Hacking Information

One of the fastest growing internet trends is the hacking community and their victims. There are about 7 billion people in this world, and about 1.4 million of them are some sort of hacker! It is time for you to gain at least some know-how of what a hack is and what you can or cannot do.

OK, this is NOT HARD. I will not suggest anything that will make you say, "wwhhhaaattttttt." Give it a try.

A "hacker" according to dictionary.com is-

 Computer Slang.

a.

a computer enthusiast.

b.

a microcomputer user who attempts to gain unauthorized access to proprietary computer systems.

Essentially, it is someone who wants access to your personal stuff. The kinds of ways that this person can "attack" you are through your local network (home wifi), an online network, and a physical hardware. These are the basic ways that anyone can contact you.

First, let’s start ultra-simple. Your physical hardware refers to your computer its self. The attacker could sit at your computer and start to type in a password guess, or have already deduced what it could be. You can protect yourself from this by using a long password, special symbols, capital letters, lower case letters, and numbers. Though it might be hard to remember, commit to having a great password.

Some examples of great passwords are:

My~4w3S0me*P4ss

F1uffY+M3=:-)

Now that you are all hooked up with an amazing password that not even your twin sister would guess, you are ten times safer. Unfortunately  a professional hacker could still get in psychically by plugging in a flash drive and wreaking havoc. There are no simple solutions to this problem so we will just move on.

The next point of access for a potential hacker is in your local network. Your local network is based in your internet or wifi modem. You can access the modem control panel by typing "http://192.168.1.1" in to your URL while you are connected to it. The real weakness is primarily with wifi modems. If you can see your home network from your driveway, then so can a creeper next door. The password on your home wifi mush be strong. You can refer to the password help in the previous section to improve your wifi password. Even though you could have a great password, your wifi could still be vulnerable. The type of password encryption that your wifi is set to mattes just as much as a strong password. There will be settings in the control panel that will say something like "wpa, wpa, and wpa2." Some of these are weaker than others. The "wpe" is the weakest with "wpa" and "wpa2" being subsequently stronger. Use the "wpa2" encryption if possible. Yet again, even if you have the best encryption and password, it can be cracked eventually by a professional hacker.

Lastly, you can be exploited through the world wide network known as the internet. Hackers can attack virtually anywhere from the point that you open your internet application. Your best hopes are to get internet security or an anti-virus. These are what keep the majority of normal people safe. Some brands like McAfee

and Norton are mediocre. I recommend Kaspersky Anti-Virus. This is one of the more expensive ones for good reason, because it can stop way more attacks than the others. Other than a basic security system, there are little more easy steps that you can perform to protect yourself.

HAVE YOU BEEN HACKED BEFORE?

Supporting web sites:

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread832415/pg1

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hacker?s=t

http://usa.kaspersky.com/?domain=kaspersky.com