Hacking Articles, Tips and Tools
Data breaches are occurring left and right, with media coverage putting them in the public eye and bringing on a culture of fear tied to cybersecurity and malicious attackers. But who are these malicious attackers? Are they truly hackers, to use the term everyone uses to describe groups and individuals behind high-profile attacks on organizations and governments?
The term “hacker” is used by the media in a derogatory sense, to describe cybercriminals, those who pose a threat to our private information. But is that accurate? The term has had its fair share of meanings throughout the years. Put simply, a hacker is someone who possesses great wealth of knowledge on programming, various computer languages, code and general computer security, and uses their skills to find vulnerabilities in computer systems with the goal of improving and patching those vulnerabilities.
It’s normal to find hackers hired by different organizations to audit their networks, perform penetration testing and conduct all kinds of cybersecurity investigations to uncover any flaws in the system.
What the media calls a hacker is usually a “cracker” — someone who uses their knowledge with malicious intent to find flaws in systems, not with the goal of improving them, but to exploit them and gain unauthorized access.
We want to reclaim this term from the media. We want to show how hackers, as security professionals, are the unsung heroes who work hard to keep everyone safe and protected against cyber criminals. In our category “Hacking”, you can read about the history of hacking”, how hacker culture came to be, our ode to white hat hackers, the differences between hackers and crackers, and of course our technical posts detailing cybercrime investigations and the best hacker tools used by security professionals, to name just a few key subjects.
Trojans: Definition, Types and Protection
Some cybersecurity threats are so old-school that you don't really hear that much about them—and they might even appear to slow down over the years. But since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, threat actors and malware authors have been finding new ways to exploit the situation the world has found itself in. One of the most common tactics we're seeing is the use of trojans.
Who Are Cybercriminals? The 10 Most Infamous Cybercriminals
Throughout human history, crime has been ever-present. Whether it's burglary, theft, fraud, extortion, vandalism, or more serious offenses, it always followed us. But as technology progresses, criminals find more ways to conduct their illegal activities.
What is Hacktivism? Civil Disobedience, Cyberterrorism, or Something Else?
There are different motivations behind hackers' actions. They can be stirred by anything from monetary gain to bragging rights to boredom ('because they can'). But frequently, the driving force behind breaking into systems, stealing information and disrupting services is to demonstrate civil disobedience.
Top 9 Internet Search Engines Used by Security Researchers
We all know what internet search engines are, and why they're used. Even when you want to search for the most mundane thing ever, you can go to Google, Bing, Safari, or any of the other traditional web browsers. But what if you need access to information not usually found on those popular search engines?
Most Epic Hacker Movies of All Time
Hollywood has a knack for influencing public opinion on many different topics. It's been doing just that for over a century, and hackers have been no exception.
Top 10 Cybersecurity Legends You Should Know About
Cybersecurity is growing quickly and it might seem difficult to keep up with all the latest developments and trends. But there are some trends—or better yet, people—who have left their unmistakable imprint on the history of cybersecurity.
Hacker vs Cracker: Main Differences Explained
Media coverage of data breaches is increasing rapidly, especially with the public's watchful eye on organizations and the vulnerable systems they work with — easy targets for exploitation. However, the less-than-dramatic truth is that the frequency and scale of data breaches hasn't really soared* in the past decade, even if people are still at great risk of having their data exposed. The media itself has brought on the hype and created a fear culture around data breaches and malicious attackers.
Top 20 Google Hacking Techniques
Some time ago we wrote an interesting post about the OSINT concept and its importance in the security researching world, showing how easy it is to get information from publicly available sources on the Internet.
Top 10 Common Network Security Threats Explained
The old childhood warning "Stranger danger!" has withstood the test of time even in our modern, developed world.
How much cryptocurrency can a web cryptominer actually mine?
In 2017, we’ve seen a resurrection, of sorts, of web mining. Why do we say “resurrection”? Because despite a drop in popularity after its release to the world in 2011, it has recently been re-introduced to us in a new form.