Anatomy of Computer Hacking Over The Internet

Working in banking and government security environments gave me
a good look at what happens during an Internet hacking attack.
Less advanced hacks are watched and stopped in many cases. Since
these happen most often, more is known about them. To a large
extent, Internet hacking is predictable because it follows
specific patterns, which basic security tools detect.

In the next four issues of Protect-My-Info, I'm going to
describe in simple terms how computers get hacked on the
Internet and what you can do to stop these attacks.

If you've already taken the right steps - bonus! If not, you
might want to get on it fast! This means anytime you type
personal information into a computer.

Now back to the hacking attack...

For this article, Internet hacking describes someone on another
computer trying to break into yours over a public network.
There are other ways to hack computer, but we'll stick to
this common notion for now.

Internet hacking usually follows this order: reconnaissance,
research, and then attack.

Everyone on the Internet has a unique identifying number known
as a network address. There's over 4 billion possible addresses
on the Internet, and the hack begins with a scan of those
addresses.

You're among the four plus billion the moment you connect your
computer to the Internet.

Four billion might seem like a lot of addresses but I assure
it's not. The Internet is already running out of available
addresses, and scanning can happen fast. In a controlled high-
speed network, hundreds of unprotected computers can be scanned
in mere seconds.

Don't think an unprotected computer won't go unnoticed because
it's hidden in the crowd of four billion. It doesn't work that
way - the unprotected computer will eventually be discovered.

Now think of the network addresses as street addresses. Each
address represents a home, a building or empty plot of land.

Each address has ports too. These ports exchange information
between the Internet and your computer programs.

Programs like your web browser and e-mail use unique ports.

If network addresses are like street addresses, ports are
like apartment building suite numbers.

There's one building to each street address, but different
people might live in each apartment suite at that address.

In the apartment analogy, the network scan equals to a stranger
who walks from building to building, checking every front door.
If he gets in, he can walk through the apartment hallways to
rattle the doorknob of each suite to see if anybody's home
and to observe ways to get in.

In essence, the Internet scan can be likened to the stranger's
visit to your front door, and doorknob rattling. This
reconnaissance precedes an attack in that weaknesses and
opportunities are noted.

As reconnaissance acts as the early gathering of information,
it's only the first step. They'll be back for another visit...

In the next issue, we'll look into the research that happens
before the attack.

Until next time, stay smart and be safe.