kali linux tutorial - essentials for beginners

INFORMATION GATHERING WITH SPIDERFOOT

2020-09-24T18:57:00.004+05:30

To run SpiderFoot within Kali, follow these simple steps:

Boot up Kali Linux, either as an installation or Live boot.
Run the terminal.
cd /usr/share/spiderfoot
python3 ./sf.py -l 127.0.0.1:5009
Open the browser in Kali and navigate to http://127.0.0.1:5009

12 cybersecurity ways to generate safe password for facebook ,twitter, emails, instagram

2020-05-23T02:41:00.001+05:30

Best cybersecurity methods to generate password for facebook, instagram, twitter, and other social media platforms.

Things to Be Considered While Creating a Password

1. Uniqueness : Write a unique sentence as password which is easy to remember but very hard to be cracked or guessed by hacker. Eg:Iwenttoabeachwith1$

2. Words :

Choose difficult with worng spelling just like the i have written the word underlined or u can choose words like: passrwd 3. Symbols : Choose special characters or symbols to increase the complexity of the password. Eg- @#$%^&*

4. Numbers : Choose combination of number along with text such as you can add your phone number or pincode . But don't choose number that can be easily guessed such as your date of birth.

5. Upper & Lower case : Always include upper case and lower case letters to increase the complexity . Eg: iAmIRoNmAn

6. Username not be used as a password : Don not ever include your user name in your password. It is first guess of any hacker.

7. Make it difficult to crack : Make as complex as you can.Do not use known things to people about yourself like birthdate : Adding birth date makes it easy to be cracked.

8. Dictionary words are not to be used : Do not use random words from dictionary. There are some password cracking tools based on the dictionary.

9. Do not use key strokes adjacent to each other like “1234”, etc : Password such as amit123, sidhart567, these passwords are easy to crack.

10. Avoid the exact same password everywhere : Do not use exact same password everywhere. If a hacker successfully hacked your one account then he can get access to every accout of yours.

11. Do not store the passwords as a list on the system : Do not save your passwords in ms-word , or any text format even images of your password. If some body installed a spyware or successfully hacked your system then he can easily get those. Even saving passwords in various browser is not safe because some of them save those credentials as cache in your device.

12. Use trusted password managers : There are online third-party services that help users to safeguard sensitive passwords, along with LastPass, DashLane, and 1Password that store passwords at the cloud and secure them all using a master password.

In Cybersecurity personal safety is first priority.

What is a Kernel?

2020-05-21T02:45:00.002+05:30

Introduction

Linux is often referred to as the entire operating System but in reality, Linux is the Operating System Kernel that is started by the bootloader. A bootloader is a software that is launched first after the system is turned on.

Although we cannot change our default kernel of our system if we don't have a root access.

Luckily we have a root access in Kali Linux.

Various Tasks Handled By Kernel

Driving Hardware

Unifying File Systems

Managing processes

Right Management

So lets talk about these processes in detail below.

--> Driving Hardware\

So basically Kernel is the medium of communication between Software and Hardware .It detects and configure hardware when computer is powered on or when a device is inserted or removed. So a better kernel is required for better performance of a system. Slow Kernel can result to slow system.

The exports data about detected hardware thorough the /proc/ and /sys/ virtual file systems

Application often access device by way files created by within /dev/

Specific Files represented

disk drives [ /dev/sda ]
partition [ /dev/sda1 ]
keyboards [ /dev/input/event 0]
mice [ /dev/input/mouse0]
Sound Cards [ /dev/snd/*]
Serial number [ /dev/ttys/*]

There are basically two types of devices files :-

Character : A character (c) device is one which the driver communicate by sending and receiving single character(bytes, octates ). Eg - Sound-cards , Serial ports , parallel ports.

c rw--rw---

Block : A block ( b ) device is one which the driver communicates by sending block of data . Eg - camera ,harddisk,etc.

b rw--rw---

you can access these directories by a simple shell command (cd) which means change directory.

-->Unifying File Systems

Add caption

File Systems area prominent aspects of kernel. Unix like systems merge all the file stores into a single hierarchy , which allows user and applications to access by knowing its location within that hierarchy .The starting point of this hierarchical tree , represented by the "/" character. This directory can contain named sub directories.For instance ,the home sub directories of / is called /home/. The Kernel stores all data in one file starting with /root .

There are many file systems like are ext2 , ext3 , ext4 , VFAT ,etc.

Important commands like mkfs .ext3(where mkfs stands for Make FileSystems) handle formatting . These commands require , as a parameter a device file representing the partition to be formatted(for instance, /dev/sda1). This command is very destructive and should be used once unless u want to delete whole FileSystem and start fresh.

There is a also a network file system such as NFS , which do not require to store data in local disk and.Instead Data is transmitted through network or server.

-->Managing process

A process is a running instance of a program , which require memory to store both the program itself and its operating data .The kernel is in charge of creating and tracking processes. When a program runs, the kernel first set aside some memory ,loads the executable code running.

