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KNOW MOREEthical hacking involves an authorized attempt to gain unauthorized access to a computer system, application, or data. Carrying out an ethical hack involves duplicating the strategies and actions of malicious attackers. This practice helps to identify security vulnerabilities which can then be resolved before a malicious attacker has the opportunity to exploit them. Whether you are a beginner or an intermediate or an experienced ethical hacking professional, this guide will help you to increase your confidence and knowledge in ethical hacking. These ethical hacker interview questions and answers are divided into various categories such as ethical hacking fundamentals, security, OWSAP top 10 vulnerabilities and networks. The guide also provides step-by-step explanations for each question, which helps you to understand the concepts in detail. With these ethical hacking interview questions, you can be confident that you will be well-prepared for your next interview. So, if you are looking to advance your career in ethical hacking, this guide is the perfect resource for you.
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Ethical Hackers can utilize a collection of tools such as the following in order to speed up the hacking process, as well as to assist some manual operations.
Encryption algorithms are of two types: symmetric (private encryption) and asymmetric (public encryption).
Symmetric-key encryption encrypts and decrypts a message using the same key, making it faster. However, it requires a secure means for key transmission between parties.
The following are examples of algorithms for symmetric encryption that are often used:
Asymmetric Key Encryption is based on public and private key encryption methods. It employs two distinct keys to encrypt and decode messages. The approach is slower than symmetric key encryption, but the sender and receiver do not need to exchange the key.
The following are examples of algorithms for asymmetric encryption that are often used:
Spoofing is impersonating a trustworthy source/user to gain access or perform malicious activities, in short spoofing is performed for stealing identity. Emails, phone calls, webpages, and computer IP addresses, ARP, and DNS servers can be spoofed.
Spoofing can be used to steal personal information, transmit malware through infected links or attachments, overcome network access controls, or redistribute traffic to launch a denial-of-service attack. Bad actors commonly use spoofing to launch broader cyber-attacks like advanced persistent threats or man-in-the-middle attacks.
Infected computer systems, data breaches, and financial losses can damage an organization's reputation. Spoofing that reroutes internet traffic can overload networks or bring customers/clients to dangerous sites that steal information or distribute malware.
Below are some of the types of spoofing.
An SSL certificate (also known as a TLS or SSL/TLS certificate) is a digital document that links a website's identification to a public-private cryptographic key pair. The certificate's public key lets web browsers start encrypted TLS and HTTPS sessions with web servers. The server secures the private key, which digitally signs web pages and other data (such as images and JavaScript files).
An SSL certificate comprises a website's domain name and, optionally, its owner. Web browsers and operating systems will trust digitally signed material from a web server if its SSL certificate is certified by a reputable CA, like SSL.com.
SSL certificates are X.509s.
A cryptographic key is a string of letters that is utilized within an encryption technique to modify data in such a way that it looks to be generated at random. It encrypts the plain text in such a way that only someone who possesses the correct key can decrypt the cipher text.
Encryption protects one's privacy by ensuring that no one other than the intended receiver or the legitimate owner of the material may read communications or data that is at rest. This protects the privacy of users by preventing sensitive data from being intercepted and read by attackers, ad networks, Internet service providers, and in certain situations, governments.
Encryption is used to ensure that data sent via the Internet has not been read or altered en route by anybody other than the intended receiver. This protects sensitive information. Check out how ethical hacking helps organizations in different ways.
Integrating different skill sets, tools, and techniques to provide a secure and safe digital environment makes up cyber security. As a result, there are four distinct phases of cyber security.
A cyber security expert performs all these tasks efficiently, requiring specific skill sets and in-depth knowledge, including phishing attacks, ransomware, kill chains, etc.
Cybersecurity is becoming increasingly crucial daily. Every organization keeps massive amounts of data critical to its operations and requires adequate protection from cyber threats.
The global cyber threat continues to evolve rapidly, and every company, particularly those involved in preserving national security data or other sensitive data, must take proper actions to protect its sensitive information.
Again, Cyber security is divided into different categories, each operating in different scenarios.
| Phishing | Spoofing |
|---|---|
The prime focus here is stealing the information | The prime focus here is stealing the Identity |
Primarily performed to get secret information | Primarily performed to get new identity |
Example: Emails containing from unverified source
| Example: An Unsolicited banking website appears to be legitimate, but it is used to gather sensitive information from users and many more. |
Directory traversal attacks are effective because they make use of one or more characteristics that are either FILE ATTRIBUTE NORMAL or FILE ATTRIBUTE HIDDEN. When a user opens a file or folder, the operating system will check to see if the attribute is set to one of the valid values. If it is not, the user will receive an error message. In the event that it is not, the system will make an effort to assign the attribute the appropriate value. If the attack is successful, the adversary will have access to files and folders that they would not have had access to if the attribute were set to the authorized value. This access will only be possible if the attack is successful.
The initial stage of a hacking attack is called "reconnaissance," and it consists of the hacker gathering information about the target.
Apps such as dialers, port scanners, and network mappers are utilized at this step of the process, which is known as "scanning."
Obtaining Access: The data gathered in Step 1 and Phase 2 are utilized in this phase to develop a blueprint for the hacker.
Maintaining Access: After the hacker has initially gained access to a system, he or she will work to maintain access in order to carry out more assaults and take advantage of vulnerabilities.
Clearing Tracks (so that no one can get to them): The attacker would modify the MAC address so that they could utilize several attacking machines to hide their true identity. Clearing Tracks: They would go out of business.
In computer security, hardening is the process of safeguarding a system by lowering its surface of vulnerability, which increases as the number of tasks a system performs; a single-function system is inherently more secure than a multipurpose one. Reducing possible attack vectors often include changing default passwords, removing unneeded software, usernames or logins, and deactivating or eliminating unnecessary services.
Web server hardening involves:
NTFS File Streaming is a technology that gives applications the ability to access files that are saved on an NTFS drive even when the volume itself is not online. Applications that need to temporarily read or write data from an NTFS volume without having to wait for the file system service layer (FS Layer) on which the VolumeMountPoint resides can use this feature. Applications that access legacy systems that did not always implement FS layers can also use this feature.
This is one of the most frequently asked ethical hacking interview questions for freshers in recent times.
Based on the hacker's motivation and the legality of their conduct, they may be grouped into the following three categories:
Benefits of conducting ethical hacking activity:
granting access to the most sensitive information held by the firm. The possibility that a hacker who does not have unethical intentions would send and/or install hazardous code, viruses, malware, and other forms of software that are damaging and destructive on a computer system. An extremely serious breach of security has taken place.
This is one of the most frequently asked ethical hacker interview questions for freshers in recent times.
Enumeration is the primary phase of ethical hacking, which is information gathering. In this phase, the attacker builds an active connection with the victim, tries to gain as much information as possible to find out the weaknesses or vulnerabilities in the system, and attempts to exploit the system further.
Enumeration collects information about:
social engineering
Social engineering may happen everywhere people interact. These are the five most prevalent digital social engineering attacks.
Baiting
Baiting assaults lure victims through deception. They then trick consumers into a trap that takes their data or infects their computers.
Physical media luring spreads malware. Attackers leave bait—usually malware-infected flash drives—in prominent places where potential victims may notice them (e.g., bathrooms, elevators, the parking lot of a targeted company). The bait also seems real, with a payroll list label.
Victims curiously insert the bait into a work or home computer, installing malware automatically.
Baiting schemes may happen online. Enticing adverts that link to harmful sites or malware-infected apps are online baiting.
Scareware
Scareware bombards victims with fake alerts and threats. Users are tricked into installing malware or useless software by being told their machine is infected. Scareware is also called deceit, rogue scanner, and fraud.
“Your computer may be infected with hazardous spyware programmes” is a common scareware popup ad. It either installs the malware-infected programme or refers you to a dangerous site that infects your machine.
Spam email warns customers of fake threats or sells useless or dangerous services.
Pretexting
An attacker uses deception to get information. A perpetrator pretends to need sensitive information from a victim to complete an essential activity.
