5 Steps of Computer Hacking

Hacking is a technique to get access on other computer without its permission. Hacking is neither defined nor limited by exploitation or exploration. Hacking was mainly used for studying new things about systems and computing in general, ‘in the good old days’. In recent years it has taken dark intensions and in general has been looked down upon.

Basically a basic hacking attempt consists of 5 different stages. Those are Reconnaissance, Vulnerability / Scanning, Penetration, Advance, Covering Tracks.

• Reconnaissance: The first stage of any attack is “reconnaissance”. It involves information-gathering behaviors that aim to profile the target organization or network for the effective attack tactics This usually includes public data. The more information you have the more you will be able to find & target weaknesses such as phone numbers, email addresses or an IP Address that could be used for Social Engineering Attacks.

• Vulnerability / Scanning: This is the step where the Hacker checks the weakness like open ports on the network.

(Note that firewalls guards computers from trespassers by limiting access to machines/ports both inbound and outbound, but can still be circumvented.)

• Penetration: Here a Hacker exploits one of the open ports found on your firewall or computer.

• Advance: In this procedure the Hacker Gains more access. He break into more sensitive administrator root accounts. Install Trojan horse program or backdoors and install network sniffers to gather additional information.

• Covering Tracks: This is the last & final stage where a hacker covers the track of any records or logs showing his malicious behavior.

Since a large number of hackers are self-taught prodigies, some corporations actually employ computer hackers as part of their technical support staff.