It keeps information about this process , the most visible of which is an identification number known as the process identification number(PID).

Is single processor Linux Systems are capable of multi tasking ?

Linux OS are capable of multi-tasking and capable of performing many tasks at a same time. BUT IN REALITY ITS ONLY TASK IS RUNNING AT A TIME . What the kernel does is slice CPU time into small time slices. These time slices are very short usually a milliseconds. This happens so fast that its like too many tasks running parallel but in reality it is happening so fast that it seems parallel. Kernel adjust these tasks accordingly to the priority. These tasks are only active at that time and rest of the time it is idle. Now kernel do everything to maximise the global system performance.

Now if a task is running for longer period of time then it may not appear as responsive as desired .
If time slices are too short then it may lose time for frequently switching between tasks.

The decision can refined with process priorities , the higher priorities will run for longer periods and more frequent time slices than low-priority processes .

How multi-processors systems perform multi-tasking ?

The multi-processors , multi-core , hyper-threaded Systems allow several tasks running in parallel. But here also time-slicing Systems are used to handle where there is more active processes than available cores . Normally a systems are running tons of running processes almost everytime.

The kernel allows several instance of same programme to run, but only in their time slices.

-->Rights Management

Unix -like systems support multiple users and group and allow separate permissions for them . Most of the time a process is identified by its user who started it. The kernel manages the rights of its user or owner or root.

Cyber Attacks

2020-05-14T00:14:00.018+05:30

Vulerability,Threat and Risk

We all come across this three words in our daily life. But in Cyber World this three word have a great impact in our daily surfing in internet or managing our devices or server.

Vulnerability

In Cyber Security, a vulnerability is a weakness(bugs, defect in software or hardware) which can be exploited by a attack to gain unauthorized access to or perform unauthorized actions on a computer system. Vulnerabilities can allow attackers to run code, access a system's memory, install malware, and steal, destroy or modify sensitive data.
To exploit or take advantage of a vulnerability an attacker must be able to connect to the computer system. Vulnerabilities can be exploited by a variety of methods including SQL injection, buffer overflows, cross-site scripting (XSS) and open source exploit kits that look for known vulnerabilities and security weaknesses in web applications.

Threat

Cyber or Cybersecurity threat is a malicious act that seeks to damage data, steal data, or disrupt digital life in general. Cyber threats include computer viruses, data breaches, Denial of Service (DoS) attacks and other attack vectors.

Cyber threats also refer to the possibility of a successful cyber attack that aims to gain unauthorized access, damage, disrupt, or steal an information technology asset, computer network, intellectual property or any other form of sensitive data. Cyber threats can come from within an organization by trusted users or from remote locations by unknown parties.

Risk

Cyber risk is commonly defined as exposure to harm or loss resulting from breaches of or attacks on information systems. However, this definition must be broadened. A better, more encompassing definition is “the potential of loss or harm related to technical infrastructure or the use of technology within an organization.”

Risk Management- How to be safe?

Risk Management is the key to Cyber Security.

Managing the risk factor is the main key to be safe in this Cyber world.

**Risk = threat * vulnerability * consequences**

Risk is threat multiplied with vulnerability with its consequences.
Now up course a intruder knows about your vulnerability and knows the consequences of using them.
Now let me explain all these with an example. As an android user you have downloaded an cracked or mod app from a malicious website instead of downloading it from google play store. Now u may not know that the app you have downloaded may contain a malicious code or let say a virus attached to it. It may merged with a tool that share your phone information to some listener server or a hackers server. These tools are hidden inside the apps as soon as u give them permission like for camera,storage,mic, call,recorder,etc.
Now without your knowledge your information which may contain us passwords, private file, important documents,call recordings are exposed to the hacker. They even can control your phone to send messages and as said u don't know what is going on a hacker's mind. He can use your device to attack other users that is known as DOS attacks.

Here the potential threat is the app you have downloaded, the vulnerabilities are permissions u have given to it and up course the consequences is getting hacked and if we multiply all these then there is a great risk in downloading those files or apk files.

Now the question is how to be safe from vulnerabilities. Sadly the answer to this question is no system is completely safe in other words there is no perfect System.But yes we can minimize the threat by keeping our knowledge updated.

There are also many malicious apps available on our play store.These apps are actually developed by fake developers and are also verified by google play store. But they are now identified and for more information follow this link

https://cybernews.com/security/secret-network-27-app-developers-in-play-store/

Action or potential occurrence (whether or not malicious) to breach the security of the system by exploiting its known or unknown vulnerabilities. It may be caused by (1) gaining unauthorized access to stored information, (2) denial of service to the authorized users, or (3) introduction of false information to mislead the users or to cause incorrect system behavior (called spoofing).

