Steps Performed By Hackers

                                  Steps Performed By Hackers 

1) Reconnaissance

 2) Scanning

 3) Gaining Access

 4) Maintaining Access

 5) Clearing Tracks

 • Performing Reconnaissance

• Scanning and Enumeration

 • Gaining access

 • Maintaining access and Placing Backdoors

 • Covering tracks or Clearing Logs 

Reconnaissance Reconnaissance can be described as the pre-attack phase and is a systematic attempt to locate, gather, identify, and record information about the target. The Hacker seeks to find out as much information as possible about the target.

Scanning and Enumeration Scanning and enumeration is considered the second pre-attack phase. This phase involves taking the information discovered during reconnaissance and using it to examine the network. Scanning involves steps such as intelligent system port scanning which is used to determine open ports and vulnerable services. In this stage the attacker can use different automated tools to discover system vulnerabilities

Gaining Access This is the phase where the real hacking takes place. Vulnerabilities discovered during the reconnaissance and scanning phase are now exploited to gain access. The method of connection the Hacker uses for an exploit can be a local area network, local access to a PC, the Internet, or offline. Gaining access is known in the Hacker world as owning the system. During a real security breach it would be this stage where the Hacker can utilize simple techniques to cause irreparable damage to the target system.

Maintaining Access and Placing Backdoors Once a Hacker has gained access, they want to keep that access for future exploitation and attacks. Sometimes, Hackers harden the system from other Hackers or security personnel by securing their exclusive access with Backdoors, Root kits, and Trojans. The attacker can use automated scripts and automated tools for hiding attack evidence and also to create backdoors for further attack.

Clearing Tracks In this phase, once Hackers have been able to gain and maintain access, they cover their tracks to avoid detection by security personnel, to continue to use the owned system, to remove evidence of hacking, or to avoid legal action. At present, many successful security breaches are made but never detected. This includes cases where firewalls and vigilant log checking were in place.

                                                                Working Of An Ethical Hacker : Obeying The Ethical Hacking Commandments Every Ethical Hacker must follow few basic principles. If he do not follow, bad things can happen. Most of the time these principles get ignored or forgotten when planning or executing ethical hacking tests. The results are even very dangerous. Working Ethically The word ethical can be defined as working with high professional morals and principles. Whether you’re performing ethical hacking tests against your own systems or for someone who has hired you, everything you do as an ethical Hacker must be approved and must support the company’s goals. No hidden agendas are allowed! Trustworthiness is the ultimate objective. The misuse of information is absolutely not allowed. That’s what the bad guys do. Respecting Privacy Treat the information you gather with complete respect. All information you obtain during your testing — from Web application log files to clear-text passwords — must be kept private. Not Crashing Your Systems One of the biggest mistakes is when people try to hack their own systems; they come up with crashing their systems. The main reason for this is poor planning. These testers have not read the documentation or misunderstand the usage and power of the security tools and techniques. You can easily create miserable conditions on your systems when testing. Running too many tests too quickly on a system causes many system lockups. Many security assessment tools can control how many tests are performed on a system at the same time. These tools are especially handy if you need to run the tests on production systems during regular business hours.