In the world of securitythe main figure are undoubtedly the hackers. These professionals capable of circumventing the strongest computer defenses based on and ingenuity. Although the word as such makes one think of bad things, the reality is that most of the people who dedicate themselves to this tend to work precisely on developing better defenses so that no third party can access the information of other users.
However, a black dot is always the most prominent on a white sheet, and the community keeps the image of those third parties who wish to gain access illegally to the privacy of users.
If you want to know more about this topic to get a clear idea of what hackers really are, in this article you will know all the necessary details; from its definition to its origin and history, and the various skills one must have.
What is a Hacker and what is his goal in modern computing?
Regardless of the purposes or intentions that move him, a hacker is any person who, with the help of a simple computer and an Internet connection, is capable of obtaining access to other computers, servers or websites. Almost all of those who dedicate themselves to this activity are people who have great knowledge and skills in Computer Science.
Widely dominating aspects such ascommunications and especially software manipulation. In a general sense, the public tends to have a negative opinion of the term hacker, mainly due to the fact that all malicious attacks to various systems have their origin in the action of a hacker or a group of them, and in which case it is perceived as a cybercriminal. This, of course, is a fame they have earned hard.
And, to verify it, it is enough to see that millions of users have been affected by the personal data theft, which are then used to cause property damage or affect the reputation of more than one person. Nor should we forget the thousands of cases in which hackers have managed to harm large corporations such as Googleand even to governments or reputable institutions such as NASA or the NSA.
But we must not overlook the fact that there is also a positive connotation of the term, since in computing Many of them are used to discover vulnerabilities or weak points in systems and applications., with which they have helped to solve this type of problems. In the latter case, we are talking about hackers who are hired by large technology corporations, who entrust them with these tasks to ensure that their developments have a adequate level of security before launching them on the market.
History and Origin Who was and when did the first hackers appear?
Some consider John Nevil Maskelyne the first hacker in history. This character, who is presented as an English magician and inventor, was responsible for sabotaging in 1903 a presentation of Marconi’s patented wireless telegraph. But we already know that for those times the term “hack” was not something in common use, and it is not until the end of the 50’s when it begins to become popular among students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
At first it was something that served them to make jokes among themselves, and with the appearance of the specialization in Computer Programming, The term hack began to be associated with feats or innovations achieved by any student in that area.. In this way, we see that whoever achieved a hack became a hacker, of course in the good sense of the word, until over time all that knowledge became used by Some for entirely different purposes.
How are hackers classified? Main types that exist
Each hacker, either group of themwill be acting by moved by various interests, which has led to establish a classification that frames them according to the purposes that everyone pursues.
Among the main types we can mention the following:
white hat
They are the well-known hackers of White hateither ethical hackersof which we can ensure they meet a prophylactic function in the world of Information Technology, to the point that they are currently granted accreditations to carry out their activity. They can work on their own or do it under contract, always with the purpose of finding vulnerabilities and helping to correct them.
blackhat
The hackers of black hat They are, neither more nor less, the feared representation of cybercriminals in the Internet world, since they use all their knowledge to criminal activities over the Internet. Once they define a target for their malicious attacks, they are capable of dealing damage ranging from Y to the theft of data and even the uselessness of computers and servers of all kinds.
Gray Hat
this kind of hacker is dedicated to penetrating computer systems motivated by profit, since they work looking for the of various systems and applications, and then contact site administrators and offer to solve the problem in exchange for a payment.
Hacktivist
Hackers are grouped in this type, who, although they do not seek to make a profit with their activity, have managed to paralyze or damage systems for the sole purpose of leaving a message of the type political, religious, social or ideological. The best known example of these is the group anonymous.
What kind of attacks does a Hacker carry out and what are the tools he uses?
As we have already told you above, hackers usually suffice to have a computer and an Internet connection to carry out their work, be it with ethical or malicious purposes. But they also need get hold of an essential toolwhich is none other than a computer program, in which case they always try to have a highly sophisticated softwarewhich will allow them to have remote access to other computers and systems.
Another aspect to keep in mind is that we must never forget that We are dealing with highly trained individuals in the area of Information Technologywhich allows them to introduce improvements to the programs they use, updating them themselves constantly. Incredible as it may seem, many of these programs are easily available on the market. With them, the hackers can penetrate other computers in different waysamong which we can name email and downloads from the Internet.
Once they achieve that first objective, the next step will be to carry out malicious attacks of different types, the three most common being the ones you will see below:
Phishing
It is perhaps the most widespread form of piracy on the Internet, for which the hacker sends massively or selectively harmless-looking emails, but in the same place attachments or links that contain a malicious payload. Once the user clicks on the attached file or link, there is no going back, and the criminal proceeds to extract data from the user, which allows them to impersonate your identity and cause property damage. This is how he works .
malware
Black hat hackers execute this type of attack to introduce viruses and in both cases with a broad harmful potential, being able to take control of the computer without the user noticing.
Thus the attacker starts sending all the information he deems necessary to his own database. As in many other types of malicious attacks, the hacker needs the user to perform an action, which in most cases is to do click on any of the alerts that from time to time we see on the screen of our devices.
Denial of Service (DoS)
The are made for saturate the traffic of websites, so that visitors cannot access the contents of the page or platform. The method consists of overloading the server using simultaneously multiple from all over the worldof which the attacker has already managed to gain control.
Tips to protect yourself from a hacker and keep your information safe
As users, we are all required to make the task more difficult to those who use their technological knowledge in a malicious way. This will help us not only to keep our information and data safe, but also allows us to protect our equipment. safe from harm that they could cause.
Here are some simple practical tips, which are very useful in both cases, regardless of whether you are a common user or move in a corporate environment:
Reduces Attack Surface
This should be rule number one for increase your computer security from now on. It is a procedure aimed at eliminating as many vulnerabilities as possible possible on your computer or system. To achieve this, you must take care of eliminating all unnecessary or little-used applications on your equipment, as well as those ports that you never use, since in both cases it is about security holes where hackers can enter and cause damage.
Learn to protect yourself from Phishing
Taking into account that this is one of the methods preferred by cybercriminals, you should be wary of any email that arrives in your inbox from unknown senders, even if they appear to be from people or institutions you know. This is especially important when one of them invites you to perform certain actionssuch as opening an attachment or going to a link.
Keep your equipment up to date
Many hackers use methods such as introducing malicious programs, which remain dormant until we take action. so that they are activated in the equipment. When you do periodic maintenance you will be eliminating them, which you must accompany with making sure download the latest programs from official sitessince there are many pirated copies of them that may be loaded with malicious software.
Use the latest generation antivirus
By doing so, you make sure that you are using a tool that will protect you in the best way. This is because every time new viruses appear, and software most recently developed it comes equipped to provide protection against all of them.
Keep backup copies of your files
This is the way to make sure you control damage in case you fall victim to a hacker, since you will have a backup to restore the information in case it is deleted for malicious action, or even suffer Physical damage to or loss of any of your computing devices.
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