The attacker frequently impersonates co-workers, police, bank and tax officials, or other right-to-know authorities to gain trust. Then, the pretense asks questions to authenticate the victim's identification, gathering vital personal data.
This fraud collects social security numbers, phone numbers, residences, employee vacation dates, bank data, and physical plant security information.
Phishing
Phishing scams, one of the most common social engineering attacks, use emails and texts to scare or intrigue victims. It then coaxes people into disclosing personal information, visiting dangerous websites, or opening malware-laden attachments.
An online service user receives an email alerting them of a policy violation requiring quick action, such as a password reset. It prompts the unwary user to input their existing credentials and new password on a fake page that looks like the real one. After form submission, attacker receives information.
Mail servers with threat-sharing systems can easily detect and prevent phishing attacks since all users receive identical or near-identical messages.
Spear phishing
This type of phishing fraud targets specific people or businesses. To hide their attacks, they adapt their messages to victims' traits, jobs, and contacts. Spear phishing takes weeks or months to execute. Skilful execution makes them harder to detect and more successful.
In a spear-phishing assault, a hacker poses as an IT expert and emails workers. It is written and signed like the consultant's other messages, fooling recipients. The mail asks users to update their password and links to a fraudulent URL where the attacker steals their credentials.
A rogue DHCP server is a DHCP server installed on a network by an attacker but not under the network administrators' control. Rogue DHCP servers can cause severe problems for networks. Either a modem or a router might serve this purpose.
Hackers usually utilize rogue DHCP servers to conduct network attacks such as sniffing, reconnaissance, and man-in-the-middle attacks. However, rogue DHCP servers can also be used for other purposes.
Phishing is a cybercrime in which someone pretends to be a reputable organization and contacts a target by email, phone, or text to gain personal information, banking and credit card details, and passwords.
Accessing critical accounts with the information might lead to identity theft and financial damage.
The majority of these assaults take place while the victim is using personal email accounts or social networking sites, as well as doing online transactions and more.
Burp Suite is an integrated platform that is utilized to perform a security test on online applications. It is made up of various technologies that can manage the entire testing process, from the initial mapping to the identification of security vulnerabilities in a seamless manner.
A person who breaks into computer systems to take advantage of security flaws and gain unauthorized access to other networks or computer systems is known as a hacker. Theft of any private information, preventing access to crucial data, inserting any virus, disrupting the network configuration, locking, and other activities are all regarded as hacking and are thus included in this category.
The different enumerations available in ethical hacking are listed below:
In its most basic form, network security is a collection of rules and settings developed with the assistance of various software and hardware technologies to secure the accessibility, confidentiality, and integrity of computer networks and data.
A must-know for anyone looking for agile ethical hacking advanced interview questions, this is one of the frequent questions asked of senior ethical hackers as well. Here is the classification -
Control of network access: To protect the network from intruders and attackers, policies for controlling network access are implemented at the most granular level, and these policies apply to both users and devices. For instance, access authorization can be granted and restricted according to the requirements of the network and the contents it contains.
Software to protect from viruses and other forms of malware: Software designed to guard against harmful software, such as viruses, worms, ransomware, and trojans, such as antivirus and antimalware software, is used to search for and fight against these threats continually.
Protection provided by a firewall: Firewalls give the function of a barrier between your trusted internal network and an untrusted external network. Administrators may configure a predefined set of rules to determine which types of traffic are allowed to enter the network.
Virtual private networks, sometimes known as VPNs, are a type of network connection that may be formed from one endpoint or site to another. For instance, a virtual private network (VPN) establishes a relationship between a remote worker and the company network. For this communication to be allowed, the user must first verify themselves. The data that is being transmitted between the two sites is encrypted.
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Firewall monitors both incoming and outgoing network congestion and allow or restrict certain traffic depending on security requirements.
Network security has relied on firewalls for 25 years. They separate trustworthy internal networks from untrusted external networks like the Internet.
Firewalls are hardware, software, or both.
Don't be surprised if this question pops up as one of the top ethical hacking technical interview questions in your next interview.
A data leak is any instance in which an organization's data or data knowledge is unlawfully disseminated outside of the company. Emails, printouts, lost laptops, unwanted data transfers to public portals, photos, portable drives, and other types of media are just some of how sensitive information can be compromised and made public. Data security is becoming increasingly important in today's world. As a result, there are a variety of controls that can be implemented to ensure that information does not become compromised. Some of these controls include restricting the ability to print confidential data, limiting the emails that can be sent to the internal network, following an internal encryption solution, and limiting the emails that can be sent to websites.
An IP address is allocated to any device that is connected to the internet. An Internet Protocol address is a number assigned to each link that makes up a network.
A MAC address is a unique serial number issued to every network interface on every device. A MAC address is also known as a media access control address.
The most crucial distinction is that an IP address creates a link between a network and an interface of a device. However, a MAC address identifies a device in a way that is exclusive to that device and its desire to participate in a network.
What exactly is network security, and what are the various forms it might take?
MAC Flooding is a type of attack that can be used in situations in which the security of a particular network switch has been breached. A hacker can perform MAC flooding on a switch by sending it a greater number of frames than the switch is able to process at one time. This causes the switch to behave as a hub and sends all packets to all of the ports that are currently available. Using this knowledge to his advantage, the attacker can try to send his packet throughout the network in order to steal important information.
The following categories of vulnerability assignments are available:
Defence in Depth, or DiD, is a strategy used in cybersecurity that involves implementing several different defensive measures in a tiered fashion to protect sensitive data and information. It is the countermeasures against the unprecedented attack. The multi-layered method utilized by DiD often refer to as the castle approach, strengthens the overall security of a system.
In its most basic form, network security is a collection of rules and settings developed with the assistance of various software and hardware technologies to secure the accessibility, confidentiality, and integrity of computer networks and data. This collection of rules and settings was developed to prevent unauthorized computer networks and data access.
There are several different kinds of network protection:
Access management to the network: Regulations for regulating access to the network are put into place at the most granular level possible, and users and devices are subject to the same policies. This is done to protect the network from potential invaders and attackers. For instance, access authorization can be given or denied depending on the requirements of the network as well as the contents that it possesses.
Protect your computer from viruses and other types of malicious software with the following software: Antivirus and antimalware software, both of which are meant to protect against malicious software including viruses, worms, ransomware, and trojans, are used to continuously seek for and fight against these threats.
The protection offered by a firewall is as follows: Your trusted internal network is separated from an untrusted external network by a firewall, which acts as a barrier between the two networks. Administrators have the ability to design a predetermined set of rules in order to determine the kinds of traffic that are permitted to access the network.
One sort of network connection that may be made from one endpoint or site to another is known as a virtual private network, which is also referred to in certain circles as a VPN. For example, a virtual private network, or VPN, can be utilized to create a link between a distant worker and the network that the organization utilizes. Before allowing the user to participate in this discussion, they will first need to prove their identity. Encryption is being used on the data that is being sent between the two locations.
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Then, what precisely is a wall or barrier called?
A firewall is a piece of hardware that controls the flow of data or information based on a set of rules that have been established in advance. These are located on the boundary between trustworthy networks and networks that should not be trusted.
TLS Callback refers to the Address of Callbacks, which are functions that are often saved in the TLS section that is called into action whenever a process or thread is started or closed. Given that the Windows loader must first establish a thread before the process can begin, Even before the application reaches its entry point, the code contained in TLS Callback is executed.
These routines and Callbacks are utilized by malware in order to store their harmful code or Anti-Debug techniques. Because they start breaking at EntryPoint, yet the malicious code has already been run, it makes it difficult for malware analysts to debug the code without becoming confused.
Computer forensics refers to the process of gathering and storing evidence from a specific computing device in a format that is appropriate for presentation in a legal proceeding. This process involves the use of investigation and analytical methods. The purpose of doing computer forensics is to carry out an organised investigation and keep a recorded chain of evidence in order to determine precisely what occurred on a computing device and who was accountable for it.
A common yet one of the most important ethical hacking interview questions for experienced, don't miss this one.
