Anti hacking techniuqes - Report Example

Anti-hacking techniques Table of Contents 3 Aims 3 Objectives and deliverables 3 Introduction 3 Review of Types of hacking 5 Project plan 7 Legal, Social, Ethical and Professional Issues 9 Technical Skills 10 Conclusion 10 References 11 Anti-hacking techniques Abstract Hacking is one of the many cybercrimes that that are facing computer systems and computer networks. To combat hacking and other cybercrimes, techniques have been devised to safeguard people’s information, computer systems and all their transactions. This paper describes the various hacking attacks and a project to find the best anti-hacking techniques. Aims The project is aimed at developing the most viable solution to help protect systems against hacking, i.e. development of viable anti-hacking techniques. Objectives and deliverables In this paper, the various anti-hacking techniques used to counter the hacking process are discussed. The paper also discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the various anticaking techniques. Moreover, the best anti-hacking technique is selected in the collusion and recommendations made about the anti-hacking techniques. Introduction Cybercrime is one of the problems being faced by everyone using computer systems and networks. The occurrence of cybercrime is all over the world. The cyber criminals have made everyone there target. There are various types of cybercrimes. This includes cyber stalking, identity thefts, malicious software, child abuse and soliciting and finally, hacking [1]. One among the stated cybercrime which is very popular is hacking. Hacking is caused by the desire of a hacker to get access to information without being authorized. Hacking is caused by the desire of the hacker to steal personal information from other internet users and use it for his/her own advantage. Hacking is dates back to1990’s where by hacking was basically done to be used to get more information of the system. This resulted in rivalry of hacking whereby hackers competed against each other in the determination of the best hacker. This saw the introduction of malicious software making them ubiquitous. Thus, the hacking infiltrated into networks making them, together with systems, slow. The growth of hacking became enormous and as a result, the hackers gained more skills making them skilful, knowledgeable and expertise in victimizing and exploiting others [2]. In recent times, hacking is not only used to victimize and exploit others, but also, hackers indulge in the hacking cybercrime to utilize their knowledge to gain quick benefits. The expertise is used by the hackers to exploit, deceive and steal to make easy money. The recent times have seen tremendous growth in technology whereby the growth of the internet is a major drive in this technological growth and as a result, the world is being made a global village by enhancing communication. Most of the crucial services like banking, institutional management, among others are done on the internet. The existence of the hackers with malicious intentions have made provision of the online services challenging and insecure [2]. Despite the existence of the hackers, provision of online services has to be accomplished but shielded from unauthorized access by hackers and other people with malicious intention. The safety of this information has made industry players to seriously take these hackers and try everything possible to stop these acts though he efforts have been successful only to a certain extend. Since there are various forms of hacking, there has to be various techniques to counter this effects of hacking. These are the anti-hacking techniques. Anti-hacking techniques are technologies that are employed to prevent users from getting unauthorized access to classified information and personal information of other people. Review of Types of hacking For a better evaluation of the various anti-hacking techniques, analysis of the various types of hacking is essential. There are various types of attacks used by hackers to attack a computer. These types of attack have been broadly classified into three classes. These are semantic, physical and syntactic. Physical type of attack is whereby conventional weapons are used in the process. These conventional weapons include fire bombs etc. In the syntactic attack, a malicious software that is virus type is used by a hacker in the destruction or disruption of the computer system and/or a network system. The virus-like software causing the syntactic attack is further classified as either malware or malicious software. Syntactic attacks include such things as viruses, Trojan horses and worms [3]. In the semantic attack, user’s confidence is attacked whereby the hacker’s goal is to make the system produce unpredictable results and errors. Basically, hackers carry out semantic attack by dissemination of incorrect information or modification of the information. Information modification is a major concern on data being transmitted via a network. There are various tricks of hacking attacks. These hacking tricks are divided into various categories that include, Spoofing, Phishing, Trojan horses, Fake websites, Information brokers, Spyware, Electronic bulletin boards, Wormhole attacks, Hijacking and impersonation. In the following segment of the paper, the various types of hacking tricks are discussed with their anti-hacking techniques. Hijacking and Impersonation In this type of attack, the attacker uses various techniques to impersonate the true user. Most commonly, eavesdropping is used by these malicious people. The goal of the eavesdroppers is to retrieve passwords, usernames, user accounts and the user related information. The theft of this information can be used by the attacker for different purposes without the consent of the true users. In case this are bank accounts; the user’s bank account can be easily emptied. The eavesdropping by hackers is made possible by use of Trojans that are specifically designed to steal personal information. This