In this world, where we are getting all the services online. Hence, it is extremely important for us to protect ourselves from different hacking techniques, which is mainly used for stealing our data or breaching privacy. There are a lot of cases happening on a daily basis when a hacker steals credit card information, hacks email accounts, or other personal data. And the same can happen with you too.
However, to protect yourself from all of these, you must be aware of the popular hacking techniques that hackers use. So you can save your personal information from them.
Top 11 Hacking Techniques You Should Be Aware Of
1. Phishing
There is no doubt that Phishing is one of the most commonly used hacking techniques out there. Even almost everyone is well aware of what Phishing. But still, there are a certain amount of people who get tricked by hackers and end up losing their personal data.
What Phishing actually does is that it creates a replica website that you love to visit. It can be a shopping website, your favorite social media website, or anything. And when you log in to these replicated websites or your credit card details, the hacker gets your account details or personal information. As a result, they can easily hack into your account or steal money from your bank account.
2. Cookie theft
The second most popular technique for hacking is the cookie theft. Cookies are sort of a browser file which keeps your personal data stored. It can be used browsing story, username, password of different websites that you access.
And hackers often try to access to your cookies, so they can get into your account. The hackers do it by making your IP packets travel from their machines. So they can get access to your browsing cookies.
This is also known as sidejacking or Session Hijacking. This is one of the easy to carry hacking methods available if the user is not using SSL or https for their internet session. So whenever you are entering your password on a website next time, make sure it has the https enabled.
3. Keylogger
I am pretty sure you have heard about keylogger. As it is also one of the most popular hacking techniques available out there. A keylogger is basically a simple software that records the key sequence and stores the details into a log file on your machine.
Even this kind of files is capable of containing your personal email IDs and passwords, even your bank account details. A keylogger can be software or hardware. While software needs to be installed on your computer. The hardware keylogger must be connected with an input device like a keyboard.
Even keyloggers are the main reasons why banking websites offer you their own virtual keyboard. In most of the cases, Internet Café’s uses keyloggers.
4. Viruses and malicious code
Viruses and malicious code is also a way of hacking. Virus and Trojans are some sort of a file which mainly records your user data and sends it to the hacker. And there are quite a lot of varieties available online. Even viruses are so powerful that they can lock down your files, show you advertisements, divert traffic, and steal your data and so on. Even they can spread themselves over your computer network.
5. ClickJacking Attacks
ClickJacking Attacks or UI Redress is also one of the popular hacking techniques used by hackers. In this hacking technique, the hacker creates a fake user interface and misleads your clicks. As a result, you end up clicking on links you are not meant to be. Mainly this kind of hacking techniques we get to see on the movie streaming and downloading websites, online gaming websites, and others. The main goal behind this is to steal your personal information or serve you advertisements for their own benefits.
6. Denial of Service (DoS\DDoS)
I am pretty much sure you have heard about DDOS attacks. It is a very common term, and almost everyone is aware of it. DDOS basically stands for Distributed Denial Of Services. And it is a simple way to make a certain server unavailable or crash it for a temporary time.
To crash a server down, the hackers mainly uses bots. And the bots send quite a lot of requests to the server which the server fails to handle. As a result, the server goes unavailable. Even the most amazing part of this technique is that a hacker can crash within a low period of time.
7. SQL injection
The SQL injection is also a widely known hacking technique. In this technique, hackers mainly target a website’s database. For example, if your website has some vulnerabilities in its database. Then the hackers can easily get into your database and steal confidential information that can harm your website. The hackers mainly use a simple tool called SQL injections for the job.
8. Passive Attacks
Passive attacks are also one of the most common hacking methods used by hackers. In this method, hackers do not affect any machine or network. Instead, the hackers simply monitor the computer system and networks to gain some personal information.
Generally, by using Passive Attack, a hacker targets email, messaging services, phone calls, web browsing data, and others.
9. Bait and switch
There are times when the hacker simply purchases ad space on a website. And when a website visitor clicks on the ad, he or she gets redirected to a malicious page. And from that point, they can convince the visitor to install some malware or adware on their computer. For example, install this application to win free bitcoins and all.
And when the visitor finally installs the software, the hacker gets access to their machine. And they can further display advertisements or get access to your computer for their own good. This is what Bait and switch is all about.
10. Brute force
You probably have heard of brute force attack too. In this method, the hacker tries different password combinations to get into a website until he gets access to the website. This is a pretty common method. However, to protect yourself against it, make sure to use complicated passwords which are hard to crack.
11. Fake WAP
If you are a user of public wifi, then you must know about fake WAP. In this technique, the hacker creates a fake wireless access point. And once you get connected to a fake WAP. The hacker can easily access your personal data. Even it is one of the easy to perform hacking techniques. As the hacker only needs simple software and a wireless network. However, to protect yourself against it, you better use a VPN.
Conclusion:
So those were some of the most common hacking techniques used by hackers. Their main goal is always to get access to your personal information. That’s why you must be extra careful about how you handle your data. To protect yourself from hacking, you can use a virtual keyboard while typing down your password. You can use an antivirus application for protecting yourself against viruses. Plus, you can avoid using public wifi or use a VPN.
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