Hacking cycle

  1. Covering Tracks
  1. Reconnaissance
  1. Gaining Access
  1. Maintain Access
  1. Scanning:

Reconnaissance target range may include the target organization's clients, employees, operation, network, and systems.

Refers to the preparatory phase where an attacker seeks to gather information about a target prior to launching an attack

Types of Reconnaissance

Passive Reconnaissance

Involves acquiring information without directly interacting with the target . Examples , Eavesdropping on employee conversations.

Active Reconnaissance

Interact directly with the target . For examples , using Nmap tool to scan the target

  1. Port Scanning

This phase involves scanning the target for the information like open ports , Live systems,various services running on the host

Attacker obtains access to the operating system or applications on the computer or network

  1. Vulnerability Scanning
  1. Network Mapping

Checking the target for the weakness which can exploited. Usually done with help of automated tools.

Finding the topology of network,routers, firewall, servers if any, and host information and drawing a network diagram with the available information .

Attacker can escalate privileges to obtain complete control of the system. In the process, intermediate systems that are also compromised

Attacker can gain access at the operating system level, application level or network level.

Examples : Password cracking, buffer overflows and denial of service.

Refers to the phase when the attacker tries to retain his or her ownership of the system

Attacker may prevent the system from being owned by other attacker by securing their exclusive access with Backdoors , Rootkits or Trojan

Attackers use the compromised system to launch further attacks

Attacker can upload download or manipulate data, app and configurations on the owned system

Refer to activities carried out by an attacker to hide malicious acts.

Attacker overwrites the server , system and application logs to avoid suspicions

The attacker's intentions include continuing access to the victim's system remain unnotices.