There are number of methods used by hackers to hack your Email/Social
Network account and get your personal information. Today I will let you know 5
Most commonly used method to hack or crack your account password and preventive
actions to avoid such attacks. This article will help to make your account
safe.
1.
Brute Force Attack:
Brute Force attack or cracking is a
hit and trial method to match all possible combinations of password. In Brute
Force attack, that automated tool calculates every possible combination of
numbers, letters and special characters that could make up a password and test
that password whether it is the correct password or not. The cracking time is
determined by the length and complexity of the password. This means short
passwords can usually be cracked quite quickly.
Preventive Measures: Always use long and complex passwords using upper and lowercase
letters along with numbers and special characters. Brute-force attack will take
decades to crack long and complex passwords.
2.
Social Engineering
In Social engineering, hacker try to
manipulate known person to gain trust and get information from them. Hacker can
call his co-worker or friend and pretend to be from the IT department and ask
for his login details. Nowadays hackers are calling the victims pretending to
be from bank and ask for their credit/debit cards details. Many people fall
into the trap and lose their money.
Preventive Measures: If someone tries to get your personal, bank details, any
password or OTP, never ever give such details on phone or emails.
3.
Keyloggers:
Keylogger can be software and
hardware both. Hacker install Keylogger software on victim’s computer by
sending any malicious file. Most of the Keylogger work in stealth mode so you
can not find them into installed programs. Hacker can monitor every keystore including
passwords and control the computer remotely. Cyber Cafe’s operator connect
keyboard in hardware Keylogger and collect all your information.
Preventive Measures: Never use cyber cafe or someone else computer to login on
your bank account. If its important use on-screen or virtual keyboard while
tying the login. Never open any email
attachment if it comes from unknown source or user.
4.
Phishing:
Phishing is the popular hacking
method used by hackers to get someone login details. In Phishing attack hacker create
fake page of any real website and send to victim. If receiver put his login
detail on this fake page, this page sends all details to hacker. It’s very easy
to create such kind of fake pages and host on servers.
Preventive Measures: Always make sure that websites url is correct. For example,
URL of phishing page of ICICI might look like ICIICI.com (As you can see There
are two "I").
5.
Guessing:
Guessing easily
helps you to get someone password within seconds. In This method, if hacker knows you, he can try to guess your password
by using your known information i.e. your name, surname, phone number or date of birth.
Preventive Measures: Never use your name, surname, phone number or date of birth as
your password. Always use long and complex passwords using upper and lowercase
letters along with numbers and special characters.