The procedure of doing penetration tests is an integral part of the management of information security. Testing for unauthorized access, usage, disclosure, or disturbance of computer systems or data is referred to as penetrating testing. This testing is intended to detect vulnerabilities and evaluate the level of risk caused by unauthorized access. The term "mitigating software vulnerabilities" refers to the activities that may be taken to prevent unauthorized users from getting access to protected networks, stealing sensitive information, or breaking into a computer system. A system vulnerability is an unidentified problem in a computer system that allows unauthorized individuals access to secret information or the capacity to control or destroy the guarded realm. System vulnerabilities may be exploited by hackers to get these abilities. In this context, the term "information" refers to knowledge that is put to beneficial use.
An "evil twin" or "AP Masquerading" is a duplicate or look-alike person or computer programme that a hacker may employ to attack another person or organization. In general, these terms relate to what are known as "evil twins" or "AP Masquerading." In order to accomplish their objectives, organizations will frequently make use of the "AP" systems and infrastructure provided by other businesses. The phrase "access point" is another term that may be used to describe. It is possible to perform reconnaissance with APs or evil twins, as well as create a foothold in a network, acquire secrets, or launch cyber assaults using these tools.
The phrase "coWPAtty" is used by certain persons in the realm of ethical hacking to denote an easy target; however, there is no true connection between the two. Systems or networks that are not secured with typical security procedures and have poor degrees of protection are referred to as coWPAtties. Systems on which coWPAtties occur can be found anywhere – at home, work, or even in public places such as airports and restaurants.
There are many different motivations for an assault on a system:
The recovery point goal, abbreviated as RPO, concerns the frequency of backups. In contrast, the recovery time objective, abbreviated RTO, involves the time required for a full recovery. In addition, RPO and RTO can evaluate the extent to which a system outage will affect company activities while the outage is in progress.
RPO measures how frequently backups are taken and indicates the amount of data that will be lost or need to be re-entered after an outage. RPO is a measure of how frequently backups are taken. On the other hand, RTO refers to the amount of unplanned downtime a company may tolerate. It estimates how long it could take for a system to get back up and running following an interruption in business operations.
How can hacking be ethical? The use of this word began around the time that some amateur hackers began assisting corporations in locating weaknesses in their networks. The demand is so high, in fact, that it has been elevated to the status of a full-time position inside the security departments. When a network or system is attacked by an ethical hacker, it is because the owners of the network have given them permission to do so. After he has located the weak points, he will then work to strengthen them.
Logging and monitoring provide raw data that helps to identify possible threats. This happens when the system administration looks deeply into the data and identifies unusual patterns. These processes act as pillars that are the foundation for a robust security framework.
In case of security incidents or data loss in a system, logging and monitoring help find the actual cause for any failure. However, sometimes it is not possible to dig deeper into the problem and track things because there are no monitoring logs.
It is essential to have functional logging and monitoring systems, as they provide logs and information to give timely alerts to the system if any malfunction or error occurs. This protects the system from further damage.
However, these issues do not frequently cause any vulnerability. Logging and monitoring become especially important in tracing back when the system shows any abnormal behavior. Their failure or absence highly impacts transparency, visibility, and incident alerting.
If the system does not maintain any logging mechanism, or these mechanisms fail, there is no audit trail for events and security analysis. Therefore, attackers can keep damaging our system because their identity and method of attacking cannot be easily determined.
DNS cache poisoning is a method that redirects internet traffic away from authentic servers and towards fraudulent ones by exploiting weaknesses in the DNS (domain name system). DNS spoofing is another name for this practice.
One of the most frequently posed scenario based ethical hacking interview questions and answers, be ready for this conceptual question.
Technology based on steganography is utilized in the process of system hacking for a variety of purposes, including the concealment of harmful files, the creation of viruses, and the creation of havoc by changing the content of documents that appear to be contaminated. The following is a list of the various types of steganographic technology available:
The process of exploiting a bug, a design defect, or a configuration oversight in an operating system or software programme to acquire elevated access to resources that are typically protected from an application or user is referred to as privilege escalation. As a consequence of this, an application that has been granted more rights than the application developer or the system administrator intended for it is able to carry out unlawful operations.
A rootkit is a form of malicious software that conceals itself to avoid being discovered by the safety mechanisms of an operating system. Rootkits have been utilized for many years in order to covertly install malicious software on computers without the knowledge or agreement of the user.
Rooting and uninstalling a rootkit are the two most crucial preventative actions that need to be carried out in order to safeguard the integrity of the computer system.
It is a form of bolstering the security of the system. It entails deploying patches as well as other sophisticated system security methods in order to safeguard the server's operating system. One of the most efficient ways to toughen up the operating system is to set it up so that it will automatically install updates, patches, and service packs.
Given that an operating system is a kind of software, "hardening" an OS is analogous to "hardening" an application. The hardening of the operating system offers the fundamental software that enables the apps in question to participate in the desired activities on the server.
The creators of operating systems often do a decent job of delivering OS updates and urging users of Microsoft, Linux, and iOS to install them when new versions are released. These frequent upgrades can assist in maintaining the security of your system and increasing its resistance to cyberattacks.
Foot printing means gathering information about a target system that can be used to execute a successful cyber-attack. To get this information, a hacker might use various methods with variant tools. This information is the first road for the hacker to crack a system. There are two types of Foot printing as following below.
Injection attacks are one cyber attack. Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks are a type of injection attack in which malicious scripts are injected into websites that are normally safe and trusted. An XSS assault takes place when an adversary utilizes an online application in order to deliver harmful code to a different end user. This code often takes the form of a browser-side script. The vulnerabilities that make it possible for these attacks to be successful are quite ubiquitous. These vulnerabilities can arise anyplace that a web application includes input from a user inside the output that it creates without first verifying or encrypting the input.
Three variations of cross-site scripting may be used.
A standard paradigm for protecting sensitive data, the CIA trio, was developed in the 1970s. The following are the three guiding principles that it adheres to:
Sniffing is the practice of monitoring and collecting the data packets that are moving via a particular network. Monitoring and troubleshooting network traffic problems are this tool's primary uses among system and network administrators. You can observe all types of traffic, including protected and unprotected traffic, when you sniff. Attackers use this to collect data packets that include sensitive information including email traffic, FTP password, web traffic, router configuration, DNS traffic, and various other types of traffic.
There are two primary categories of sniffing:
In this scenario, not only is traffic restricted and watched, but it also may be changed in some way, depending on how the assault plays out. It is used to sniff traffic on networks that are switch-based. Injecting address resolution packets into a target network in order to turn on the content addressable memory table is a necessary step in this process.
In this scenario, the flow of traffic is restricted but is otherwise unaffected in any manner. It functions with hub devices, and data is distributed to all of the available ports. All of the computers that are connected to the unbridged or non-switched network segment are able to observe all of the traffic that is moving through the segment.
It is a technique of acquiring information about a network utilizing protocols like Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) and SNMP and delivers a better picture of the data. This entails retrieving information from hosts, connected devices and the usernames, group information, and other associated data.
Utilize packet filtering: Packet filters have the ability to filter out and prevent packets that include source address information that is inconsistent.
Stay away from trusting relationships: Companies and other organizations ought to work on developing a process that relies on trusting others as little as is humanly possible.
Utilize software that may detect ARP spoofing: Some applications examine and validate the data before it is transferred, and they prevent the transmission of any faked data.
Utilize cryptographic network protocols. ARP spoofing attacks can be thwarted by utilizing secure protocols such as SSH, TLS, and HTTPS. These protocols encrypt data both before and after they are sent and received, mitigating the impact of the assault.
An SQL injection is a specific kind of injection attack that causes a web application's database server to be taken under the attacker's control by executing malicious SQL queries.
The majority of these assaults are directed on websites that were built with either ASP.NET or PHP.
These assaults may be carried out with any one of the following goals in mind:
XML external entity injection, or XXE for short, is a flaw in online security that allows an attacker to interfere with an application's processing of XML data. This flaw is also known as the XML external entity injection vulnerability. An attacker is frequently granted the ability to examine files located on the disc of the application server and to communicate with any back-end or external systems that the programme itself may access.
