Safeguard Against Modern Hacking Techniques

The assignment content discusses various types of hacking techniques used by hackers to gain unauthorized access to personal and financial data. The techniques include Fake WAP's, Eavesdropping, SQL Injection, Clickjacking Attacks, Malware-Viruses, Trojans, etc., DoS/DDoS, MITM Attack. To safeguard against these hacking techniques, users can use VPNs, install anti-virus programs, delete suspicious emails, and encrypt sensitive data offline. By being aware of potential threats and taking preventive measures, individuals and organizations can protect themselves from data theft and financial fraud.

What are the Different Types of Hacking Techniques?

2
Nowadays, it has become very common and easier for the hackers to get access to the
unauthorized zones and steal personal data and information such as financial data, or any kind of
confidential information pertaining to credit cards or baking details. One needs to stay vigilant as
well as protect themselves against cyber criminals’ and their hacking techniques. In order to do
that, it is essential to understand the strategy used by them operate on the users account without
their by accessing their account without their permission or authorization. Cyber criminals use a
number of hacking techniques to gain access to the confidential data which might make them
millionaire and bankrupt the user. It is crucial to have a perceptive of such techniques so that you
one can protect themselves in a better way. In addition to this, they might also attack the business
websites to steal corporate data and information thereby opening the doors to get rich.
When the hackers or commonly known as the cyber criminals plans and creates a setting to
attack individuals or organizations, they do have broad collection of hacking techniques, tools,
as well as technical skills and expertise at their end. If individuals and organizations want to keep
themselves secure, it will be necessary to fight fire-with-fire. Therefore learning the subject of
the most commonly used hacking techniques will help the individual and the companies to arm
themselves with the right tools, which enables them to identify the susceptibility and
vulnerability to stop cyber criminals on their mission. One may also consider their internet
connectivity as a chain that links them to their destination. Cyber criminals plan their strategies
by seeking weaknesses as well as any minor loopholes in those connections and links along the
chain. When they succeed in finding one, they attack to access the confidential or personal
information and inflict destruction.
In this article I will share about the top ten most common hacking techniques that are generally
used by the cyber criminals. These hacking techniques in the blog post ranges from indolent to

3
highly developed strategies, however each of these techniques develop diverse vulnerabilities for
gaining an access the important data and infect the individuals and corporations with malware.
Ten Common Hacking Techniques
1. Phishing
Phishing is one of the oldest methods that are used by the cyber criminals along with other
hacking techniques to lure the individuals to share their personal or any confidential information
with attractive images, videos, mails and such other strategies. Using this strategy, the hackers
construct a replica of any existing online identity such as any social media site or bank website
by renaming them similar to original domains. This is done so as to trap the users with their
personal information once they click on any link provided there.
Cyber security is a must and the users need to be aware of such traps beforehand so as to avoid
any financial fraud, or maintaining online reputation in case of corporations. Coupled with social
engineering, phishing is one of the most dangerous hacking techniques. Numerous users are
getting tricked by phishing strategy and face the adverse consequences particularly financial
fraud from credit card details or bank details.
2. Bait and Switch
This method is used by the cyber criminals by purchasing advertisement spaces over the website
and post attractive ads to lure the visitors. It activates as and when any user clicks on the
advertisement, he might get directed to a page that’s infected with malware. In this manner, the
hackers install adware as well as malware on the users’ computer. It has been found that
the advertisement and commercial or promotional online campaigns have a number of download

