In TV dramas or Hollywood movies, when a genius hacker invades a system, a person usually types furiously on a laptop, writes down dozens of lines of code, then picks up a drink or snack from the table and eats it. With the words “I’m in”, everything is done, and the digital infrastructure of any company or institution can be completely paralyzed. But is this actually the case? This time we will debunk 8 myths about computer hackers.
How many clicks does it take? 8 computer hacking myths you can’t believe
Hacking only takes minutes
Countless movies have depicted hackers racing against time, typing like crazy in just 10 minutes, and then achieving their goal. Unless a social engineering attack steals your credentials or a brute force dictionary attack is used to crack simple passwords, this picture is far from reality. Take the 2018 Bancomext heist in Mexico, for example. The heist required at least months, if not years, of planning and preparation, as the hackers carefully found security holes, slowly wrapped their tentacles around the bank’s systems, and finally took off their masks and stole the funds.
However, even in a heist where the hacker has direct access to the victim’s computer, things aren’t necessarily that simple. The latest cryptocurrency heist occurred after hackers took possession of a developer’s MacBook, but it still took months to defeat. There are more challenging and specific examples of real-life hacking, and in hackathons that are held from time to time, you can see teams of experts in the field targeting places that can take a full 24 hours, or even extending the competition to three days. Simply put, a hacker can’t wake up one morning and decide to break into a business before taking his lunch break.
Hacking looks like a movie
Please forget those movies and novels that describe the Internet as a shocking, colorful three-dimensional world. After all, Hollywood dramatizes and exaggerates boring reality. On the contrary, hacking seems extremely boring to ordinary people. A hacker’s computer screen is usually filled with terminal text.
CNBC once asked Russian hacker Mikhail Sosonkin to break into their reporters’ personal MacBooks. If you look at his screen, it’s all black boxes and text, and unless you know what you’re looking at, you can’t tell the difference between his screen and an IT professional’s screen.
Hacking attacks are malicious
It’s understandable why most people are afraid of hackers. After all, from the information we get every day, hackers steal your bank account and email access permissions, and they are blackmailing you with your sensitive information. Even if the hacker didn’t steal anything, you might want to avoid prying eyes.
However, not all hackers aim to steal and destroy. There are also excellent hackers who use their abilities to contribute to the world. They are “white hat hackers”. The purpose of a white hat hacker is not to gain access to a system, but to discover weaknesses and strengthen defenses. Their bread and butter is penetration testing, which is what they do for hacking, and using their findings to help their victims. It’s like a dry run for an actual security breach in the hope that such a security breach will either never happen or be less damaging.
It’s all code, no human interaction required
In the movie, hackers spend almost all their time in front of the computer screen in the workroom to work on their cracking business. In fact, this is not the case. Hackers interact with people very frequently to achieve their goals. You might think that phishing is how they operate, but often hackers do more than that.
One popular hacking activity is wardriving, where hackers drive around in cars scanning for unsecured Wi-Fi networks to compromise. As another example, some hackers will set up skimmers on ATMs or use RFID scanners to capture the credit card information of nearby people. These are just the beginning of the many things hackers do when AFK. The above is what is called social engineering. Hackers are not just technical wizards, they are experts at manipulating human psychology. They know it’s much easier to trick someone into clicking on a bad link than to defeat their defenses in sophisticated ways.
Hacking requires expensive equipment
Hackers’ workshops in movies are equipped with multiple screens and expensive computer equipment, just like in the American TV series “House of Cards.” But as long as you read the story of Arion Kurtaj, the teenage hacker who once stole and leaked “GTA 6”, you will know that the above-mentioned equipment is too many. according to Report by The Guardian, Kurtaj was an 18-year-old boy at the time and was arrested for hacking Nvidia and other crimes. While on bail, he was placed in a hotel for protection by the police. Rather than stop hacking, he launched an attack using an Amazon Firestick, a hotel TV, and a mobile phone, successfully hacking into Rockstar Games and costing the company $5 million to recover from the hack.
Of course, this is a relatively extreme situation, and most hackers may still hope to get the best hardware. However, there are other ways for hackers to achieve amazing results with limited means. Hackers often use so-called botnets, which are actually a group of infected devices controlled by a hacker and can be scattered around the world. These devices combine the resources of infected computers around the world to carry out the hacker’s instructions. The point is that hackers have very clever ways of doing a lot with very little.
Public Wi-Fi with a password is safe
Most people have at least heard of the threats that public Wi-Fi can pose, and while a VPN won’t keep you anonymous, it’s an excellent tool for protecting yourself on these open, unprotected networks. This creates a false assumption that any password-protected Wi-Fi network is secure. However, an increasingly common attack method used by hackers makes any public Wi-Fi dangerous, called the “Evil Twin.”
Simply put, an Evil Twin attack occurs when a black hat hacker sets up a legitimate-looking Wi-Fi network in a public location such as an airport, cafe, or restaurant. The network looks legitimate and actually seems to connect you to the network, but when you do so, the hacker tricks you into clicking on the link or revealing your credentials. You should avoid using free public Wi-Fi, it’s much cheaper to use your international data plan than drain your bank account or hold your data to ransom.
As long as your account is locked, you’re protected
Maybe you use long, complex passwords with two-factor authentication on your accounts, which is fine, but may still not be enough. Security breaches happen no matter what, and even if you’re confident your account is secure, there’s still a chance a hacker can steal your data. Security at many big companies is laughably bad, with Meta only being discovered in 2019 storing passwords in plain text. Data breaches appear to be on the rise, occurring more frequently and with more devastating consequences.
So, since locking can still be hacked, what is the point of locking? You should use E2EE (end-to-end encryption) whenever possible. E2EE makes it impossible for anyone, whether a company employee or a hacker, to leak your data. No matter where you store your most sensitive data, make sure E2EE is turned on in services like password managers and cloud storage (many companies support it, but don’t enable it by default).
You’ll know when you’re hacked
In movies and TV shows, once you’ve been hacked, the hacker announces it with great fanfare. A fictional storyline where a hacked PC might suddenly start playing a laughing skull accompanied by a childish sound clip is far from reality. In the most extreme cases, some ransomware (like WannaCry) hit victims with scary red screens, blackmailing them into sending payment or risking deletion of their files, but ransomware is only effective if it’s very blatant in taking control of your device, and most hacks won’t be that obvious.
So, how do you know if you’ve actually been hacked? This mostly boils down to your device (be it a computer or phone) behaving strangely. You may notice that it is much slower than usual, uses more battery and data, and encounters more errors. You may see installed software you don’t recognize, files that don’t belong to you, or emails and messages you don’t remember sending. Your camera light might turn on for no reason, something might pop up on the screen, etc.
These are examples of ATPs (Advanced Persistent Threats) that linger on your system for an extended period of time. Many of the above things can happen after a bad update or due to a bug. But if you’ve ever been hacked, these signs may be the only way to know other than losing access to your account or your money.
Source: KOCPC Chinese