An attacker can escalate a XXE attack to compromise the underlying server or other back-end infrastructure in certain circumstances by leveraging the XXE vulnerability to perform server-side request forgery (SSRF) attacks. This can be done by exploiting the XXE vulnerability to perform server-side request forgery attacks.
A distributed denial of service, often known as DDoS, is a sort of denial of service assault in which several systems, each of which is infected with a trojan, target a single system in order to launch a denial of service attack on it. The targeted site is inundated with traffic from various servers and Internet connections during a DDoS attack. When you hear that a website has been taken offline, it almost always indicates that it was the target of a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) assault. This indicates that the hackers have successfully attacked your website or computer by flooding them with a large volume of traffic. As a result, the website or computer will crash as a result of the overburden.
There are three distinct forms of distributed denial of service attacks:
Attacks of this type are also sometimes referred to as Layer3 and 4 attacks. The attacker will attempt to use up all of the available bandwidth on the target website at this stage of the attack.
These assaults are quantified in terms of packets per second, and they target both the physical server resources as well as additional components such as load balancers and firewalls.
It encompasses the zero-day DDoS assaults, Slowloris, and other similar programmes that target vulnerabilities in Windows, Apache, or OpenBSD, amongst other systems. Requests per second is the unit used to quantify this.
Pharming is a fraudulent practice in which legitimate website traffic is manipulated to direct users to fake look-alikes that will steal personal data such as passwords or financial details or install malicious software on the visitor's computer. This practice is also known as "drive-by downloading."
The following are some of how pharming assaults might be avoided:
Install a powerful antivirus programme on your computer to identify and get rid of any malware that causes your computer to be redirected to hazardous websites.
A particular variety of message authentication code (MAC), referred to as HMAC (sometimes expanded as either keyed-hash message authentication code or hash-based message authentication code), is comprised of a cryptographic hash function and a secret cryptographic key. HMAC is sometimes expanded as either keyed-hash message authentication code or hash-based message authentication code. It is possible to use it to validate simultaneously the data integrity and the validity of a message, similar to how any MAC may be used.
Instead of utilizing digital signatures with asymmetric cryptography, HMAC can enable authentication by utilizing a shared secret between the parties. Delegating the key exchange to the parties that are communicating eliminates the requirement for a complicated public key infrastructure. The communicating parties are then responsible for establishing and utilizing a trusted channel in order to agree on the key prior to communicating with one another.
In a broader sense, the phrase "sniffing" refers to the process of investigating something discreetly in order to discover private information. Sniffing is a term that is used in the context of information security and refers to the process of tapping into traffic or redirecting traffic to a target so that it may be observed, analysed, and collected. Sniffing is often carried out with the goals of analysing the utilisation of the network, resolving problems with the network, and monitoring sessions for the purposes of development and testing.
One of the most frequently posed scenario based ethical hacking interview questions and answers, be ready for this conceptual question.
A hacker will go through a series of actions in order to delete any traces of their hacking activities and mask their digital footprints. These stages include: Eliminating any traces of malware or information that was stolen during the assault is one of the most crucial procedures to do. In the event that hacking tools such as sniffers, password crackers, and keyloggers were utilized during the assault, it is imperative that these programmes be removed.
Trash diving is the activity of acquiring information, computer data, or other secret material by looking through rubbish receptacles that are not meant for public access. Dumpsters are typically located in areas that are not open to the general public. Dumpster diving can be done either legally or criminally depending on the circumstances. On the other hand, the vast majority of times it is done illegally. Dumpsters are frequently positioned in the vicinity of places of business in order to collect waste products that have been abandoned by customers and workers who have been unable to take their possessions with them when they leave the place of business.
The Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) is what this organization is called. The Open Online Application Security Project (OWASP) is a community-driven non-profit organization that focuses on strengthening the safety of web applications. The group has a detailed database of vulnerabilities and assaults, and it publishes advisories rather regularly in order to provide developers with information on specific security risks.
There are a large number of vulnerabilities that are less often exploited, in addition to the Top 10 online vulnerabilities, which are some of the most widely exploited vulnerabilities on the web. The following list contains the top 10 potential weaknesses:
An intrusion detection system, often known as an IDS, is a type of computer security technology used in the field of cybersecurity. It monitors an organization's networks in order to identify any illegal activity. The information security safeguards can be circumvented or rendered ineffective through the use of evasion tactics. Here are some intrusion detection systems and evasion techniques:
This, along with other interview questions on ethical hacking, is a regular feature in ethical hacking interviews, be ready to tackle it with the approach mentioned below.
The Blowfish algorithm family is a particular subset of the larger category of cryptography algorithms. These algorithms are employed in low-level cryptographic applications, such as safeguarding the confidentiality and integrity of data while it is being transmitted over an unsecured channel. One example of such an application is protecting data while it is being transferred over an unsecured channel. The Blowfish algorithm makes use of a 64-bit block cypher that runs on 8 rounds of keys that are each created using a different polyalphabetic function with a high probability. The Blowfish algorithm is a substitution cypher, which derives its name from the algorithm. A substitution cypher is a type of encryption in which each letter of the alphabet is changed to a new symbol. This ensures that each letter only appears once in the message.
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Ransomware is a type of malicious software that encrypts data in order to keep it hostage for financial gain. The sensitive data of a person or organization is encrypted, rendering it impossible for them to access the associated files, databases, or apps. The payment of a ransom is then required in order to regain access. It is common practice for ransomware to be designed to propagate itself over a network and to target database and file servers; as a result, it has the potential to swiftly render an entire corporation inoperable. It is a growing issue that results in payments of billions of dollars being made to hackers and causes major harm to businesses as well as substantial expenditures for governmental agencies.
Asymmetric encryption is utilized by ransomware. The process of encrypting and decrypting a file involves this form of cryptography, which requires a pair of keys. The adversary generates a one-of-a-kind pair of public and private keys exclusively for the victim, with the private key serving as a means to decrypt any files that are kept on the adversary's server. It is only after the victim has paid the ransom that the attacker will give them access to the victim's private key; but, as recent ransomware operations have shown, this is not always the case. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to decrypt the data that are being held for ransom if one does not have access to the private key.
There are many different flavors of ransomware. Email spamming campaigns and targeted assaults are common vectors via which ransomware and other forms of malware are disseminated. In order for malware to establish its presence on an endpoint, an attack vector is required. Once it has established its presence on the system, malware will remain there until its mission has been completed.
After an exploit has been successfully carried out, ransomware will next drop and run a malicious payload on the machine that has been compromised. This programme will then search for and encrypt valuable files, such as those created in Microsoft Word, photos, databases, and so forth. The ransomware could also take advantage of flaws in the system or the network in order to propagate to other systems and perhaps even across whole businesses.
After the files have been encrypted, ransomware will notify the user that they must pay a ransom within 24 to 48 hours in order to recover the data; else, the contents would be deleted permanently. In the event that a data backup cannot be accessed or if the backups themselves have been encrypted, the victim will be forced to pay the ransom in order to decrypt their personal files.
There is a wide variety of switches available for use in networking; however, some of these switches have certain constraints. Bypassing the constraints imposed by switches is one way to improve the performance of a network and boost its usage of bandwidth. Switches with bypass capabilities can be purchased as independent equipment, or alternatively, they can be incorporated into a Network Management System (NMS). Bypassing the constraints of the switch can result in a number of advantageous outcomes. A greater level of system performance is attainable through the utilization of the switch if it is typical constraints are circumvented. For instance, a bypass switch that can switch AC currents at a maximum of 1000 amps may also be used to switch DC currents at a greater voltage. This is because AC currents and DC currents have opposite phases. This has the potential to significantly increase both the reliability and performance of the system.
Ethical Hackers can utilize a collection of tools such as the following in order to speed up the hacking process, as well as to assist some manual operations.
