IT Security
Firewalls and IDS/IPS appliances are part of a secure network, but in this article we’ll look briefly at the placement and functional value of each device. As you venture through the details, keep in mind that securing a network is a holistic process; breaking into a network, on the other hand, is a focused process. … Read more
Intrusion prevention systems (IPSs) and intrusion detection systems (IDSs) are important considerations for any smart hacker. It is important for you, as a hacker, to cover your tracks and keep a low profile—as in no profile at all. It should be common sense, but consider this: If instead of tiptoeing around a network, you slam … Read more
The firewall category includes proxy firewalls; however, because of a proxy’s varied functions it seems appropriate to give them their own subsection. Firewalls are most commonly broken down into the following main categories: Packet filtering Stateful packet filtering Application proxies, which we covered earlier Packet filtering firewalls look at the header information of the packets … Read more
Proxy servers work in the middle of the traffic scene. You may have been exposed to the forwarding side of proxies; for example, your browser at work may have been pointed to a proxy server to enable access to an outside resource such as a website. There are multiple reasons to implement such a solution. … Read more
Researchers say they have successfully addressed what they call a ‘major, long-standing obstacle to increasing AI capabilities’ by drawing inspiration from a human brain memory mechanism known as ‘replay’. Artificial intelligence (AI) experts at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst and the Baylor College of Medicine said they have developed a new method to protect – … Read more
Routers Let’s begin with routers. Our aim here is to give you a firm understanding of the basic functions of routers, so you’ll use this knowledge for more complex hacking techniques and tools. A quick overview of the fundamentals: a router’s main function is to direct packets (layer 3 traffic) to the appropriate location based … Read more
Domain Name System (DNS) and its ability to translate names to IP addresses and back. The DNS that you may already be aware of, even if you don’t actively think about it, is the one used to translate names to IPs on the Internet. DNS is incredibly powerful and easy to use, but at the … Read more
Ports allow computers to send data out the door while simultaneously identifying that data by category. What this means is each of the common ports you use is associated with a particular protocol or particular application. For example, sending data from port 21 signifies to the receiving system that the traffic received is an FTP … Read more
Understanding hexadecimal and binary conversion is an important skill to have for the exam. In the real world, for most network administrators conversion is done either by a calculator or is not needed, but as an ethical hacker, you have opportunities to apply the basic conversions to something useful. See Table for the basic conversion … Read more
Subnetting is the logical breakdown of a network address space into progressively smaller subnetworks. That’s it. Stop thinking and take it for what it is! Now, as you break down your address space into smaller subnetworks, you determine the numbers of network bits and host bits by the requirements of your network. Network bits and … Read more