Ethical Hacking
Footprinting is about gathering information and formulating a hacking strategy. With proper care you, as the attacking party, may be able to uncover the path of least resistance into an organization. Passively gathering information is by far the easiest and most effective method. If done by a skilled, inventive, and curious party (you!), the amount … Read more
Now let’s circle back around to the first step in the process of ethical hacking: footprinting. Footprinting, or reconnaissance, is a method of observing and collecting information about a potential target with the intention of finding a way to attack the target. Foot-printing looks for information and later analyzes it, looking for weaknesses or potential … Read more
For an overview of the process, let’s look at the steps of ethical hacking to see where foot-printing fits in as well as what future phases hold. Phase 1: Footprinting Footprinting is the first phase of the ethical hacking process and is the subject of this article. This phase consists of passively gaining information about … Read more
Cryptography can be applied in communication of data and information, which we will see in the form of IPSec, SSL, and PGP. In this article we will examine these applications and see how cryptography fits in. IPSec Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) is a set of protocols designed to protect the confidentiality and integrity of data … Read more
Much like any system that will be explored in this text, cryptography has its faults and potential attacks. Attacks are designed to leverage weaknesses in both implementation and logic in many cases. However one thing that should always be kept in mind is that no matter how strong or well designed a system may be, … Read more
Symmetric algorithms do some things really well and other things not so well. Modern symmetric algorithms are great at all of the following: ■ Preserving confidentiality ■ Increasing speed ■ Ensuring simplicity (relatively speaking, of course) ■ Providing authenticity .ymmetric algorithms have their drawbacks in these areas: ■ Key management issues ■ Lack of nonrepudiation … Read more
You will encounter cryptography in many forms throughout this book. It is applied to many different technologies and situations and, as such, is something you need to have a firm grasp of. Some examples of applied cryptography are: Public key infrastructure (PKI) Digital certificates Authentication E-commerce RSA MD-5 Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA) Secure Sockets Layer … Read more
As with the ancient Egyptians and Romans, who used secret writing methods to obscure trade or battle information and hunting routes, one of the most widely used applications of cryptography is in the safeguarding of communications between two parties wanting to share information. Guaranteeing that information is kept secret is one thing, but in the … Read more
you can learn things by studying the history of cryptography that can help you relate to the techniques a little better. Early cultures taught us that cryptography is simply a technique or group of techniques used to protect information. The primitive techniques of times past may look antiquated and simple in the face of today’s … Read more
Windows Although there are many different operating systems, in all likelihood it will be a flavor of Microsoft’s Windows OS that you will test against. There are other OSs in the wild that have a certain amount of enterprise market presence, but Microsoft still has a massive foot-hold on the OS market. By the end … Read more