4
links that are generally very attractive and clicking on those links and ads, the users are get
directed to the hackers page.
This is among well-known hacking techniques where the cyber criminals run a malicious
program by presenting the same as an authentic one to the users and thus, the users ends up
clicking on those links which automatically installs the malware program allowing the hackers
unprivileged or unauthorized access to the desktop or PC.
3. Cookie Theft
In a browser, the cookies track and keeps the personally visited websites, data and information
like the username, browsing history, along with the passwords for a range of sites accessed
throughout the day until the users clears the cookies. Once the cyber criminals get access to the
cookie, they can authenticate themselves by stealing the identity of the user on the browser. One
of the best strategies to make this technique work is by encouraging the IP packets of the users’
to pass through the hacker’s computer.
This method is also called Session Hijacking or sometimes referred to as SideJacking. It has been
reported by many IT scholars that such attacks are easy to carry out particularly when the users
does not use SSL (https), secured sites for their complete session. In addition to this, it has also
been directed by the IT’ans that for entering the bank details or credentials and passwords it is
extremely important for users to encrypt make their connections so as to secure their links.
4. Fake WAP’s
This is one of the modern hacking techniques that are being used by the hackers nowadays.
People low to use free internet connection through Wi-Fi system. So wherever they find free

5
networking service they connect their Smartphone with the available network. But, one must
note that hackers are trying new strategy to create fake WAP’s to lure customers visiting
shopping malls, coffee shops and cinema halls or such other places. Once the people connect to
their Smartphone to these fake WAP’s they get trapped in the devil’s zone.
The hacker then meddle all the data streams as well as information that passes through the
connected device along with the remote servers that might possibly include critical passwords for
financial details. As publicly available Wi-Fi is insecure, therefore, before connecting to any
available network people must seek for official Wi-Fi network name along with the related
password by asking the employee the name of the real network.
5. Eavesdropping
It is also known as the use of passive hacking techniques by the hackers to listen and record
information on a network connection as well as monitor the high-value information. It has been
found by many ITans’ that interception of data transmissions, packet sniffing, and other
hijacking techniques are used and this kind of attack is dangerous for the users as the hackers
have recorded messages and information which allows them to snip into personal data as well.
One of the greatest gifts that is presented to the hijackers is the unsecured networks. The
communication is recorded without any consent or prior permission from the individuals. Such
hacking occurs during instant message, phone call, as well as videoconference or fax
transmission. Therefore, security in these network connections is too an essential step towards
protecting oneself from being cheated or ensure prevention of any fraud.
Passive assaults are extremely complicated and make it difficult for the ITans’ to detect the
problems and the root cause. In this attack, the hackers keep on monitoring the network and do

6
not interfere with any data, messages or the recorded information. Rather, these hackers merely
sneak in others system in the hope of gaining some confidential information for their own good.
6. SQL Injection
This is one of the most inquisitive and prevailing hacking techniques that target vulnerabilities
by accessing the unsecured webpage. In unsecured systems which use the SQL programming
language, the cyber criminals strategize and plan to insert the appropriate codes in the text fields
in the websites. For instance, these codes include the username or the password that is already
saved in the system or a guess that will make the website function.
These codes when inserted are generally used for extracting information directly from webpage
and thus, prepare for further attacks. In simple words, it can be said that the SQL injection is
essentially a hacking technique that is used to hack the webpage instead of individuals. Once the
hacklers get access to the webpage, they create their own functions to access the data and
information for later use.
7. Clickjacking Attacks
Clickjacking attack is another most commonly used and listed among the well-known hacking
techniques. It is also called UI redressing. In this technique, the cyber criminals’ makes an
attempt to conceal the definite user interface and make them click in a different place without
their awareness. This creates a huge problem for the users to identify the real threat or any
possible cyber attack.
In simple words, the hacker hijacks your clicks wherein the user unaware of the attack clicks the
wrong page where the hacker wants you to. The damage caused by such technique is subject to

