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Exactly *how* do computer hackers learn to hack? (E.g. - the guys who leaked nudes)

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(edited 5 years ago)

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Reply 1
It's not that simple, it's a painstaking process. I doubt they "exploited" iCloud, probably got their emails, guessed their security questions and changed passwords.

PS if you have iCloud, turn on the two-step verification!
It's worth noting that the 'hackers' in the leaked nudes incident weren't hacking at all, rather using social engineering to guess the passwords of each account.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-29039294

I believe that knowing how to 'hack' it comes from learning programming languages and then applying the skills that you learn. Once you know how to do it properly, you can see how to exploit it. A lot of it is also dumb luck.

Relevant XKCD about what people think hacking/security is and what actually happens:

http://xkcd.com/538/

If you want to protect yourself against the leaked photo hacks, enable two step authentication on your accounts.
turn a keylogger fully FUD, get them to open it, and get their details

but i'm sure it was a lot more sophisticated than that
They ran a program that tried various passwords until one matched, I think they had a target area of words so it wasn't 100% random, the passwords were weak so it wasn't that hard (i.e they were normal words), no numbers etc
Reply 5
Original post by Apologetic Cube
It's not as if they're "taught" it on any sort of Computer Sciecne degree; regardless of how high up the academic ladder you are.


not true

literally not that hard, some accounts are ridiculously easy to get into. Facebook, Xbox etc to name a few

get email address, guess security q's or add acc and then change passwords
A real talent
Reply 7
Original post by Apologetic Cube
What are you taught in a CS degree? "Ethical hacking"?


Yes.

There are degrees in Ethical Hacking
Used to just randomnly click letters on a keyboard at a fast speed and seeing if anythig weird comes up on he screen.
Was it a Success? Yee....No.:unimpressed: sad times coz I already mastered the skill in clickig letters at a fast pace randomnly. :frown:
Tv chat soo much cr**

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Why is this under relationships?
Original post by Apologetic Cube
I've always been curious as to how the individuals who perform these sort of high-profile operations online set about doing so. Obviously it's a lot more technical than simply "knowing someone's password"; something the layman tends to define "hacking" as.

I'm just genuinely intrigued as to how they go about acquiring the skills. It's not as if they're "taught" it on any sort of Computer Sciecne degree; regardless of how high up the academic ladder you are. I guess, perhaps, if you had an in-depth knowledge as to how the fundamentals of a computer system/software worked, you would be able to manipulate it fairly easily.

It makes you wonder whether the guys who leaked all of the nude pictures of celebrities were just 4chan users in their basements or whether they were "insiders".


I think not having a life is a basic requirement for hacking.
Guessing passwords, like da ****

Original post by Deteriorate
turn a keylogger fully FUD, get them to open it, and get their details

but i'm sure it was a lot more sophisticated than that


They need to download the program and run it in order for keylogger to work or for iphone downloading apps from unknown source which I doubt they did.
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 12
Always thought it'd be pretty cool to learn how to hack...

But yeah it's a long process - took them months and sometimes they just try to guess passwords, sometimes they can put in a special virus in your PC and get essential info from there.
Reply 13
They didn't hack anything. They used social engineering to get emails, passwords and various other data, and probably brute force password generators using what they learned from security questions and whatnot.

That's why I randomly generate my passwords. :ahee:
1. Celebrities aren't exactly the sharpest knives in the box - left to their own devices they'll have picked stupidly easy passwords.

2. The back-up questions are a weak spot - it's somewhat difficult to find out where a joe random member of the general public went to school or what their mothers maiden name was, it's trivial for celebrities who've got that level of biographical detail all over their wikipedia page and never shut up tweeting about it.

3. I suspect half the time these 'unauthorised sex tapes' and nude pictures are leaked on purpose to increase the flagging profile of the celebrity in question without looking like they're too much of a desperate attention whore.
Original post by ronmack
Guessing passwords, like da ****



They need to download the program and run it in order for keylogger to work or for iphone downloading apps from unknown source which I doubt they did.


Isn't signing into icloud all about your username and password? I don't have any apple products sorry. But you could attach the fud keylogger to a pdf and call it movie script (something more intelligent than that obviously) or something? If it's truly fud then they will get the pdf and the keylogger will run in the background and then send another email telling them they should change their icloud (?) details and then when they go to do that via apple's website or something (?) you would get what they type to your ftp, then just log into their icloud?
Original post by i360
It's not that simple, it's a painstaking process. I doubt they "exploited" iCloud, probably got their emails, guessed their security questions and changed passwords.

PS if you have iCloud, turn on the two-step verification!


Yeah... guessed the security answers to a hundred odd celebrities, and managed to get the email addresses.

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The worrying thing about hacking and social engineering is that it is much easier than everybody thinks. There is such a mass of info online and various "tools" and forums where those guys hang out that anyone who is competent with a computer and is minded to do so can do a lot of damage if he has a bit of time to learn.
Original post by Shakira law
They ran a program that tried various passwords until one matched, I think they had a target area of words so it wasn't 100% random, the passwords were weak so it wasn't that hard (i.e they were normal words), no numbers etc


but your account gets locked on most things when you get the password wrong too many times
Original post by Apologetic Cube
I've always been curious as to how the individuals who perform these sort of high-profile operations online set about doing so. Obviously it's a lot more technical than simply "knowing someone's password"; something the layman tends to define "hacking" as.

I'm just genuinely intrigued as to how they go about acquiring the skills. It's not as if they're "taught" it on any sort of Computer Sciecne degree; regardless of how high up the academic ladder you are. I guess, perhaps, if you had an in-depth knowledge as to how the fundamentals of a computer system/software worked, you would be able to manipulate it fairly easily.

It makes you wonder whether the guys who leaked all of the nude pictures of celebrities were just 4chan users in their basements or whether they were "insiders".


It's hardest to go out thinking "I'm going to learn to hack".

Most hackers start off with a goal. "I want to get someone's login details" " I want to get someone's card details" "I want to have administrator privileges on someone's website" etc.

Most hackers also use programs which are able to get them to their goal. As in they don't have to build crazy programs to be able to do what they want to do. They install the program, and each program cones with a set of simple instructions to complete the goal.
Sometimes certain pieces of hardware are needed.

So by doing various of these things out of curiosity, in the process they gain knowledge about networking and programing, they get an idea of how hacking works and are able to hack in various other ways.

For example say you want someones login details or bank account details. How do people get on the internet and communicate with it? Wifi or data plans. So their data is literally flying through the air to their router. Why can't you get it? Because a router has a password. The password protects the data from other laptops or smartphones. So with this information the hacker will logically take the next step. He needs a device -which may or may not be built into his own device- which can make all the wifi data transfer visible. This data is password protected and also has a computer code (so your data doesn't go to your sisters laptop who might also be using the same router), the computer code is visible but the password is encrypted. Then you need to install a program which might try many many many different variations to get correct password (it will try 1111, 1112, 1113 etc). Although the password are very complex. So it can take days even weeks for the program to find the password. Once found the program will be able to see the information being sent and received.

See all the things the hacker will have learnt in this process? He will have learnt about routers, password hacking, data transfer etc and use that knowledge to try various other hacks.

Some hackers might just plug in a key logger into someone's computer to record the typed buttons.

So hackers are just curious people. At first. But of course their true intention and goal may very well be dark and insincere.

So they learn hacking via curiosity. The information for hacking is all out there. Some harder than others. But it takes desire, and curiosity to find it and follow it. Because it isn't easy to find of course.

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(edited 9 years ago)

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