Winson Digital Techniques

Eavesdropping attacks occur through the interception of network traffic. By eavesdropping, an attacker can obtain passwords, credit card numbers, and other confidential information that a user might be sending over the network. Eavesdropping can be passive or active Passive eavesdropping   — A hacker detects the information by listening to the message transmission in the network. Active eavesdropping   — A hacker actively grabs the information by disguising himself as a friendly unit and by sending queries to transmitters. This is called probing, scanning, or tampering. Detecting passive eavesdropping attacks is often more important than spotting active ones since active attacks require the attacker to gain knowledge of the friendly units by conducting passive eavesdropping before. Data encryption is the best countermeasure for eavesdropping. An eavesdropping attack starts with a piece of malware that allows attackers to plant the eavesdropping software or the packet sniffer...

Growth involves a company increasing its revenues through internal operations, such as marketing and promotion, sales and distribution, and product innovation and development. While organic growth is often a slow process, it is generally more sustainable and long-lasting. Inorganic growth involves a company increasing its revenues through more aggressive tactics, such as acquisitions, mergers, and joint ventures. Inorganic growth has the advantage of instantaneous market share gain, but it often requires a much steeper financial investment with a greater risk of diminishing returns over time.   For any business operating in the online space (and, really, what business isn’t nowadays?), one of the best ways to generate organic growth is through SEO.  The tricky thing about SEO, however, is that it’s an ever-changing landscape. Every year sees advancements that render previously reliable digital marketing techniques obsolete. Staying ahead of your competition often means s...

What is ethical hacking? Ethical hacking involves a collection of processes where organizations authorize individuals to exploit a system’s vulnerabilities for a deeper understanding of their existing security posture. When performing an ethical hack, a security professional or researcher replicates the actions and strategies of a malicious hacker . This helps development and security teams to detect and identify security risks before hackers can exploit them. Ethical hacking, also known as  White Hat Hacking , is a fundamental step for assessing the effectiveness of an organization’s security strategy. To separate themselves from malicious hackers, white hat hackers rely on four principle values: 1)   Keeping the exploits legal by obtaining client approval  before conducting the vulnerability assessment. 2)   Predefining the scope of the attack so that the  security assessments stay within the approved legal boundaries. 3)   Reporting all di...

A birthday attack  is a type of cryptographic attack that belongs to a class of brute force attacks. It exploits the mathematics behind the birthday problem in probability theory. The success of this attack largely depends upon the higher likelihood of collisions found between random attack attempts and a fixed degree of permutations, as described in the  birthday paradox problem . Birthday paradox problem  –   Let us consider the example of a classroom of 30 students and a teacher. The teacher wishes to find pairs of students that have the same birthday. Hence the teacher asks for everyone’s birthday to find such pairs. Intuitively this value may seem small. For example, if the teacher fixes a particular date say  October 10 , then the probability that at least one student is born on that day is  1 – (364/365) 30  which is about  7.9% . However, the probability that at least one student has the same birthday as any other student is around  7...

Internet of Things (IoT)? Internet of Things is a catchall phrase for all the various internet-connected devices that are not traditional computers. This includes everything from fitness trackers and smartwatches to smart refrigerators, headphones, cameras, washing machines, cars, traffic lights, airplane engines, and home security systems. As the access to broadband Internet service grows and processors become more affordable, more and more gadgets with Wi-Fi capabilities are being created. Today there are billions of IoT devices in existence. This network of devices produces great benefits and convenience for users, but IoT devices can also be targeted by attackers as well as used to carry out cyber attacks. As with internet-connected computers, these devices are perfectly safe to use, but precautions should be taken to ensure they aren’t compromised. History of the Internet of Things? A British technology researcher named Kevin Ashton coined the term ‘Internet of Things in 1999, but...

What Is a Rootkit? A rootkit is a clandestine computer program designed to provide continued privileged access to a computer while actively hiding its presence. The term rootkit is a connection of the two words "root" and "kit." Originally, a rootkit was a collection of tools that enabled administrator-level access to a computer or network. Root refers to the Admin account on Unix and Linux systems, and kit refers to the software components that implement the tool. Today rootkits are generally associated with malware – such as Trojans, worms , viruses – that conceal their existence and actions from users and other system processes. What Can a Rootkit Do? A rootkit allows someone to maintain command and control over a computer without the computer user/owner knowing about it. Once a rootkit has been installed, the controller of the rootkit has the ability to remotely execute files and change system configurations on the host machine. A rootkit on an infected computer...