Hacking FAQs
Contents
What is hacking?
A hacker is often someone who creates and modifies computer software and computer hardware, including computer programming, administration, and security-related items. In computer security, a hacker is usually someone who works with the security mechanisms for computer and network systems to strengthen them, it more often is used incorrectly, especially in the mass media, to refer to those who seek access despite them.
In terms of network abuse, many people (sometimes incorrectly) use the term 'hacker' when they talk about an attempt to gain access your system. 'Hackers' may be looking
for personal information, such as passwords or credit cards numbers;
they may be trying to make use of your Internet connection to transit
their own material; or they may just be searching at random to see what
they can find. For more information, see CERT's article on the security of the Internet.
Can I stop people getting in to my system?
There are many technologies out there such as firewalls, monitoring
software, and security analysis tools that you can use to prevent and
detect network intrusions. Your ISP may be able to give you advice on
what would suit your needs.
What can I do if I think someone has gained access to my system?
The first step is to report the activity. Usually your first port of call will be the Internet Service Provider (ISP) of the person you think is behind the attack. Most
ISPs realise it is bad for their reputation to have this activity on
their networks and should be able to take action. If
the ISP does not respond to your complaint, then you may need to
contact the police in your country or in the country where the attack originated.
How do I find the ISP?
If you are using monitoring software, it should provide you with the IP address of the person trying to access your computer.
The software may even do a search on a database to find the organisation
who is allocated this IP address. Unfortunately, many of these tools
give incomplete search results. If your software refers you to RIPE or the RIPE
NCC then you will need to search for the problem IP address in the RIPE
Database.
You can manually search the databases of the five Regional Internet
Registries (RIRs).
How do I complain to an ISP?
Use the RIPE Database
to get email addresses for the administrative and technical contacts at the
ISP (admin-c and tech-c). E-mail your complaint to these contacts
for them to investigate.
Please remember that the people you are writing to at this stage are
unlikely to be involved in the attacks on your system, so be firm but
polite.
In your complaint, include as much relevant information as possible
to make it easier for the ISP to locate and deal with the abuser. If
your firewall software has generated a log file of the attack, then you
should include that. If not, try to include at least:
- the IP address that attempted the network intrusion
- the date
- the time
- the time zone
Should I retaliate?
The RIPE NCC strongly recommends that you do not try launching a counter attack.
In many cases these attackers work by disguising their location or hijacking the
systems of others. By retaliating you may simply do more damage to another innocent
party. Depending on the applicable laws, you may also be committing a criminal
offence or exposing yourself to litigation.
I want to know more about preventing this sort of thing
For more detailed advice on how best to deal with the attacks to your network, you could visit CERT. You may find the following two articles on the Internet security helpful:
More information
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