Encryption algorithms are of two types: symmetric (private encryption) and asymmetric (public encryption).
Symmetric-key encryption encrypts and decrypts a message using the same key, making it faster. However, it requires a secure means for key transmission between parties.
The following are examples of algorithms for symmetric encryption that are often used:
Asymmetric Key Encryption is based on public and private key encryption methods. It employs two distinct keys to encrypt and decode messages. The approach is slower than symmetric key encryption, but the sender and receiver do not need to exchange the key.
The following are examples of algorithms for asymmetric encryption that are often used:
Spoofing is impersonating a trustworthy source/user to gain access or perform malicious activities, in short spoofing is performed for stealing identity. Emails, phone calls, webpages, and computer IP addresses, ARP, and DNS servers can be spoofed.
Spoofing can be used to steal personal information, transmit malware through infected links or attachments, overcome network access controls, or redistribute traffic to launch a denial-of-service attack. Bad actors commonly use spoofing to launch broader cyber-attacks like advanced persistent threats or man-in-the-middle attacks.
Infected computer systems, data breaches, and financial losses can damage an organization's reputation. Spoofing that reroutes internet traffic can overload networks or bring customers/clients to dangerous sites that steal information or distribute malware.
Below are some of the types of spoofing.
An SSL certificate (also known as a TLS or SSL/TLS certificate) is a digital document that links a website's identification to a public-private cryptographic key pair. The certificate's public key lets web browsers start encrypted TLS and HTTPS sessions with web servers. The server secures the private key, which digitally signs web pages and other data (such as images and JavaScript files).
An SSL certificate comprises a website's domain name and, optionally, its owner. Web browsers and operating systems will trust digitally signed material from a web server if its SSL certificate is certified by a reputable CA, like SSL.com.
SSL certificates are X.509s.
A cryptographic key is a string of letters that is utilized within an encryption technique to modify data in such a way that it looks to be generated at random. It encrypts the plain text in such a way that only someone who possesses the correct key can decrypt the cipher text.
Encryption protects one's privacy by ensuring that no one other than the intended receiver or the legitimate owner of the material may read communications or data that is at rest. This protects the privacy of users by preventing sensitive data from being intercepted and read by attackers, ad networks, Internet service providers, and in certain situations, governments.
Encryption is used to ensure that data sent via the Internet has not been read or altered en route by anybody other than the intended receiver. This protects sensitive information. Check out how ethical hacking helps organizations in different ways.
Integrating different skill sets, tools, and techniques to provide a secure and safe digital environment makes up cyber security. As a result, there are four distinct phases of cyber security.
A cyber security expert performs all these tasks efficiently, requiring specific skill sets and in-depth knowledge, including phishing attacks, ransomware, kill chains, etc.
Cybersecurity is becoming increasingly crucial daily. Every organization keeps massive amounts of data critical to its operations and requires adequate protection from cyber threats.
The global cyber threat continues to evolve rapidly, and every company, particularly those involved in preserving national security data or other sensitive data, must take proper actions to protect its sensitive information.
Again, Cyber security is divided into different categories, each operating in different scenarios.
| Phishing | Spoofing |
|---|---|
The prime focus here is stealing the information | The prime focus here is stealing the Identity |
Primarily performed to get secret information | Primarily performed to get new identity |
Example: Emails containing from unverified source
| Example: An Unsolicited banking website appears to be legitimate, but it is used to gather sensitive information from users and many more. |
Directory traversal attacks are effective because they make use of one or more characteristics that are either FILE ATTRIBUTE NORMAL or FILE ATTRIBUTE HIDDEN. When a user opens a file or folder, the operating system will check to see if the attribute is set to one of the valid values. If it is not, the user will receive an error message. In the event that it is not, the system will make an effort to assign the attribute the appropriate value. If the attack is successful, the adversary will have access to files and folders that they would not have had access to if the attribute were set to the authorized value. This access will only be possible if the attack is successful.
The initial stage of a hacking attack is called "reconnaissance," and it consists of the hacker gathering information about the target.
Apps such as dialers, port scanners, and network mappers are utilized at this step of the process, which is known as "scanning."
Obtaining Access: The data gathered in Step 1 and Phase 2 are utilized in this phase to develop a blueprint for the hacker.
Maintaining Access: After the hacker has initially gained access to a system, he or she will work to maintain access in order to carry out more assaults and take advantage of vulnerabilities.
Clearing Tracks (so that no one can get to them): The attacker would modify the MAC address so that they could utilize several attacking machines to hide their true identity. Clearing Tracks: They would go out of business.
In computer security, hardening is the process of safeguarding a system by lowering its surface of vulnerability, which increases as the number of tasks a system performs; a single-function system is inherently more secure than a multipurpose one. Reducing possible attack vectors often include changing default passwords, removing unneeded software, usernames or logins, and deactivating or eliminating unnecessary services.
Web server hardening involves:
NTFS File Streaming is a technology that gives applications the ability to access files that are saved on an NTFS drive even when the volume itself is not online. Applications that need to temporarily read or write data from an NTFS volume without having to wait for the file system service layer (FS Layer) on which the VolumeMountPoint resides can use this feature. Applications that access legacy systems that did not always implement FS layers can also use this feature.
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Based on the hacker's motivation and the legality of their conduct, they may be grouped into the following three categories:
Benefits of conducting ethical hacking activity:
granting access to the most sensitive information held by the firm. The possibility that a hacker who does not have unethical intentions would send and/or install hazardous code, viruses, malware, and other forms of software that are damaging and destructive on a computer system. An extremely serious breach of security has taken place.
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Enumeration is the primary phase of ethical hacking, which is information gathering. In this phase, the attacker builds an active connection with the victim, tries to gain as much information as possible to find out the weaknesses or vulnerabilities in the system, and attempts to exploit the system further.
Enumeration collects information about:
social engineering
Social engineering may happen everywhere people interact. These are the five most prevalent digital social engineering attacks.
Baiting
Baiting assaults lure victims through deception. They then trick consumers into a trap that takes their data or infects their computers.
Physical media luring spreads malware. Attackers leave bait—usually malware-infected flash drives—in prominent places where potential victims may notice them (e.g., bathrooms, elevators, the parking lot of a targeted company). The bait also seems real, with a payroll list label.
Victims curiously insert the bait into a work or home computer, installing malware automatically.
Baiting schemes may happen online. Enticing adverts that link to harmful sites or malware-infected apps are online baiting.
Scareware
Scareware bombards victims with fake alerts and threats. Users are tricked into installing malware or useless software by being told their machine is infected. Scareware is also called deceit, rogue scanner, and fraud.
“Your computer may be infected with hazardous spyware programmes” is a common scareware popup ad. It either installs the malware-infected programme or refers you to a dangerous site that infects your machine.
Spam email warns customers of fake threats or sells useless or dangerous services.
Pretexting
An attacker uses deception to get information. A perpetrator pretends to need sensitive information from a victim to complete an essential activity.
The attacker frequently impersonates co-workers, police, bank and tax officials, or other right-to-know authorities to gain trust. Then, the pretense asks questions to authenticate the victim's identification, gathering vital personal data.
This fraud collects social security numbers, phone numbers, residences, employee vacation dates, bank data, and physical plant security information.
Phishing
Phishing scams, one of the most common social engineering attacks, use emails and texts to scare or intrigue victims. It then coaxes people into disclosing personal information, visiting dangerous websites, or opening malware-laden attachments.
An online service user receives an email alerting them of a policy violation requiring quick action, such as a password reset. It prompts the unwary user to input their existing credentials and new password on a fake page that looks like the real one. After form submission, attacker receives information.
Mail servers with threat-sharing systems can easily detect and prevent phishing attacks since all users receive identical or near-identical messages.
Spear phishing
This type of phishing fraud targets specific people or businesses. To hide their attacks, they adapt their messages to victims' traits, jobs, and contacts. Spear phishing takes weeks or months to execute. Skilful execution makes them harder to detect and more successful.
