Process of developing a virus

The process of developing a virus is very methodical. The author is concerned with creating an effective virus that can be spread easily. The process occurs in six steps: 1. Design. The author envisions and creates the virus. The author may choose to create the virus completely from scratch or use one of the many … Read more

Viruses

A virus represents the oldest form of malware and is by far the best known to the public. But what is a virus? What separates a virus from other forms of malware? How is a virus created, and how does it target its victim? This section explores these questions and how they affect you, the … Read more

Categories of Malware

malware is an extremely broad term that blankets a range of software packages. We can say that malware is anything that steals resources, time, identity, or just about anything else while it is in operation. In order to understand what malware is, let’s look at the major types before we delve deeper into the mechanics … Read more

Malware

Malware is a term that is frequently used but frequently misapplied, so let’s first clarify its meaning. The term malware is short for malicious software, which accurately explains what this class of software is designed to do: to perform malicious and disruptive actions. Simply put, malware is any type of software that performs actions without … Read more

Executing Applications

Once you gain access to a system and obtain sufficient privileges, it’s time to compromise the system and carry out the attack. Which applications are executed at this point is up to the attacker, but they can either be custom-built applications or off-the-shelf software. An attacker executes different applications on a system with specific goals … Read more

Authentication on Microsoft Platforms

Security Accounts Manager (SAM) Inside the Windows operating system is a database that stores security principals (accounts or any entity that can be authenticated). In the Microsoft world, these principals can be stored locally in a database known as the Security Accounts Manager (SAM). Credentials, passwords, and other account information are stored in this database; … Read more

SMTP Enumeration

Gathering information from a target is through the use of SMTP. This protocol is designed to send messages between servers that send and receive e-mail. SMTP is the standard used by the majority of e-mail servers and clients today. So how is this protocol used to gather information from a server? The process is quite … Read more

Enumeration Using NTP

Another effective way to gather information about a network and the resources on it is through use of the Network Time Protocol (NTP). Before you look at how to exploit this protocol for information-gathering purposes, you need to understand what the protocol does and what purpose it serves. NTP is a protocol used to synchronize … Read more