Today, more than ever, criminals are targeting computer systems in an attempt to wreak havoc. Complacency and ignorance, regarding security issues, are computer hacker’s best friends. Computer Repairs Brisbane understands these risks and can help you implement a risk mitigation strategy. Some of the methods used to collect information about a system, network, and its users are: footprinting, scanning, and enumeration.

Footprinting is the methodical gathering of information about a company or individual’s intranet, extranet, internet, and remote access usage. Hackers exploit publicly available information like the name, address, and contact information for the party who registered the domain by using whois services. They harvest employee, vendor, and location details from the company’s website. With an employees first and last names, hackers are often able to guess their usernames. More investigation of the employee on social networks will reveal a date of birth, children, spouses, and pet’s names, home addresses, and phone numbers. Unfortunately, these are the very things that many people use as passwords.

Scanning is the electronic equivalent of casing a home or business for easy access. A burglar will check for unsecured windows and doors. Hackers search for unsecured networks by using ping sweeps, port scanning, and active operating system detection tools. If a hacker can access an unsecured port, they can exploit known vulnerabilities in your operating system or other application software.

Enumeration techniques seek out information about the services running on the network. Cyber criminals use banner grabbing to watch the output from remote applications. Applications like telnet send usernames and passwords across the network in plain text. Given the fact that many people use the same usernames and passwords for access to many different systems, this compromise can be devastating.

These are just a few of the methods used by hackers to document, assess, and attack your systems. Let Computer Repairs Brisbane be your first line of defense. Our technicians have the knowledge and skills to help you protect your network by implementing border protections, intrusion response and detection systems, and will provide you with the information that you need to make informed security policies.