the infected computer and communicates it back to the attacker. Malware authors use a variety of physical and virtual means to spread malware that infects devices and networks.
The most serious malware attacks combine stealth, precision, and social engineering techniques to penetrate and compromise systems. Key-locker is an alternative to spyware. It records your keywords so the hacker can get your ID, password, etc.
You can stay safe by
1.Installing a good antivirus on your phone, computer, laptop.
2.Never click on the antivirus pop-up.
Hacking Through Mobile Applications
There are many types of phone hacking methods, ranging from hacking into a live conversation or into someone’s voicemail, and to hacking into data stored on one’s smartphone. While the fear of the unknown can keep anyone on edge, the person most likely to hack into your live conversation or voicemail will be someone that you already know, and in today’s mobile world, phone hacking continually grows as a security issue.
With all the reports about malware attacks and data breaches, no one can blame you for wanting to protect your cell phone from hackers. All phones have a password protect capability, but not everyone uses it. They should. But don’t just set a password; change it regularly, which means about every three to six months.
Computer operating systems (Windows for PCs, macOS for Apple), is updated often, between new versions. Your phone’s app store provides reasonable protection against malware. Not only are apps reviewed for malware before they get added to the store, but your phone may even continue to regularly scan app-store installed programs to they are still safe for your device.
Do not give more permission to any apps you download in the Playstore. You should always download and install mobile apps from trusted sources. You should never allow the microphone to record your conversation.
How To Secure Your Phone From Hackers?
- Change your phone’s default passcode.
- Don’t download apps with less than 50,000 downloads.
- Don’t download third-party apps. Protect your PIN and Credit Card data.
- Keep your Operating system up to date.
- Keep the password or lock of the working folder in the computer and do not keep the password notepad or anywhere on the computer.
Do Not Use Public Wifi Network!
Network security is any activity designed to protect the usability and integrity of your network and data. A hackers’ ultimate objective is to get connected to a network where multiple users are already connected, making public Wi-Fi networks excellent targets.
Once he gains entry into such a network, he can deploy his tactics to take control of all the data and communications taking over this network. Hackers can easily access information from customers using public WiFi. Wifi networks are an easy target because they are often insecure, or at least not as secure as they could be.
The first thing to do whenever you get a device that connects to the internet is to change the default password. If not, anyone can get into your router and change its settings. WiFi routers support some kind of encryption, which scrambles the information you sent over the Internet.
There are several kinds of encryption, so be sure to choose the strongest form available.
WPA (WiFi Protected Access) or WPA2 is the strongest in use right now.
Public Wi-Fi does not offer encryption for individuals using the same password and hotspot. Also, your signals are broadcast across the immediate area.
Do not make Internet transactions over free WiFi.
Author: Jay Nayak
