What is Cyber Security ???

Learn about cyber security, why it's important, and how to get started building a cyber security program in this installment of our Data Protection 101 series.

A DEFINITION OF CYBER SECURITY

Cyber security refers to the body of technologies, processes, and practices designed to protect networks, devices, programs, and data from attack, damage, or unauthorized access. Cyber security may also be referred to as information technology security.

THE IMPORTANCE OF CYBER SECURITY

Cyber security is important because government, military, corporate, financial, and medical organizations collect, process, and store unprecedented amounts of data on computers and other devices. A significant portion of that data can be sensitive information, whether that be intellectual property, financial data, personal information, or other types of data for which unauthorized access or exposure could have negative consequences. Organizations transmit sensitive data across networks and to other devices in the course of doing businesses, and cyber security describes the discipline dedicated to protecting that information and the systems used to process or store it. As the volume and sophistication of cyber attacks grow, companies and organizations, especially those that are tasked with safeguarding information relating to national security, health, or financial records, need to take steps to protect their sensitive business and personnel information. As early as March 2013, the nation’s top intelligence officials cautioned that cyber attacks and digital spying are the top threat to national security, eclipsing even terrorism.

CHALLENGES OF CYBER SECURITY

For an effective cyber security, an organization needs to coordinate its efforts throughout its entire information system. Elements of cyber encompass all of the following:

Network security
Application security
Endpoint security
Data security
Identity management
Database and infrastructure security
Cloud security
Mobile security
Disaster recovery/business continuity planning
End-user education
The most difficult challenge in cyber security is the ever-evolving nature of security risks themselves. Traditionally, organizations and the government have focused most of their cyber security resources on perimeter security to protect only their most crucial system components and defend against known treats. Today, this approach is insufficient, as the threats advance and change more quickly than organizations can keep up with. As a result, advisory organizations promote more proactive and adaptive approaches to cyber security. Similarly, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) issued guidelines in its risk assessment framework that recommend a shift toward continuous monitoring and real-time assessments, a data-focused approach to security as opposed to the traditional perimeter-based model.

MANAGING CYBER SECURITY

The National Cyber Security Alliance, through SafeOnline.org, recommends a top-down approach to cyber security in which corporate management leads the charge in prioritizing cyber security management across all business practices. NCSA advises that companies must be prepared to “respond to the inevitable cyber incident, restore normal operations, and ensure that company assets and the company’s reputation are protected.” NCSA’s guidelines for conducting cyber risk assessments focus on three key areas: identifying your organization’s “crown jewels,” or your most valuable information requiring protection; identifying the threats and risks facing that information; and outlining the damage your organization would incur should that data be lost or wrongfully exposed. Cyber risk assessments should also consider any regulations that impact the way your company collects, stores, and secures data, such as PCI-DSS, HIPAA, SOX, FISMA, and others. Following a cyber risk assessment, develop and implement a plan to mitigate cyber risk, protect the “crown jewels” outlined in your assessment, and effectively detect and respond to security incidents. This plan should encompass both the processes and technologies required to build a mature cyber security program. An ever-evolving field, cyber security best practices must evolve to accommodate the increasingly sophisticated attacks carried out by attackers. Combining sound cyber security measures with an educated and security-minded employee base provides the best defense against cyber criminals attempting to gain access to your company’s sensitive data. While it may seem like a daunting task, start small and focus on your most sensitive data, scaling your efforts as your cyber program matures.

What is Tunneling?

Tunneling is a method that protects the contents of protocol packets by encapsulating them in packets of a different protocol. Actually, transferring a letter to your grandma includes the use of a tunneling process. You create the personal letter (the primary content protocol packet) and place it in a container (the tunneling protocol). The container is delivered through the postal service (the untrusted intermediary network) to its proposed receiver.

Tunneling can be used in many conditions, such as when you are avoiding firewalls, gateways, proxies, or other traffic control devices. The bypass is accomplished by encapsulating the restricted content inside packets that are authorized for sending. The tunneling process stops the traffic control devices from blocking or filtering the communication because such devices don’t know what the packets really contain.

Tunneling secures the contents of the internal protocol and traffic packets by covering it in an authorized protocol used by the intermediary network or connection. Tunneling can be applied if the original protocol is not routable and to have the entire number of protocols supported on the network to a minimum.

What is Bitcoin? How does it work?

What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency and a digital payment system created by an unknown programmer, or a group of programmers, under the name Satoshi Nakamoto. It is the first decentralized digital currency.

Bitcoins are digital coins, you can send over the internet. Compared to other choices, bitcoin have many advantages. They are transferred straight from person to another via Internet without going to the bank. It means that the transactions fees are extremely lower, anyone can use them in every country, the account cannot be frozen and there are no limits.

How does it work?
Many currency exchanges exist on the Internet where you can buy and sell bitcoins. Your coins are saved in your digital wallet on your computer or mobile device or any online wallet. Sending and receiving Bitcoins is as easy as sending and receiving email, you can buy anything with Bitcoin.