In a spear-phishing assault, a hacker poses as an IT expert and emails workers. It is written and signed like the consultant's other messages, fooling recipients. The mail asks users to update their password and links to a fraudulent URL where the attacker steals their credentials.
A rogue DHCP server is a DHCP server installed on a network by an attacker but not under the network administrators' control. Rogue DHCP servers can cause severe problems for networks. Either a modem or a router might serve this purpose.
Hackers usually utilize rogue DHCP servers to conduct network attacks such as sniffing, reconnaissance, and man-in-the-middle attacks. However, rogue DHCP servers can also be used for other purposes.
Phishing is a cybercrime in which someone pretends to be a reputable organization and contacts a target by email, phone, or text to gain personal information, banking and credit card details, and passwords.
Accessing critical accounts with the information might lead to identity theft and financial damage.
The majority of these assaults take place while the victim is using personal email accounts or social networking sites, as well as doing online transactions and more.
Burp Suite is an integrated platform that is utilized to perform a security test on online applications. It is made up of various technologies that can manage the entire testing process, from the initial mapping to the identification of security vulnerabilities in a seamless manner.
A person who breaks into computer systems to take advantage of security flaws and gain unauthorized access to other networks or computer systems is known as a hacker. Theft of any private information, preventing access to crucial data, inserting any virus, disrupting the network configuration, locking, and other activities are all regarded as hacking and are thus included in this category.
The different enumerations available in ethical hacking are listed below:
In its most basic form, network security is a collection of rules and settings developed with the assistance of various software and hardware technologies to secure the accessibility, confidentiality, and integrity of computer networks and data.
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Control of network access: To protect the network from intruders and attackers, policies for controlling network access are implemented at the most granular level, and these policies apply to both users and devices. For instance, access authorization can be granted and restricted according to the requirements of the network and the contents it contains.
Software to protect from viruses and other forms of malware: Software designed to guard against harmful software, such as viruses, worms, ransomware, and trojans, such as antivirus and antimalware software, is used to search for and fight against these threats continually.
Protection provided by a firewall: Firewalls give the function of a barrier between your trusted internal network and an untrusted external network. Administrators may configure a predefined set of rules to determine which types of traffic are allowed to enter the network.
Virtual private networks, sometimes known as VPNs, are a type of network connection that may be formed from one endpoint or site to another. For instance, a virtual private network (VPN) establishes a relationship between a remote worker and the company network. For this communication to be allowed, the user must first verify themselves. The data that is being transmitted between the two sites is encrypted.
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Firewall monitors both incoming and outgoing network congestion and allow or restrict certain traffic depending on security requirements.
Network security has relied on firewalls for 25 years. They separate trustworthy internal networks from untrusted external networks like the Internet.
Firewalls are hardware, software, or both.
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A data leak is any instance in which an organization's data or data knowledge is unlawfully disseminated outside of the company. Emails, printouts, lost laptops, unwanted data transfers to public portals, photos, portable drives, and other types of media are just some of how sensitive information can be compromised and made public. Data security is becoming increasingly important in today's world. As a result, there are a variety of controls that can be implemented to ensure that information does not become compromised. Some of these controls include restricting the ability to print confidential data, limiting the emails that can be sent to the internal network, following an internal encryption solution, and limiting the emails that can be sent to websites.
An IP address is allocated to any device that is connected to the internet. An Internet Protocol address is a number assigned to each link that makes up a network.
A MAC address is a unique serial number issued to every network interface on every device. A MAC address is also known as a media access control address.
The most crucial distinction is that an IP address creates a link between a network and an interface of a device. However, a MAC address identifies a device in a way that is exclusive to that device and its desire to participate in a network.
What exactly is network security, and what are the various forms it might take?
MAC Flooding is a type of attack that can be used in situations in which the security of a particular network switch has been breached. A hacker can perform MAC flooding on a switch by sending it a greater number of frames than the switch is able to process at one time. This causes the switch to behave as a hub and sends all packets to all of the ports that are currently available. Using this knowledge to his advantage, the attacker can try to send his packet throughout the network in order to steal important information.
The following categories of vulnerability assignments are available:
Defence in Depth, or DiD, is a strategy used in cybersecurity that involves implementing several different defensive measures in a tiered fashion to protect sensitive data and information. It is the countermeasures against the unprecedented attack. The multi-layered method utilized by DiD often refer to as the castle approach, strengthens the overall security of a system.
In its most basic form, network security is a collection of rules and settings developed with the assistance of various software and hardware technologies to secure the accessibility, confidentiality, and integrity of computer networks and data. This collection of rules and settings was developed to prevent unauthorized computer networks and data access.
There are several different kinds of network protection:
Access management to the network: Regulations for regulating access to the network are put into place at the most granular level possible, and users and devices are subject to the same policies. This is done to protect the network from potential invaders and attackers. For instance, access authorization can be given or denied depending on the requirements of the network as well as the contents that it possesses.
Protect your computer from viruses and other types of malicious software with the following software: Antivirus and antimalware software, both of which are meant to protect against malicious software including viruses, worms, ransomware, and trojans, are used to continuously seek for and fight against these threats.
The protection offered by a firewall is as follows: Your trusted internal network is separated from an untrusted external network by a firewall, which acts as a barrier between the two networks. Administrators have the ability to design a predetermined set of rules in order to determine the kinds of traffic that are permitted to access the network.
One sort of network connection that may be made from one endpoint or site to another is known as a virtual private network, which is also referred to in certain circles as a VPN. For example, a virtual private network, or VPN, can be utilized to create a link between a distant worker and the network that the organization utilizes. Before allowing the user to participate in this discussion, they will first need to prove their identity. Encryption is being used on the data that is being sent between the two locations.
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Then, what precisely is a wall or barrier called?
A firewall is a piece of hardware that controls the flow of data or information based on a set of rules that have been established in advance. These are located on the boundary between trustworthy networks and networks that should not be trusted.
TLS Callback refers to the Address of Callbacks, which are functions that are often saved in the TLS section that is called into action whenever a process or thread is started or closed. Given that the Windows loader must first establish a thread before the process can begin, Even before the application reaches its entry point, the code contained in TLS Callback is executed.
These routines and Callbacks are utilized by malware in order to store their harmful code or Anti-Debug techniques. Because they start breaking at EntryPoint, yet the malicious code has already been run, it makes it difficult for malware analysts to debug the code without becoming confused.
Computer forensics refers to the process of gathering and storing evidence from a specific computing device in a format that is appropriate for presentation in a legal proceeding. This process involves the use of investigation and analytical methods. The purpose of doing computer forensics is to carry out an organised investigation and keep a recorded chain of evidence in order to determine precisely what occurred on a computing device and who was accountable for it.
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The procedure of doing penetration tests is an integral part of the management of information security. Testing for unauthorized access, usage, disclosure, or disturbance of computer systems or data is referred to as penetrating testing. This testing is intended to detect vulnerabilities and evaluate the level of risk caused by unauthorized access. The term "mitigating software vulnerabilities" refers to the activities that may be taken to prevent unauthorized users from getting access to protected networks, stealing sensitive information, or breaking into a computer system. A system vulnerability is an unidentified problem in a computer system that allows unauthorized individuals access to secret information or the capacity to control or destroy the guarded realm. System vulnerabilities may be exploited by hackers to get these abilities. In this context, the term "information" refers to knowledge that is put to beneficial use.
An "evil twin" or "AP Masquerading" is a duplicate or look-alike person or computer programme that a hacker may employ to attack another person or organization. In general, these terms relate to what are known as "evil twins" or "AP Masquerading." In order to accomplish their objectives, organizations will frequently make use of the "AP" systems and infrastructure provided by other businesses. The phrase "access point" is another term that may be used to describe. It is possible to perform reconnaissance with APs or evil twins, as well as create a foothold in a network, acquire secrets, or launch cyber assaults using these tools.
The phrase "coWPAtty" is used by certain persons in the realm of ethical hacking to denote an easy target; however, there is no true connection between the two. Systems or networks that are not secured with typical security procedures and have poor degrees of protection are referred to as coWPAtties. Systems on which coWPAtties occur can be found anywhere – at home, work, or even in public places such as airports and restaurants.
