What is ETHICAL HACKING ?

Introduction to ETHICAL HACKING 

Hacking and ethical hacking are often subject to much misinterpretation. 

We've tried to deconstruct some of those myths and introduce readers to 

some of the basic concepts of ethical hacking. 

The book itself can be divided into three parts, the Introduction, 

Information Security, and Hacking the web / network. 

In the Introduction to this book, we have tried to give readers a clearer 

idea of what exactly constitutes hacking. We explore the ethical lines of 

hacking, and the dissonance between ethical as a legal or moral binding. 

We question why the term even needs the prefi x “ethical”. We also take 

a look at the terms Black Hat hacker and White Hat hacker and how to 

distinguish between them.

In our second section on Information Security we deal with some of 

the most basic devices for security and access control: Passwords. In the 

chapter “Access Denied” we look at exactly what does it take for a password 

to be secure? We look at what makes a strong password strong and some of 

the technical limits to cracking password. We also look at brute force and 

dictionary attacks as means of password cracking.

In the second chapter on “Social Engineering” we explore the social 

engineering, as a concept of using social means for fi  nding passwords 

instead of purely electronic means. Here we will look at some of the 

popular modes of social engineering.

In the chapter “The ethical bit” we explore the ethical uses of knowing 

how to crack passwords. We see how knowing the processes by which 

passwords are hacked can help us pick better uncrackable passwords. We 

look at how one can have a password which is easy to remember and strong 

at the same time.

In “Hashes” we look at some of the uses of hashes in information 

security and how they can be cracked to reveal a password. The “What 

the #!” chapter then deals with what exactly a hash is, how it relates to 

passwords and how can it be hacked. We explore all these questions and 

explore the basic function and operation of hashes.

In “Of Rainbows and Salt” we look at hash chains, and rainbow tables, which are popular means of deciphering hashes.  We look at salts, which 

offer some protection against such means of hacking hashes.

The third section in this Fast Track could actually be looked at as two 

sections, on “Hacking  the network” and “Hacking  the web”. It is as such 

divided into two parts. Hacking over the network, and hacking websites 

are some of the most common attacks. We look at what goes behind an 

attack and how one can be stopped.

In the “Network hacking” part we look at hacking network 

infrastructure and the steps that need to be taken before a successful 

attack can be made. We divide the process into four steps of “Footprinting”, 

which is the preliminary research conducted based on freely available 

information; “Scanning”, which involves poking and prodding network 

systems for information on vulnerable systems; “Enumeration / Banner 

Grabbing”, where we actually connect to systems which are attackable and 

gather relevant system data; “Penetration”, is the fi nal step of exploiting 

vulnerabilities and constructing attacks based on the information gathered 

in the previous steps.

In the “Web Application Hacking” part we look at ten of the most 

common attacks  that plague the internet today. The list of attacks  is as 

featured by “OWASP Top 10 for 2010” and we use a framework called 

WebGoat for studying a few of these attacks. 

Over the course of this section we will cover in detail: “Injection”, 

“Cross-Site Scripting”, “Broken Authentication and Session Management”, 

“Insecure Direct Object References”, “Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF)”, 

“Security Misconfi guration”, “Insecure Cryptographic Storage”, “Failure 

to Restrict URL Access”, “Insufficient Transport Layer Protection”, and 

“Unvalidated Redirects and Forwards”. 

In concluding, with  “Hacking… Anything” we look at how the world 

of hacking is not limited to only computers. We look at the advantages of 

hacking and how a hackable application is not always a bad thing. 

This Fast Track also includes a few appendices which contain some 

further information relevant to for those starting their hacking activities.
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By Amrut Deshmukh

Author At TechnoSaber