7
the creativity and the knowledge of the criminals. The generally used strategy in clickjackng is
by collecting fake likes over social media channels. It is commonly the young generation who
fall in such traps as they are the people who spend most of their time on socializing over the
internet. It is better to be aware of such strategies and trap so as to avoid further damage.
8. Malware- Virus, Trojans, etc.
Insertion or transfer of malware is another oldest form of hacking techniques which can be
heard every day, particularly from the business organizations. These malware include the virus
or trojans that are generally a kind of malicious software program that is transferred to the end
users who are lured to install the program for their benefit. However, the hackers creates a trap
into the victim’s system and thereafter, once the user gets connected to the hacker’s system, they
keep on accessing the users data. Besides this, it has also been found that using malware, the files
of the user can be locked and the hackers can sniff their information, serve fraud personal ad,
divert traffics, and crucial data.
9. (DoS/DDoS)
The DoS is commonly known as the Denial of Service attack which is not common as the other
hacking techniques. In this method, the hackers take down a server by flooding it with huge
number of traffic which makes it difficult for the server to process the users request in real time.
Due to over flooding, the server ultimately crashes. This strategy is usually adopted by the
hackers to stop the incoming of actual requests from the users so that the corporation or business
house does not succeed in their mission.
10. MITM Attack

8
In this hacking strategy, a hacker inserts himself as an undetectable mediator amid the server and
the users. The hacklers copy the information transferred through communication from both the
ends. This enables the, to monitor the traffic on the webpage the user is connecting with and try
to modify the same without the consent of the user or any such message for approval or denial of
access. There are a number of ways that the hackers usually adopts to do this task, however the
one of the commonly uses strategy to access the users and the server platform is by exploiting
any Wi-Fi connection that is not secured through passwords or encrypted through coding.
Such hacking techniques sometimes bewilder even the professional ethical hackers. For
instance, when an individual is making any financial transaction, the page which is hacked will
redirect to the page of the hacker where the information and the data typed by the individual gets
saved. This creates a link between the channel amid the user and the hacker directly or through
the server which contain malicious software program injected.

9
Safeguard Against the Hacking Techniques
Though the hackers may turn out to be smart enough to access data from an unauthorized zone
by using the above-mentioned hacking techniques, however, the users must apply the following
techniques to safeguard against hacking:
Use Of VPN
VPN also stands for Virtual private network that is generally used by corporate organizations for
multipoint as well as multi-location connectivity so as to establish a link between the in-house
team and those from remote locations. Use of the VPN’s provides security against those open
and free to access networks. This firmly covers the transmission as well as receipt of the IP
address of the users and thus preventing any cyber criminals from using any of their hacking
techniques for unauthorized intrusion.
Installation Of Anti-Virus
We all must have heard about anti-virus and its usage in securing our data and information from
being hacked when there is a malware detected. Yes, the installation of the anti-virus programs
provides security from data theft and corruption of the information with the users. It also saves
the corporations from financial frauds by detecting any minor virus or Trojans that might cause
damages to the computer system. Such program will help the users to categorize the threats from
the hacking techniques and allows them to get rid of malicious software.
Deleting Suspicious Mails
For keeping oneself away from the hackers and their hacking techniques, it is essential for the
users to delete any uncertain mails or messages from unknown sources without even clicking on

10
it or opening it to read or assess the same. Complete verification must be done before taking any
action when opening the mail or message. One must also stay away from the questionnaire mails
that is generally sent by the hackers such as winning of lottery, are you interest?. Such mails
lures the users to a great extent, however, they are unaware that it might be a trap. Therefore,
deleting such mails without clicking on any attachment or links is a better strategy to safeguard
oneself against data theft or identify theft.
Encrypting Sensitive Data off The Cloud
It is true that nowadays, advanced technology have created incredible innovations. Saving data
on the Cloud is one among those innovations. People try to save their data over cloud in fear of
losing the forever in case their devices get damaged or lost. However, hackers are using the
Cloud platform to access those information. One should remember to keep aside confidential
data and information from cloud. Instead, they should keep those data in a separate encrypted
folder for future use.
Adopting these strategies will keep you and your organization safe from the hackers and their
professional or advanced hacking techniques. The users must be aware and keep an eye on the
dubious mails or messages or any other sign that does not usually appear on their screen. This
will further help them to avert hacking of their vital information.