Read more: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/threat.html

Kali Linux in the field cybersecurity

2020-05-13T16:07:00.006+05:30

In today's era everything is internet and a majority of population are connected to the internet. When there is a majority of population is using internet then there comes their safety. Then the term Cyber Security comes. Many websites are

Cyber Security

Cyber Security is the protection of internet-connected

Systems,including Hardware, Software, data and

protection against Cyber-attacks.

   The three main activites of cyber attacks are :



Unauthorized Access: when an intruder tries 

      to access to your system or server without 

      your authorization.


Unauthorized Modification: when an intruder 

    tries to modify or change your system, server 

    or website configuration without your

    authorization. 


Unauthorized Deletion: when an intruder tries 

   to delete something or delete your whole server

   or your system by means to harm u.


All these above acts are done by different 
type of cyber attacks. Normally an Intruder 
gain access to your system or server by 
creating a path way that can be a malicious 
file , trojans ,etc.The best part is you 
will have no knowledge of getting hacked 
or attacked in most of the cases. They 
find vulnerabilities in your System or 
Server by various tools and take advantage 
of these tools.









                 Kali linux as a saviour
So Kali Linux in terms of security comes a 
great has  as it has a  small user area as 
compared to other OS like windows . Thus 
when a hacker target a number of users 
which generally happen until u r targeted 
specially, thus they target common OS used 
by these user which is mostly the windows,
thus being a Linux user puts you in a great 
advantage.
 
But the features of Kali Linux is not limited to 
these. Accessing the root it has built in 
installed with a number of tools that are used
in hacking. We will come to this topic soon.

Windows VS Linux

2020-05-13T03:58:00.005+05:30

Introduction

There are many Operating System that are available in the market. One of those most popular is windows operating systems(windows 8,8.1,10) and now it is heard that concept of windows 11 is out.
Talking about the shares in the market then Microsoft Windows is generally above 70% in most markets and at 77% to 87.8% globally, Apple's macOS is at around 9.6% to 13%, ios arround 3.3% ,android and other Linux distributions are at around 1.8% globally.

Why Linux?

Linux and other distros of linux such as (Ubuntu,Linux Mint, Fedora,Kali,Parrot OS) all these OS are open source. It is free to download and there is no tention for any piracy,and u know

u can customize it at your will and with all freedom.

Hence it is holds a very small share in market thus there is very less vulnerability to viruses , malware , and any type of ongoing DDOS,DOS,Ransomware attacks. Normally hackers make their target to majority of population and majority of population are windows user. So generally using Linux makes u less vulnerable form getting hacked. The regular problems like system crashing, slowdown, costly repairs, antivirus costs are not seen in linux's OS.

But always remember that Linux is a kernel not an OS. Its distros are OS(Ubuntu,Kali).

But do u know u may be a windows user for now but u r a daily life professional user too.Yes the android smartphones we use in our daily life without whom it has became impossible to live in today's world is a linux based OS means it is created keeping the linux as its base. Linux is an opensource Operating Systems.

Open Sources

Open source software is software with source code that anyone can inspect, modify, and enhance.
Linux is also distributed under an open source license. Open source follows these key tenants:

The freedom to run the program, for any purpose.
The freedom to study how the program works, and change it to make it do what you wish.
The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor.
The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others.

These points are crucial to understanding the community that works together to create the Linux platform. Without a doubt, Linux is an operating system that is ?by the people, for the people?. These tenants are also a main factor in why many people choose Linux. It?s about freedom and freedom of use and freedom of choice.So it is pretty much cleared that if you are a skilled programmer then you also can make your own Linux distros.

Customization in Linux

Unlike in windows where there is a ready made platform and a few things to customize, there is a lot to customize in Linux starting from your home to your widgets. If you are good at coding then u can write ur own scripts to automate various tasks such as clearing ur browsing history when u quit your browser. Some other customization are changing DNS for better internet speed in (resolve.conf file). You can change your theme from Debian to mac. We will be discussing about these topic later.

kali linux tutorial - essentials for beginners

INFORMATION GATHERING WITH SPIDERFOOT

12 cybersecurity ways to generate safe password for facebook ,twitter, emails, instagram

Things to Be Considered While Creating a Password

1. Uniqueness : Write a unique sentence as password which is easy to remember but very hard to be cracked or guessed by hacker. Eg:Iwenttoabeachwith1$

2. Words :

What is a Kernel?

Introduction

Various Tasks Handled By Kernel

Driving Hardware Unifying File Systems Managing processes Right Management

So lets talk about these processes in detail below.

-->Managing process

Cyber Attacks

Vulerability,Threat and Risk

Risk Management- How to be safe?

Risk = threat * vulnerability * consequences

Kali Linux in the field cybersecurity

Kali linux as a saviour

Windows VS Linux

Introduction

Why Linux?

Open Sources

Customization in Linux

Driving Hardware

Unifying File Systems

Managing processes

Right Management

**Risk = threat * vulnerability * consequences**