How does Anonymous hack websites and find information etc?
In: Technology
Imagine you have a treehouse in your backyard. You and your friends won’t let anyone in without a secret code-word (a password). You write the password down on a piece of paper, and hide it in a drawer so everyone can stay up to date as you change the password.
If I want in, maybe I convince one of you that I’m your friend’s Dad, and you must let me in without a password or you are all in trouble.
Maybe I talk to your friend who is really forgetful, and try a bunch of passwords until he lets me in.
Maybe I put a camera in the drawer where you store the password so I can see it when you put it in there.
Maybe I climb a neighbors tree that doesn’t require a password, and climb across the branches to get in.
Hacking is just a general term for getting into computer systems that are trying to keep you out. The specific techniques evolve over time, but in general it’s just about tricking the computer system into giving you something you aren’t supposed to have, or getting access to something that you aren’t supposed to. That can involve using software itself, or sometimes it even involves messing with the humans that control these systems (Social Engineering).
Just as an example, an old way to hack was to put actual software code into the password box when logging in. When the computer went to read your password, it would read the code instead, and then execute the code (and the code would be something like, ‘let me in without a password’). This was solved by checking what you put in for your password, or extra layers of protection around what get’s executed. That cat and mouse game between hackers and software security people continues to this day (and a lot of ex-hackers are actually now in software security).
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