is such that a Trojan is send to the user and when the user executes the program, the personal information stored on the user’s computer are “stolen” and sent to the hacker. The Trojan uses various ways to send the information to the attacker. This includes emails, IRC and an instant messenger program [1]. Phishing Phasing is the hacking technique whereby the email messages are sent to the user with the aim of stealing the user’s identity. There are different phishing techniques used by hackers to for phishing. These are link manipulation, filter evasion, website forgery, and phone phishing. Spoofing This type of hacking involves the user to get entry to a computer by sending messages to a user’s computer with an internet protocol that the computer identifies as authentic, yet it is nor authentic. In these hacking, the hacker uses various techniques and tools to get access to a valid IP adder which in turn he/she modifies the packet headers to make them appear to be coming from a trusted host. Spoofing can either take the form of man-in-the-middle attack. In this, the attacker impersonates two people communicating and as a result, gains access to all the conversion between the two people easily [1]. Spoofing can also be internet protocol spoofing as illustrated above. Another reform of spoofing is by the use of spyware. This is a type of software that is used by hackers to gather information form the user’s computer. The software can be even used to remove information from the computers. All activities done by the user using his computer are vulnerable to spyware. Basically, a spyware monitors all the activities the user undertakes on his computer. Moreover, Spywares functions by additionally installing more malicious software, altering the web browser normal activities e.g. redirecting, changing computer settings. To combat the above stated types of hacking, best anti-hacking techniques have to be implemented. Project plan Hacking is an evolving process, thus the implementation of the anti-hacking techniques must be dynamic. Thus, the best model to be used in the implementation of the project is the waterfall model. Waterfall model is whereby the implementation of the project is done as depicted in the diagram below. Waterfall model [1] In this model, the project will be implementation in sequential phases. This are as illustrated below Gathering of requirements and analysis – This phase involves capturing all the projects requirements. This is done in the first month. System design – The captured requirements in the first phase are studied and the system designed basing on the captured requirements. This is done within a month in second month of the implementation process. Implementation – using the system design inputs, there is the development of the programs’ unit. This is done within a month in the third month of the project implementation. Integration and testing - The units developed in the implementation process are put together to form the full project. The system is then tested. This is done within a month in the fourth month of the implementation System deployment – This phase is only implemented after successful functional and non-functional testing. In this phase the project is deployed to the market. Maintenance – issues that come up from the clients are addressed and fixed in this stage. Gantt Chat The iterative model is chosen due to the fact that there is a working model of the system during the initial stage. This is advantageous since design and functional flaws are easily identified and corrected. Also, this is advantageous since corrective measures can be taken within the current budget, thus saving on the costs of the project implementation. Legal, Social, Ethical and Professional Issues There are legal issues associated with any type of software. The issues are dependent on whether the software is either open source or propriety. The final product will be an open source software. Thus, the software will be governed by all legal laws governing the development, distribution and use of open source software . This is the General Public License. The implementation of the project will be such that all software development ethics and professionalism will be adhered to. The development of the source code mat entail use of already published open source. In such scenario, the source will be properly credited. Also, at no time will illegal software be used in performing the tasks. Furthermore, all known software bugs will be addressed with the required strength. To address the social issues in the implementation of the project, the responsibilities for the creations will be taken. This is implemented by ensuring that no particular culture, economic group, group of race is not excluded in the use of the software. Technical Skills The implementation of the project requires intensive analyses skills that is used in designing of the most viable solution. The proposed solution has to be implemented using a programming language. Thus, programming knowledge and skills are needed for successful implementation of the project. Conclusion Security of a systems is dependent on the users and the ISP. To prevent an attack, all these plays must implement best practices as mentioned in the paper to protect personal data, computer systems and all transaction. If these are not well monitored, the effect can be too hazardous. References [1] D. Wall, Cybercrime: The Transformation of Crime in the Information Age, Malden: Polity, 2007, pp. 53-83. [2] Facts On File Incorporated, Cybercrime, New York: Infobase Publishing, 2009, pp. 15-30. [3] B. A. Kumar, K. Kavuri and M. Batchanaboyina, "A Novel Approach for Preventing Hackers in Data Communication," IJASCSE, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 1-7, 2013. [4] D. Chick, Hacking the IT Cube: Information Technology Department Survival Guide, New York, 2001, pp. 20--54. [5] M. E. Whitman and H. J. Mattord, Principles of Information Security 4th edition, Boca Raton: Cengage Learning, 2011, pp. 390-401. Read More