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Security
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Definition of 'Hacking'
Definition: Hacking is an attempt to exploit a computer system or a private network inside a
computer. Simply put, it is the unauthorised access to or control over computer network security
systems for some illicit purpose.

Description: To better describe hacking, one needs to first understand hackers. One can easily
assume them to be intelligent and highly skilled in computers. In fact, breaking a security system
requires more intelligence and expertise than actually creating one. There are no hard and fast
rules whereby we can categorize hackers into neat compartments. However, in general computer
parlance, we call them white hats, black hats and grey hats. White hat professionals hack to
check their own security systems to make it more hack-proof. In most cases, they are part of the
same organisation. Black hat hackers hack to take control over the system for personal gains.
They can destroy, steal or even prevent authorized users from accessing the system. They do this
by finding loopholes and weaknesses in the system. Some computer experts call them crackers
instead of hackers. Grey hat hackers comprise curious people who have just about enough
computer language skills to enable them to hack a system to locate potential loopholes in the
network security system. Grey hats differ from black hats in the sense that the former notify the
admin of the network system about the weaknesses discovered in the system, whereas the latter
is only looking for personal gains. All kinds of hacking are considered illegal barring the work
done by white hat hackers.
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DNS Spoofing
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 HTTPS
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Related Definitions
 Secure Sockets Layer (ssl)
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a protocol developed by Netscape for establishing an encrypted link
between a web server and a browser. SSL is an industry standard which transmits private data
securely over the Internet by encrypting it. It is used by many websites to protect the online
transactions of their customers. Description: SSL functions around a cryptographic system which uses
three keys t
Cross-site Scripting
Cross-site scripting (XSS) is a type of computer security vulnerability. It is accounted for almost 85%
of all website security vulnerabilities. Description: Cross-site scripting (XSS) exploits the 'same-
origin-policy' concept of web applications to allow hackers to extract information from the system.
How it works: Attackers conduct script injection that runs at the client side and is sometimes
Dns Spoofing
DNS Spoofing is a type of computer attack wherein a user is forced to navigate to a fake website
disguised to look like a real one, with the intention of diverting traffic or stealing credentials of the
users. Spoofing attacks can go on for a long period of time without being detected and can cause
serious security issues. Description: Domain Name Server (DNS) resolves the alphabetical domain
nam
Ciphertext
Cipher is an algorithm which is applied to plain text to get ciphertext. It is the unreadable output of an
encryption algorithm. The term "cipher" is sometimes used as an alternative term for ciphertext.
Ciphertext is not understandable until it has been converted into plain text using a key. Description:
Earlier cipher algorithms were performed manually and were entirely different from modern al

 Computer Worm
A computer worm is a malicious, self-replicating software program (popularly termed as 'malware')
which affects the functions of software and hardware programs. Description: It fits the description of
a computer virus in many ways. For example, it can also self-replicate itself and spread across
networks. That is why worms are often referred to as viruses also. But computer worms are different
fr
Computer Virus
A computer virus is a malicious software program loaded onto a user’s computer without the user’s
knowledge and performs malicious actions. Description: The term 'computer virus' was first formally
defined by Fred Cohen in 1983. Computer viruses never occur naturally. They are always induced by
people. Once created and released, however, their diffusion is not directly under human control. After
Denial-of-service Attack
Denial-Of-Service (DoS) is an attack targeted at depriving legitimate users from online services. It is
done by flooding the network or server with useless and invalid authentication requests which
eventually brings the whole network down, resulting in no connectivity. As a result of this, users are
prevented from using a service. Description: A DoS attack is initiated by sending needless and sup
Memory Corruption
Memory corruption can be described as the vulnerability that may occur in a computer system when
its memory is altered without an explicit assignment. The contents of a memory location are modified
due to programming errors which enable attackers to execute an arbitrary code. Description: Memory
corruption bugs mostly occur in low-level programming languages like C or C++. It is one of the
proble

 Trojan
 Trojan or Trojan horse is the name given to a computer virus. It is a type of computer software that is
camouflaged in the form of regular software such as utilities, games and sometimes even antivirus
programs. Once it runs on the computer, it causes problems like killing background system processes,
deleting hard drive data and corrupting file allocation systems. Description: Mostly Trojans are
Authentication
Authentication is the process of recognizing a user’s identity. It is the mechanism of associating an
incoming request with a set of identifying credentials. The credentials provided are compared to those
on a file in a database of the authorized user’s information on a local operating system or within an
authentication server. Description: The authentication process always runs at the start of t

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