CSE 316: Information Security and Ethical Hacking

Lecture 2: Information Security and Ethical Hacking

• Course: Computer and Information Security (CSE 316)
• Presented by: Dr. Marwa Sharaf EL-Din
• Date: 10/15/2024

Agenda

• Basics of Information Security
• Hacking Terms
• Hacking and Ethical Hacking
• Building a Penetration Testing Laboratory
• How to become a Certified Ethical Hacker
• Summary

Basics of Information Security

• Reactive method is passive, responding to a breach after it occurs, tracking down the intruder, and stopping future intrusions
• Proactive method is active, finding vulnerabilities yourself before others exploit them

Security Terms

• Attack: Any action violating security
• Hack Value: Notion among hackers of something worth doing
• Threat: Action or event threatening security
• Malware: Malicious software harming systems
• Vulnerability: Weakness in a design, implementation error potentially leading to system breaches
• Exploit: Specific way to breach security through vulnerability
• Zero-Day: Exploiting an unknown/undisclosed vulnerability
• Target of Evaluation: IT system or product identified for security evaluation

Security Terms (Cont.)

• Threat can be intentional or unintentional and may or may not be malicious

• Attack is always intentional and malicious

• Objective of attack is to cause damage with a high chance of altering and damaging information

• Threat detection is harder than attack detection

• Attack can be blocked by controlling vulnerabilities

Security Evaluation Plan

• Preparation: Formal agreement defines the test scope, attack types (white, black, or grey box), and testing types.
• Security Evaluation: Tests are conducted, and a report on vulnerabilities and findings is prepared
• Conclusion: Findings are presented with recommendations for security improvement

Elements of Information Security

• Confidentiality: Access to information limited to authorized users
• Integrity: Ensuring information is not altered or tampered with by unauthorized users.
• Availability: Systems responsible for delivering, processing, and accessing information are available when needed by authorized users
• CIA Security Triangle: Composed of Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability

Security, Functionality, and Usability Triangle

• Security level at any system depends on the strength of these three elements: Security, Functionality, and Usability

Defense in Depth

• Security strategy comprising multiple layers of protection to prevent attacks
• "Layered approach"

Defense in Depth (Cont.)

• Layers include physical security, remote access controls, network security, compute security, and storage security

Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA)

• Authentication: Users prove their identity (e.g., username/password, challenges)
• Authorization: Determines user access rights for resources
• Accounting (Auditing): Records user access, time spent, and changes made

Hacking Terms

• The slides cover various hacking terms, but the exact details are not provided.

Hacking Impact

• Damage to information
• Theft of information
• Using attacked machines as spam zombies
• Theft of customer data (e.g., credit card details)
• Theft of email addresses

Who is a Hacker?

• Intelligent person with excellent computer skills (hardware and software)
• Goal is to breach system security either for knowledge or malicious activities

Types of Hackers

• Black Hats: Malicious hackers, known as crackers or criminals.
• White Hats: Ethical hackers, security analysts, focused on defensive purposes
• Grey Hats: Hackers engaging in both offensive and defensive activities.

Hacker, Cracker, and Ethical Hacker

• Hackers: Access systems without authorization
• Crackers: Break into systems to steal or destroy data
• Ethical Hacker: Performs similar actions but with permission from the owner/company

Ethical Hackers, Penetration, and Security Testers

• Ethical hackers perform penetration tests for companies to identify vulnerabilities
• Penetration testers conduct legal attacks simulating real-world threats
• Security testers go beyond attacks to analyze security policies and offer solutions

Types of Attacks

• Operating System Attacks
• Application-Level Attacks
• Mis-configuration Attacks

Hacking and Ethical Hacking

• Hacking: Violating system security for illegal purposes.
• Ethical Hacking: Legitimate, authorized attempt to find and exploit vulnerabilities, improving system security for the good.

The Kill Chain in Cyberdefense

•  Seven stages of an information systems attack

1. Reconnaissance
2. Weaponization
3. Delivery
4. Exploitation
5. Installation
6. Command and Control
7. Action

Hacking and Ethical Hacking (Cont.)

•  Penetration testing is a crucial aspect of ethical hacking, used to help secure computers and networks against future attacks.
•  White Hat Hacking is another name used to describe effective ethical hacking.

Ethical Hacking/Penetration Testing Methodologies

• White Box: Tester has all information, makes the job easier
• Black Box: Tester has no network information, harder but more realistic
• Gray Box: Tester has partial information

Phases of Hacking/Ethical Hacking (Penetration Testing)

• Reconnaissance
• Scanning
• Gaining Access
• Maintaining Access
• Cleaning Track

Phases 1: Reconnaissance

• Information gathering
• Active vs Passive
  • Active: directly interacting with target
  • Passive: acquiring information without direct interaction

Phases 2: Scanning

• Scan network for vulnerabilities
• Determines if systems are alive, identify open ports, and scan vulnerabilities

Phases 3: Gaining Access

• Gaining control/access (e.g., DoS attacks, cracking).
• Metasploit Framework is a useful tool.

Phases 4: Maintaining Access

• Maintain control of a compromised system to launch further attacks
• "Backdoors" established for future access.

Phases 5: Cleaning Track

• Hide malicious activities, prevent tracing, remove evidence of hacking attempts.

How Tor Works

• Alice's Tor client chooses a random path to a destination server (Encrypted links vs non-encrypted links)

Lecture 3: Virtualization

• Virtualization technology changes digital content storage, management, and delivery.

Virtualization

• Abstracting physical hardware, enabling multiple operating systems (OSes) to run concurrently on a single physical machine

Before and After Virtualization

• Before: Each OS runs on a single machine and is tightly coupled to hardware.
• After: Virtualization Layer (Hypervisor) allows multiple VMs to run on the same physical machine, allowing independence

Types of Hypervisor

• Type 1: Bare-metal (runs directly on hardware)
• Type 2: Hosted (runs on top of another OS).

Virtual Server Using VMware ESXi

• Management System interacts with virtual machines (VM).
• Remote Connection allows users to access VMS.
• Cloud-based Virtual Servers.

Virtual Data Center

•  Central management system (vCenter) manages multiple VMs.

Practical Hacking Scenario

•  Scenario showing Internet access, an attacker, and victim systems.

Practical Hacking Scenario (cont.)

• Illustrates an attacker gaining control of the system.

Hands-On: Practical Hacking Scenario Demo

• Details on a hands-on demonstration for the topic.

Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)

• Skills needed to become a Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH).

Certified Ethical Hackers (CEH)

• Questions ethical hackers need to answer to determine attack strategy.

• Required skills.

Q&A

• Question and answer session.