There are many different motivations for an assault on a system:
The recovery point goal, abbreviated as RPO, concerns the frequency of backups. In contrast, the recovery time objective, abbreviated RTO, involves the time required for a full recovery. In addition, RPO and RTO can evaluate the extent to which a system outage will affect company activities while the outage is in progress.
RPO measures how frequently backups are taken and indicates the amount of data that will be lost or need to be re-entered after an outage. RPO is a measure of how frequently backups are taken. On the other hand, RTO refers to the amount of unplanned downtime a company may tolerate. It estimates how long it could take for a system to get back up and running following an interruption in business operations.
How can hacking be ethical? The use of this word began around the time that some amateur hackers began assisting corporations in locating weaknesses in their networks. The demand is so high, in fact, that it has been elevated to the status of a full-time position inside the security departments. When a network or system is attacked by an ethical hacker, it is because the owners of the network have given them permission to do so. After he has located the weak points, he will then work to strengthen them.
Logging and monitoring provide raw data that helps to identify possible threats. This happens when the system administration looks deeply into the data and identifies unusual patterns. These processes act as pillars that are the foundation for a robust security framework.
In case of security incidents or data loss in a system, logging and monitoring help find the actual cause for any failure. However, sometimes it is not possible to dig deeper into the problem and track things because there are no monitoring logs.
It is essential to have functional logging and monitoring systems, as they provide logs and information to give timely alerts to the system if any malfunction or error occurs. This protects the system from further damage.
However, these issues do not frequently cause any vulnerability. Logging and monitoring become especially important in tracing back when the system shows any abnormal behavior. Their failure or absence highly impacts transparency, visibility, and incident alerting.
If the system does not maintain any logging mechanism, or these mechanisms fail, there is no audit trail for events and security analysis. Therefore, attackers can keep damaging our system because their identity and method of attacking cannot be easily determined.
DNS cache poisoning is a method that redirects internet traffic away from authentic servers and towards fraudulent ones by exploiting weaknesses in the DNS (domain name system). DNS spoofing is another name for this practice.
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Technology based on steganography is utilized in the process of system hacking for a variety of purposes, including the concealment of harmful files, the creation of viruses, and the creation of havoc by changing the content of documents that appear to be contaminated. The following is a list of the various types of steganographic technology available:
The process of exploiting a bug, a design defect, or a configuration oversight in an operating system or software programme to acquire elevated access to resources that are typically protected from an application or user is referred to as privilege escalation. As a consequence of this, an application that has been granted more rights than the application developer or the system administrator intended for it is able to carry out unlawful operations.
A rootkit is a form of malicious software that conceals itself to avoid being discovered by the safety mechanisms of an operating system. Rootkits have been utilized for many years in order to covertly install malicious software on computers without the knowledge or agreement of the user.
Rooting and uninstalling a rootkit are the two most crucial preventative actions that need to be carried out in order to safeguard the integrity of the computer system.
It is a form of bolstering the security of the system. It entails deploying patches as well as other sophisticated system security methods in order to safeguard the server's operating system. One of the most efficient ways to toughen up the operating system is to set it up so that it will automatically install updates, patches, and service packs.
Given that an operating system is a kind of software, "hardening" an OS is analogous to "hardening" an application. The hardening of the operating system offers the fundamental software that enables the apps in question to participate in the desired activities on the server.
The creators of operating systems often do a decent job of delivering OS updates and urging users of Microsoft, Linux, and iOS to install them when new versions are released. These frequent upgrades can assist in maintaining the security of your system and increasing its resistance to cyberattacks.
Foot printing means gathering information about a target system that can be used to execute a successful cyber-attack. To get this information, a hacker might use various methods with variant tools. This information is the first road for the hacker to crack a system. There are two types of Foot printing as following below.
Injection attacks are one cyber attack. Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks are a type of injection attack in which malicious scripts are injected into websites that are normally safe and trusted. An XSS assault takes place when an adversary utilizes an online application in order to deliver harmful code to a different end user. This code often takes the form of a browser-side script. The vulnerabilities that make it possible for these attacks to be successful are quite ubiquitous. These vulnerabilities can arise anyplace that a web application includes input from a user inside the output that it creates without first verifying or encrypting the input.
Three variations of cross-site scripting may be used.
A standard paradigm for protecting sensitive data, the CIA trio, was developed in the 1970s. The following are the three guiding principles that it adheres to:
Sniffing is the practice of monitoring and collecting the data packets that are moving via a particular network. Monitoring and troubleshooting network traffic problems are this tool's primary uses among system and network administrators. You can observe all types of traffic, including protected and unprotected traffic, when you sniff. Attackers use this to collect data packets that include sensitive information including email traffic, FTP password, web traffic, router configuration, DNS traffic, and various other types of traffic.
There are two primary categories of sniffing:
In this scenario, not only is traffic restricted and watched, but it also may be changed in some way, depending on how the assault plays out. It is used to sniff traffic on networks that are switch-based. Injecting address resolution packets into a target network in order to turn on the content addressable memory table is a necessary step in this process.
In this scenario, the flow of traffic is restricted but is otherwise unaffected in any manner. It functions with hub devices, and data is distributed to all of the available ports. All of the computers that are connected to the unbridged or non-switched network segment are able to observe all of the traffic that is moving through the segment.
It is a technique of acquiring information about a network utilizing protocols like Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) and SNMP and delivers a better picture of the data. This entails retrieving information from hosts, connected devices and the usernames, group information, and other associated data.
Utilize packet filtering: Packet filters have the ability to filter out and prevent packets that include source address information that is inconsistent.
Stay away from trusting relationships: Companies and other organizations ought to work on developing a process that relies on trusting others as little as is humanly possible.
Utilize software that may detect ARP spoofing: Some applications examine and validate the data before it is transferred, and they prevent the transmission of any faked data.
Utilize cryptographic network protocols. ARP spoofing attacks can be thwarted by utilizing secure protocols such as SSH, TLS, and HTTPS. These protocols encrypt data both before and after they are sent and received, mitigating the impact of the assault.
An SQL injection is a specific kind of injection attack that causes a web application's database server to be taken under the attacker's control by executing malicious SQL queries.
The majority of these assaults are directed on websites that were built with either ASP.NET or PHP.
These assaults may be carried out with any one of the following goals in mind:
XML external entity injection, or XXE for short, is a flaw in online security that allows an attacker to interfere with an application's processing of XML data. This flaw is also known as the XML external entity injection vulnerability. An attacker is frequently granted the ability to examine files located on the disc of the application server and to communicate with any back-end or external systems that the programme itself may access.
An attacker can escalate a XXE attack to compromise the underlying server or other back-end infrastructure in certain circumstances by leveraging the XXE vulnerability to perform server-side request forgery (SSRF) attacks. This can be done by exploiting the XXE vulnerability to perform server-side request forgery attacks.
A distributed denial of service, often known as DDoS, is a sort of denial of service assault in which several systems, each of which is infected with a trojan, target a single system in order to launch a denial of service attack on it. The targeted site is inundated with traffic from various servers and Internet connections during a DDoS attack. When you hear that a website has been taken offline, it almost always indicates that it was the target of a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) assault. This indicates that the hackers have successfully attacked your website or computer by flooding them with a large volume of traffic. As a result, the website or computer will crash as a result of the overburden.
There are three distinct forms of distributed denial of service attacks:
Attacks of this type are also sometimes referred to as Layer3 and 4 attacks. The attacker will attempt to use up all of the available bandwidth on the target website at this stage of the attack.
These assaults are quantified in terms of packets per second, and they target both the physical server resources as well as additional components such as load balancers and firewalls.
It encompasses the zero-day DDoS assaults, Slowloris, and other similar programmes that target vulnerabilities in Windows, Apache, or OpenBSD, amongst other systems. Requests per second is the unit used to quantify this.
Pharming is a fraudulent practice in which legitimate website traffic is manipulated to direct users to fake look-alikes that will steal personal data such as passwords or financial details or install malicious software on the visitor's computer. This practice is also known as "drive-by downloading."
