Hackers' Approach to Cyber Intrusions

A cyber intruder is an individual skilled in digital systems, networks, and coding who manipulates weaknesses in a computer network to carry out their desired actions. The term 'intruder' can carry both positive and negative connotations depending on the intruder's intent. White hat intruders, also known as ethical intruders, use their skills to identify and rectify vulnerabilities in systems, helping companies improve their security measures.

On the other hand, black hat intruders exploit these vulnerabilities for destructive purposes, like data theft, financial gains, or system disruption. There's also a third category called gray hat intruders who unauthorizedly access systems without harmful intentions. The ethical and legal boundaries are key in distinguishing between legitimate and malicious intrusions.

Intruder's Tactics and Techniques

The intrusion methodology is a systematic approach followed by both black hat and white hat intruders during penetration tests. It comprises a series of steps to systematically exploit weaknesses in a system:

This method enables attackers to systematically compromise a system, but when utilized ethically, it helps organizations identify and patch security loopholes before they can be exploited maliciously.

1. Surveillance

Surveillance is the process of accumulating information about the target system, including its vulnerabilities, which an intruder can exploit. If an intruder manages to gain access to the system following this phase, they will proceed with intruding further. Due to extensive knowledge gained during this stage, intruders can build an effective attack strategy on the target system.

The most popular tools employed in this phase are:

Google (Google Dorking)
Wikipedia
whois
sublist3r
wappalyzer

2. Surveying

Before launching an attack, an intruder must determine the system's operational status, the applications being used, and the versions of those applications in use. This phase involves scanning and enumerating the system to locate a backdoor. It includes obtaining the target's IP address, user accounts, and additional information. The information acquired during the surveillance phase assists in investigating the network with tools like:

Nmap - Port scanning, OS detection, service versioning.
Nmap */ Dirbuster* - Subdirectory enumeration.
Metasploit - Vulnerability scanning via auxiliary modules.
*ExploitDB* - Research known vulnerabilities.
Burp Suite - Intercepting and analyzing web traffic.
*Enum4linux* - Enumerating SMB and system info.

3. Intrusion

The information acquired in the previous two phases is utilized to enter and take control over the target system via the network or physically in this phase of the intrusion method. This stage is also referred to as "owning the system."

This is achieved by exploiting software flaws, weak passwords, or misconfigured services using tools like Metasploit, or through phishing. The access gained might be limited or full admin control, depending on the exploit employed.

4. Elevation of Privileges

Once access to the target machine has been gained during the exploitation phase, the next step is to elevate privileges to gain a higher-level of access within the system. The goal is to move from a standard user account to one with admin control.

In Windows environments, the targets are Administrator or System.
In Linux systems, the objective is the root account.

Some techniques to achieve this include:

Cracking local password hashes.
Exploiting service misconfigurations.
Using default or reused passwords.
Harvesting SSH keys for lateral movement.
Using sudo, setuid, or setgid binaries.

5. Covering Tracks

This is the process of wiping away any remaining log files or other evidence on the hacked system that could trace back to the intruder. When penetration testing is performed ethically, this step is rarely necessary as it is carried out with the system owner's consent.

6. Reporting

The final phase of the intrusion methodology is the reporting phase. This is one of the most critical stages where the ethical intruder outlines everything they found and did.

The report should include:
The findings
The severity of the findings
A description of how the finding was discovered
Remediation steps to fix the vulnerabilities

Conclusion

Understanding what intrusion is and the methodology behind it is vital for anyone pursuing a career in cyber security. An intruder's intent determines whether their actions are beneficial or malicious, with ethical intruders utilizing their expertise to protect systems, while malicious intruders strive to exploit them. The structured approach known as the intrusion methodology offers a strategic framework for identifying, exploiting, and reporting vulnerabilities. When used ethically, this process becomes a potent tool for enhancing organizational security. Recognizing the phases from surveillance to reporting helps in understanding how real-world attacks can be warded off. As threats continue to advance, so should our comprehension of intrusion practices, both to secure ourselves against malicious actors and to promote ethical, responsible security testing.

Next Article Remote Access in Ethical Intrusion rvvjayanth1111 Ethical Intrusion Information-Security Cyber-security**

The intrusion methodology used by ethical intruders, or white-hat hackers, in data-and-cloud-computing environments also includes surveillance, surveying, intrusion, elevation of privileges, covering tracks, and reporting, designed to identify and rectify vulnerabilities in systems to improve cybersecurity.
Networking plays a significant role in intrusion tactics, with invasive tactics employing tools like Google Dorking, whois, sublist3r, wappalyzer, Nmap, Metasploit, Burp Suite, and Enum4linux to gather information about target systems, network scanning, vulnerability scanning, or web traffic interception.