When it comes to the transaction it generates a first Bitcoin address, something like an email, which acts in a way that they can send you money, by using that address you can use it and receive the Bitcoins in your wallet. You can generate as many addresses as you want, it is best to use them only once.

The bitcoins system is secured by individuals called Bitcoin miners. Workers or miners are paid newly created bitcoins for verifying transactions. All transactions after verified are recorded in a transparent public record.

What is a Jammer?

Signal jammer is created to help people solve different problems coming from cell phones, radio signals and wireless connections. Every kind of signal jammer is designed to work with a specific frequency range.

For example, WiFi signal jammer has been created to successfully block wireless signals in WiFi frequency range (2.4-2.5 GHz) and in addition, it blocks Bluetooth signals because the match the same frequency range. Everything else in this type of jammer works the same as in other jammers, maybe with some minor differences.

Jamming is regularly recognized from interference that can happen due to device defects or other accidental events. Devices that easily cause interference are regulated under various regulations. Jamming happens when an operator transmits on a busy frequency without first checking whether it is busy, or without being able to hear stations using the frequency.

There are some techniques to identify and stop these sorts of attacks. Wireless intrusion prevention systems (WIPS) can make the signal jammer apparent, WIPS is a network device that monitors the radio spectrum for the presence of unauthorized access points (intrusion detection), and can automatically take countermeasures (intrusion prevention). Some radio-based devices support spread spectrum modulation so that hardware can cycle through different frequencies to make the devices harder to jam.

Man in the middle attacks tutorial

MITM attacks (Man -In-The -Middle )

MITM are attacks where the attacker places themself between a “victim machine” and the “router”, this  generally occurs without the knowledge of the victim.

A MITM attack exploits the real-time packets in transit allowing attackers to intercept, send and receive data never meant to be for them without either outside party knowing until it is too late.

Disclaimer – Our tutorials are designed to aid aspiring pen testers/security enthusiasts in learning new skills, we only recommend that you test this tutorial on a system that belongs to YOU. We do not accept responsibility for anyone who thinks it’s a good idea to try to use this to attempt to hack systems that do not belong to you

Victim IP address : 1.0.0.98
Router IP address : 10.0.0.1
Requirements:

1. Arpspoof
2. Driftnet
3. Urlsnarf

Open your terminal and configure your Kali Linux machine to allow packet forwarding, because Kali Linux must act as router between “real router” and the victim.
first step is setting up arpspoof between victim and router.

# sudo arpspoof -i eth0 -t 1.0.0.98 10.0.0.1

And then setting up arpspoof  to capture all packet from the router to the victim machine .

# sudo arpspoof -i eth0 10.0.1.1 10.0.1.98

now all the packet sent or received by the victim should be going through the attacker machine.

as an exemple we will capture image trafic , so we need to use drifnet Driftnet ( is a program which listens to network traffic and picks out images )

to run drifnet just type :

# sudo driftnet -i eth0

when the victime browse a website with images , drifnet will capture all images trafic .

this is the victime machine while browsing images

and driftnet will capture all image traffic as shown in the screenshot below.

Ubuntu vs Linux Mint : Which Distro Should You Use?

Ubuntu and Linux Mint are both famous for being very friendly for beginners. Ubuntu is the most popular Linux distro and Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu. But there are some real differences between both of these. And how would you choose the one for you? today we will answer this Ubuntu vs Linux Mint question.

System Requirements

Linux Mint:

512MB Ram  with 1GB as recommended.
9GB of disk space with 20GB as recommended.
800 x 600 screen resolution with 1024 x 768 recommended.

Ubuntu:

512MB RAM with 2GB as recommended.
5GB of disk space with 25GB as recommended.
1024 x 768 screen resolution.

Interface

Most distros opt the standard Linux desktop interface as their default. But Both Linux Mint and Ubuntu developed their own.

Ubuntu makes use of the Unity interface. Unity Interface is a GNOME-based desktop environment that is common only to Ubuntu.  To say simply, Ubuntu looks a lot like Mac OS while Linux mint looks similar to Windows with it’s start menu kind of look.

Linux Mint 18 uses the Cinnamon 3.0. You can see an  overview of its features in the below video .

Both  Linux Mint and Ubuntu have their own user themes. Linux has Mint-Y, while  Ubuntu has Ambiance and Radiance , a new look based on the Moka  and Arc theme icons.

Performance

When you consider the overall performance, Linux Mint definitely has an edge over Ubuntu when it comes to speed. Ubuntu has  gotten faster over its previous versions, but Linux Mint was always pretty snappy. Even on an older and lower-powered hardware, Mint stays fast ( compared to Ubuntu). If you are installing Linux on your PC to speed it up, Mint offers you a better experience.

Conclusion

If you are someone who is installing Linux for just learning basics, Ubuntu is the one for you since it’s forum has answer to every question you ask. If you are a tech savy guy and want to dig deep into Linux but don’t know where to start, Linux Mint is your best choice. If you are installing Linux on your old PC to make it faster, Mint is again one of the best choices you have.