The following are some of how pharming assaults might be avoided:
Install a powerful antivirus programme on your computer to identify and get rid of any malware that causes your computer to be redirected to hazardous websites.
A particular variety of message authentication code (MAC), referred to as HMAC (sometimes expanded as either keyed-hash message authentication code or hash-based message authentication code), is comprised of a cryptographic hash function and a secret cryptographic key. HMAC is sometimes expanded as either keyed-hash message authentication code or hash-based message authentication code. It is possible to use it to validate simultaneously the data integrity and the validity of a message, similar to how any MAC may be used.
Instead of utilizing digital signatures with asymmetric cryptography, HMAC can enable authentication by utilizing a shared secret between the parties. Delegating the key exchange to the parties that are communicating eliminates the requirement for a complicated public key infrastructure. The communicating parties are then responsible for establishing and utilizing a trusted channel in order to agree on the key prior to communicating with one another.
In a broader sense, the phrase "sniffing" refers to the process of investigating something discreetly in order to discover private information. Sniffing is a term that is used in the context of information security and refers to the process of tapping into traffic or redirecting traffic to a target so that it may be observed, analysed, and collected. Sniffing is often carried out with the goals of analysing the utilisation of the network, resolving problems with the network, and monitoring sessions for the purposes of development and testing.
One of the most frequently posed scenario based ethical hacking interview questions and answers, be ready for this conceptual question.
A hacker will go through a series of actions in order to delete any traces of their hacking activities and mask their digital footprints. These stages include: Eliminating any traces of malware or information that was stolen during the assault is one of the most crucial procedures to do. In the event that hacking tools such as sniffers, password crackers, and keyloggers were utilized during the assault, it is imperative that these programmes be removed.
Trash diving is the activity of acquiring information, computer data, or other secret material by looking through rubbish receptacles that are not meant for public access. Dumpsters are typically located in areas that are not open to the general public. Dumpster diving can be done either legally or criminally depending on the circumstances. On the other hand, the vast majority of times it is done illegally. Dumpsters are frequently positioned in the vicinity of places of business in order to collect waste products that have been abandoned by customers and workers who have been unable to take their possessions with them when they leave the place of business.
The Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) is what this organization is called. The Open Online Application Security Project (OWASP) is a community-driven non-profit organization that focuses on strengthening the safety of web applications. The group has a detailed database of vulnerabilities and assaults, and it publishes advisories rather regularly in order to provide developers with information on specific security risks.
There are a large number of vulnerabilities that are less often exploited, in addition to the Top 10 online vulnerabilities, which are some of the most widely exploited vulnerabilities on the web. The following list contains the top 10 potential weaknesses:
An intrusion detection system, often known as an IDS, is a type of computer security technology used in the field of cybersecurity. It monitors an organization's networks in order to identify any illegal activity. The information security safeguards can be circumvented or rendered ineffective through the use of evasion tactics. Here are some intrusion detection systems and evasion techniques:
This, along with other interview questions on ethical hacking, is a regular feature in ethical hacking interviews, be ready to tackle it with the approach mentioned below.
The Blowfish algorithm family is a particular subset of the larger category of cryptography algorithms. These algorithms are employed in low-level cryptographic applications, such as safeguarding the confidentiality and integrity of data while it is being transmitted over an unsecured channel. One example of such an application is protecting data while it is being transferred over an unsecured channel. The Blowfish algorithm makes use of a 64-bit block cypher that runs on 8 rounds of keys that are each created using a different polyalphabetic function with a high probability. The Blowfish algorithm is a substitution cypher, which derives its name from the algorithm. A substitution cypher is a type of encryption in which each letter of the alphabet is changed to a new symbol. This ensures that each letter only appears once in the message.
A staple in ethical hacker interview questions and answers for experienced, be prepared to answer this one using your hands-on experience.
Ransomware is a type of malicious software that encrypts data in order to keep it hostage for financial gain. The sensitive data of a person or organization is encrypted, rendering it impossible for them to access the associated files, databases, or apps. The payment of a ransom is then required in order to regain access. It is common practice for ransomware to be designed to propagate itself over a network and to target database and file servers; as a result, it has the potential to swiftly render an entire corporation inoperable. It is a growing issue that results in payments of billions of dollars being made to hackers and causes major harm to businesses as well as substantial expenditures for governmental agencies.
Asymmetric encryption is utilized by ransomware. The process of encrypting and decrypting a file involves this form of cryptography, which requires a pair of keys. The adversary generates a one-of-a-kind pair of public and private keys exclusively for the victim, with the private key serving as a means to decrypt any files that are kept on the adversary's server. It is only after the victim has paid the ransom that the attacker will give them access to the victim's private key; but, as recent ransomware operations have shown, this is not always the case. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to decrypt the data that are being held for ransom if one does not have access to the private key.
There are many different flavors of ransomware. Email spamming campaigns and targeted assaults are common vectors via which ransomware and other forms of malware are disseminated. In order for malware to establish its presence on an endpoint, an attack vector is required. Once it has established its presence on the system, malware will remain there until its mission has been completed.
After an exploit has been successfully carried out, ransomware will next drop and run a malicious payload on the machine that has been compromised. This programme will then search for and encrypt valuable files, such as those created in Microsoft Word, photos, databases, and so forth. The ransomware could also take advantage of flaws in the system or the network in order to propagate to other systems and perhaps even across whole businesses.
After the files have been encrypted, ransomware will notify the user that they must pay a ransom within 24 to 48 hours in order to recover the data; else, the contents would be deleted permanently. In the event that a data backup cannot be accessed or if the backups themselves have been encrypted, the victim will be forced to pay the ransom in order to decrypt their personal files.
There is a wide variety of switches available for use in networking; however, some of these switches have certain constraints. Bypassing the constraints imposed by switches is one way to improve the performance of a network and boost its usage of bandwidth. Switches with bypass capabilities can be purchased as independent equipment, or alternatively, they can be incorporated into a Network Management System (NMS). Bypassing the constraints of the switch can result in a number of advantageous outcomes. A greater level of system performance is attainable through the utilization of the switch if it is typical constraints are circumvented. For instance, a bypass switch that can switch AC currents at a maximum of 1000 amps may also be used to switch DC currents at a greater voltage. This is because AC currents and DC currents have opposite phases. This has the potential to significantly increase both the reliability and performance of the system.
Preparing for certified ethical hacker interview questions can be a tedious task sometimes, so here are a few key points you can note down to look for what you need and to avoid what you do not need.
There are multiple roles in the scope of ethical hacking here are a few -
There are a bunch of ethical hacking interview questions and answers out there, preparing the right set of ethical hacking interview questions and answers would be helpful during the interview. To improve your knowledge of ethical hacking do check Ethical Hacker course.
Some of the companies that hire for Ethical hacking positions are
The other areas to explore in ethical hacking is CEH, and doing other ethical hacking/ cyber security related certification do check this out Certifications for Cyber Security.
Ethical hacking interview would have some scenario based question, during these questions, ensure you state your assumptions of the solution to the interviewer before proceeding ahead, and formulate the ideas in a well-structured manner, this will help you to address the question in a detailed manner
Before any interview, it is always in your favour to keep some tips and tricks handy, here are a few.
Ethical Hacking Interview questions can be tricky sometimes, and some of the questions and scenarios can come unexpectedly. Following are the type of questions that you can expect in an Ethical Hacking interview
Prepare well for ethical hacking interview questions and answers and provide specific examples of your experience and knowledge. Be ready to ask questions to the interviewer to understand the company and its requirements better.
In this article, we have discussed the job roles that require Ethical Hacking skills, and the companies which offer the position of Ethical Hacking. Besides that, we have also covered basic and advanced ethical hacker job interview questions for ease of use. Post that we have discussed some of the tips and tricks which will help you during the interview. We have also covered the roadmap of how you could prepare for an Ethical Hacking Interview, and what you can expect in an interview. Happy learning!
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