With the release of the Mirai source code, botnets are back in a big way. In the early days of botnets, zombies (infected hosts) would report to IRC (Internet Relay Chat) channels for CNC (command and control) instructions. Modern botnets have evolved, but they continue to use the same concepts as their predecessors.
Welcome back, my hacker novitiates! A short while ago, I introduced you to regular expressions. Regular expressions are a language that is particularly useful for finding complex text patterns in streams of data.
Welcome back, my rookie hackers! Now that nearly everyone and everyplace has a computer, you can use those remote computers for some good old "cloak and dagger" spying. No longer is spying something that only the CIA, NSA, KGB, and other intelligence agencies can do—you can learn to spy, too.
Welcome back, my neophyte hackers! Many newbie hackers seem to be confused regarding the process or methodology to employ a successful hack. Most want to simply go straight to the exploit without doing the due diligence to make certain that the hack will work and you won't get caught.
Welcome back, my novice hackers! There are SOOOO many ways to hack a system or network, which means you need to think creatively in order to be successful.
Welcome back, my fledgling hackers! As nearly everyone has heard, Target Corporation, one of the largest retailers in the U.S. and Canada, was hacked late last year and potentially 100 million credit cards have been compromised. Happening just before Christmas, it severely dampened Target's Christmas sales, reputation, and stock price (the company's value has fallen by $5B).
Welcome back, my hacker apprentices! Although there is a multitude of different hacker types, the one target they all share is the database. I often refer to the database as the hacker's Holy Grail, or the ultimate prize for an effective hack.
A hacker with privileged access to a Windows 10 computer can configure it to act as a web proxy, which allows the attacker to target devices and services on the network through the compromised computer. The probes and attacks appear to originate from the Windows 10 computer, making it difficult to detect the attacker's actual location.
Giving up your Wi-Fi password can be giving up more control than you think. Because of the way Chromecast and other IoT devices communicate, anyone on the same Wi-Fi network as your device can often make it do whatever they want. With a script called "Cast All the Things," we can hijack a Chromecast to play nearly any kind of media with a single command in terminal.
Due to weaknesses in the way Wi-Fi works, it's extremely easy to disrupt most Wi-Fi networks using tools that forge deauthentication packets. The ease with which these common tools can jam networks is only matched by how simple they are to detect for anyone listening for them. We'll use Wireshark to discover a Wi-Fi attack in progress and determine which tool the attacker is using.
Configuring onion services for the first time can be tricky. A surprising number of system administrators make seemingly trivial mistakes that ultimately lead to catastrophic cases of de-anonymizing supposedly anonymous sites on the dark web. OnionScan is a tool designed to identify common misconfigurations in onion services and aid us in understanding how to fix them.
File inclusion can allow an attacker to view files on a remote host they shouldn't be able to see, and it can even allow the attacker to run code on a target.
The biggest corporation we know today is called Google, I bet you've heard of it yeah? How Google Tracks You:
Hello null_byters, after some time out here we are again with another tutorial, continuing our beautiful series, today we will write our first real world bash script.
Welcome back, my novice hackers! Before we try to attack a website, it's worthwhile understanding the structure, directories, and files that the website uses. In this way, we can begin to map an attack strategy that will be most effective.
Welcome back, my novice hackers! We've done a number of tutorials using one of my favorite hacking tools, Metasploit. In each of them, we've used the msfconsole, which can be reached through either the menu system or through simply typing "msfconsole" from the terminal.
Welcome back, my budding hackers! One of the keys to becoming a professional and successful hacker is to think creatively. There is always a way to get into any network or system, if you think creatively. In previous tutorials, I have demonstrated ways to crack passwords on both Linux and Windows systems, but in this case, I will show you a way to get the sysadmin password by intercepting it from a Remote Desktop session.
Welcome back, my hacker apprentices! Metasploit framework is an incredible hacking and pentesting tool that every hacker worth their salt should be conversant and capable on.
Welcome back, hacker novitiates! In the next few hacks, we will be breaking into Windows servers. In this installment, we will learn to add ourselves as a user to a Windows 2003 server. Of course, when we have added ourselves as a user, we can come back any time and simply log into our account without having to hack into the system and risk detection.
This is my first contribution in an ongoing series on detailing the best free, open source hacking and penetration tools available. My goal is to show you some of the quality tools that IT security experts are using every day in their jobs as network security and pen-testing professionals. There are hundreds of tools out there, but I will focus and those that meet four key criteria:
With a tiny computer, hackers can see every website you visit, exploit services on the network, and break into your Wi-Fi router's gateway to manipulate sensitive settings. These attacks can be performed from anywhere once the attacker's computer has been connected to the router via a network implant.
