What is Hacking?
The term “hacker” today has garnered a negative connotation. You’ve heard about hackers breaking
into computer systems and looking at or even stealing some very sensitive and very private
information. Millions of computer users worldwide have felt the effects of hacking activity. That
includes virus attacks, spyware, and other forms of malware that slow down, break into, or even
cripple your computer system.
However, not all hackers are dubious and unscrupulous souls who have nothing better to do in life. In
fact, the term “hacker” originally had a very positive and beneficial meaning to it. Traditionally, a
hacker is someone who likes to tinker with computers and other forms of electronics. They enjoy
figuring out how current systems work and find ways to improve them.
In other words, he used to be the guy who had to figure out how to make computers faster and better.
Nowadays, a hacker is just someone who steals electronic information for their own self-interest.
Nevertheless, there are still good hackers (white hat hackers) and bad hackers (black hat hackers).
It basically takes a hacker to catch a hacker and the good news is that a lot of them are on your side of
the playing field. The premise of this book is to help you learn the basics of ethical hacking (the stuff
that white hat hackers do). But in order to know what to look out for, you will have to catch a glimpse
of what black hat hackers do.
The bottom line here is that hacking is no more than a set of computer skills that can be used for either
good or bad. How one uses those skills will clearly define whether one is a white hat or a black hat
hacker. The skills and tools are always neutral; only when they are used for malicious purposes do
they take a turn for the worse.
What are the Objectives of Ethical Hacking?
If hacking per se today is bent on stealing valuable information, Ethical Hacking on the other hand is
used to identify possible weak points in your computer system or network and making them secure
before the bad guys (aka the black hat hackers) use them against you. It’s the objective of white hat
hackers or ethical hackers to do security checks and keep everything secure.
That is also the reason why some professional white hat hackers are called penetration testing
specialists. One rule of thumb to help distinguish penetration testing versus malicious hacking is that
white hat hackers have the permission of the system’s owner to try and break their security.
In the process, if the penetration testing is successful, the owner of the system will end up with a more
secure computer system or network system. After all the penetration testing is completed, the ethical
hacker, the one who’s doing the legal hacking, will recommend security solutions and may even help
implement them.
It is the goal of ethical hackers to hack into a system (the one where they were permitted and hired to
hack, specifically by the system’s owner) but they should do so in a non-destructive way. This means
that even though they did hack into the system, they should not tamper with the system’s operations.
Part of their goal is to discover as much vulnerability as they can. They should also be able to
enumerate them and report back to the owner of the system that they hacked. It is also their job to
prove each piece of vulnerability they discover. This may entail a demonstration or any other kind of
evidence that they can present.
Ethical hackers often report to the owner of the system or at least to the part of a company’s
management that is responsible for system security. They work hand in hand with the company to keep
the integrity of their computer systems and data. Their final goal is to have the results of their efforts
implemented and make the system better secured.
The Caveat
There is of course a caveat to all of this. For one thing, you can’t expect to have all bases covered.
The ideal of protecting any computer system or electronic system from all possible attacks is
unrealistic. The only way you can do that is to unplug your system from the network and lock it away
somewhere and keep it from all possible contact. By then the information contained in your system
will remain useless to anyone.
No one, not even the best hacker in the world, can plan for everything. There are far too many
unknowns in our highly connected world. John Chirillo even wrote an entire tome of possible hack
attacks that can be performed on any number of systems. That’s how many loopholes there are.
However, you can test for all the best as well all the known possible attacks. If there is a new way of
breaking in, then you can hire an ethical hacker to help you figure out a way to create a
countermeasure. Using those means, you can tell that your systems are virtually safe for the time
being. You just need to update your security from time to time.
Hacking Your Own Windows Password
Some people forget passwords – it happens every day. So what do you do when you or someone else
you know gets locked out of their own computer? That’s basically when your own trusty hacking
skills (no matter how basic they might be) will come into play. However, you should remember that
breaking into someone else’s computer is considered illegal – unless they hired you to do it.
Default Administrator Account
So, let’s say that you have a machine that still runs Windows 7 (some people just hate Windows 8).
One of the hacks that you can do is to use the Windows 7 Administrator account – the default one, yes.
It’s usually disabled when you boot the computer in normal mode. So, what you need to do is to boot
the computer in Safe Mode.
Once the computer boots to Safe Mode, you must select the default administrator on Windows 7. It’s
the one that has no password requirement. You just leave the password box blank to log in. Once
you’re logged in you can go to Control Panel and change the password of the user account in question.
Password Reset Disk
A password reset disk contains a small wizard program that will guide users to creating a new
password for the locked Windows user account. This disk (or the password reset file, which can also
be stored in a USB thumb drive) should have been created when the operating system was newly
installed. Most people just make the reset disk and forget about it. Now that they have forgotten their
Windows password, it’s high time you help them remember where they put it. Once you have it, plug
it into the computer and click “Reset Password.”
All you need to do after that is to follow the prompts. You’ll be asked where the password reset files
are located, so select the proper drive where the file is located (i.e. the thumb drive). You will also
be prompted to enter a new password. All you have to do after that is to follow the instructions that
come up on the screen.
Conclusion
Thank you again for read my blog!
I hope this blog was able to help you learn more about computer hacking!
The next step is to put the strategies provided into use, and begin learning to hack computers!
Finally, if you enjoyed this blog, please take the time to share your thoughts and post. It’d be greatly appreciated!
Thank you and good luck!