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Week1Lecture-APT.docx

Welcome to Hacker Methodology

I am Professor Henry A. McKelvey, I am a former hacker who has come to a realization that while I had fun hacking, the dynamics in the way that hackers think has changed. Gone are the days when hackers thought of themselves as misunderstood kids looking to find acceptance out in the digital landscape. Today the hacker or as the world now calls “hackers” Noncriminals, have committed so many crimes that to try to claim to be a misunderstood kid is almost laughable.

Today hackers pose major problems to countries, governments, companies, and even private citizens. This problem has become so widespread that even I avoid calling these individual hackers, because the term hacker applies to a person who is much more pedestrian than the modern, hacker. I instead use the term “Cybercriminal” . The term Cybercriminal is more descriptive of what the person actually does. I the past hackers were individuals who used technology to find solutions for problems. Now, the hacker has become associated with criminality to the point that the term Cybercriminal fits more so than hacker.

The question that begs to be asked is, “what makes a hacker want to become a cybercriminal?” This question is more complicated than it seems, because the reason for the decision can be anything from a simple “Why do people climb mountains?” to “because of the need for existential comfort comes for the knowledge of doing” Yes, the answer is not an easy one so we need to get into mind of a hacker to determine what exactly is going on. That one goal is the purpose of this class. This is a class about the technology used by hackers, but it is also about the methods used to go about using the technology Along with finding out about why a hacker chooses to remain in a system to extract data and information.

This course uses the text book by Tyler Wrightson on the topic of the Advanced Persistent Threat Hacker or as is called the APT Hacker. This variety of hacker more than any other exemplifies the attitude of the modern cybercriminal. The modern cybercriminal does not care about the old days, and they only view hacking as a means to an end, they understand that they are part of a business-driven entity that is only in place to make money, or provide voice to issues for money. Things like social change, ecology, and human rights are topics that are used to mask what the goal of the cybercriminal really is, and that is to make money or to gain a reputation among peers, social competitors, and other members of the cybercriminal community.

We as a class will discuss Tyler Wrightson’s book and attempt to develop our ability to think and act like a hacker.\cybercriminal. To do this we will develop the skills of a hacker and the recall needed to execute hacker abilities. We will go through the first test\exercise that an experienced hacker goes through with a neophyte hacker. Which is meant to teach the neophyte what tools to use and when. Some of the common tools used by a hacker are as follows:

1) ping (Packet Inter-Networking Groper)

2) arp (Address Resolution Protocol)

3) tracrt or traceroute (Route Tracing Utility)

4) nslookup (Name Server Parsing Utility)

5) tcpdump (text based limited protocol capture utility)

6) nmap (Network Mapping Application (port scanner))

The first part of our class this week will be getting information of these Applications and Utilities. As a student you will use Google to look up these tools and prepare a lab notebook to hold the information from the lookup on Google. The note book is for use in class and on-line to aid in the Midterm and Final Exam. On the Midterm test you will log into the starting environment and attempt to decode some encrypted files, each one of you will have an individual home directory on a Linux System, where you will log into and attempt to decode these encrypted files. You will also learn how to edit files with the vi-editor, although you can use the nano or emacs editor a few extra points will be given if you use the vi-editor. The Final Exam will be one where you use the skills practiced in the Midterm to actually hack into a server and edit a file affecting a web server.

Yes, you will learn how to think like a hacker \ cybercriminal. You will learn how to use the tools of a cybercriminal and you will write a report on what you did and how you did it. This is not a class on how to be a hacker \ cybercriminal, but rather it is a class on how hackers and cybercriminals think, act, and the tools they use to carry out their attacks. I hope that you will enjoy participating in this class as much as I will enjoy teaching it.

I will message you your login and password to the training environment. Log in immediately to make sure it works, contact me if you are not able to get in using the ssh command in windows 10 and Mac OS X.

Week one is generally centered on chapter 1 which explains what APT Hacking is and how it came to past. Since it is up to you to read the book that I will leave to you. I will just tell you a story about my first time dealing with APT Hacking.

I have to admit that when I first heard about APT Hacking I thought it was a joke. However, as the teacher began to explain it I finally understood. The point of APT Hacking is not just to get in and take as much data as you can lay your hands on, but the goal is to get in and steal as much as you can over a long timeframe. This ups the game to 11 so as to say.

The APT Hacker’s goal is not a short term run, but it is playing for the long game. The APT Hacker uses the system under attack as a base of operations for a long term war, one in which the APT Hacker seeks to gain the upper hand, through the use of tools that can be found on the device, as opposed to bringing tools with them, as in the old days. It can be said that the APT hacker is living off of their victims system.

These are in line with the goals of this class, to learn how to tell which tools are on the system and if you have the ability to use such tools. Just remember the important things about this course are to learn to be observant, learn to think on your feet, and learn to not be so transfixed on what is said, rely on your instincts and yearn to trust them.