Popping a shell is often the main goal of a hacker, and it can be exciting when executed properly, but sometimes they do have their limitations. Metasploit's Meterpreter probably needs no introduction, but this powerful, dynamic payload can offer a leg up over normal shells. To prove it, we'll show how to take a normal command shell and elevate it to a Meterpreter session.
If you've grown bored of day-to-day hacking and need a new toy to experiment with, we've compiled a list of gadgets to help you take password cracking and wireless hacking to the next level. If you're not a white hat or pentester yourself but have one to shop for, whether for a birthday, Christmas present, or other gift-giving reason, these also make great gift ideas.
With all the web applications out on the internet today, and especially the ones built and configured by novices, it's easy to find vulnerabilities. Some are more perilous than others, but the consequences of even the slightest breach can be tremendous in the hands of a skilled hacker. Directory traversal is a relatively simple attack but can be used to expose sensitive information on a server.
After finding and monitoring nearby wireless access points and devices connected to them, hackers can use this information to bypass some types of security, like the kind used for Wi-Fi hotspots in coffee shops, hotels, and in flights high above the ground. By swapping their MAC address for that of someone already connected, a hacker can bypass the MAC filter and connect freely.
If the recent "state sponsored" Yahoo hack wasn't enough motivation for users to stop using their services, the latest news about Yahoo should be. Joseph Menn, a reporter at Reuters, just revealed that Yahoo created a custom email wiretap service for the US government.
Welcome back, my greenhorn hackers! Over the years, I have written many articles here on Null Byte chronicling the many the hacks of the NSA, including the recent hack of the Juniper Networks VPN. (By the way, my speculation in that article has proven to be correct. The NSA did embed a backdoor on those devices.)
Welcome to an introduction on writing basic malware, an optional sub-series in which I expose you to malware and its technologies. This is written for those who wish to seek a beginning in malware analysis or enlightenment on the subject. We will be justifying the writing and covering types of malware.
Welcome back, my tenderfoot hackers! Now that we have begun this trip down web app hacking lane, we need to first address target reconnaissance. Like any hack, reconnaissance is critical. (Are you tired of me saying that yet?)
Welcome back, my fledgling hackers! With this first article, I am initiating a new series intended to convey to my readers the skills necessary to develop your own exploits.
Welcome back, my nascent hackers! We have spent a lot of time in previous tutorials focused on hacking the ubiquitous Windows systems, but the vast majority of "heavy iron" around the world are Linux or Unix systems. Linux and Unix dominate the world of Internet web servers with over 60% of the market. In addition, Linux and Unix servers are the operating system of choice for major international corporations (including almost all the major banks) throughout the world.
Welcome back, my greenhorn hackers! In a previous tutorial on hacking databases, I showed you how to find online databases and then how to enumerate the databases, tables, and columns. In this guide, we'll now exfiltrate, extract, remove—whatever term you prefer—the data from an online database.
Welcome back, my rookie hackers! The more we know about a system or network, the better our chances of owning it and not leaving a trace for investigators to follow. One of the often overlooked sources for information is the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). Many rookie hackers are not even aware of it, but it can prove to be a treasure trove of information, if you understand how it works and how to hack it.
Welcome back , my fledgling hackers! Lately, I've been focusing more on client-side hacks. While web servers, database servers, and file servers have garnered increased protection, the client-side remains extremely vulnerable, and there is much to teach. This time, we'll look at inserting a listener (rootkit) inside a PDF file, exploiting a vulnerability in Adobe's Reader.
It's nearly impossible not to be at least somewhat familiar with Microsoft Excel. While it's needed for many office jobs and data analysis fields, hackers could also benefit from improving their spreadsheet skills. Many white hats already know some of the essential Excel hacks, such as cracking password-protected spreadsheets, but there's so much more to know from an attack standpoint.
Whether you're looking to add a substantial coding foundation to your hacking skill set or want to get a job in programming and development, knowing one or two programming languages just isn't going to cut it.
We've shared a capture-the-flag game for grabbing handshakes and cracking passwords for Wi-Fi, and there are some upcoming CTF games we plan on sharing for other Wi-Fi hacks and even a dead-drop game. While security-minded activities and war games are excellent ways to improve your hacking skills, coding a real video game is also an excellent exercise for improving your programming abilities.
If you've ever wanted to track down the source of a Wi-Fi transmission, doing so can be relatively easy with the right equipment.
Networking is built largely on trust. Most devices do not verify that another device is what it identifies itself to be, so long as it functions as expected. In the case of a man-in-the-middle attack, we can abuse this trust by impersonating a wireless access point, allowing us to intercept and modify network data. This can be dangerous for private data, but also be fun for pranking your friends.
The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has been purchasing spyware from the Milan-based Hacking Team and its US subsidiary Cicom USA since 2012. Public records reveal invoices between Cicom USA and the DEA that have ranged between $22,000 to $575,000 from 2012 to 2015.
