So, you want to learn about why hackers hack social media accounts. Or maybe you want to learn about social media hacks 2021? Well, hacker groups are using social media all the time to hack and phish millions of people every year. Even if you aren’t a big corporation or government, there is still a lot that can be stolen from your online presence.
Social media accounts are often times hacked for a lot of reasons. The fact that almost everyone is on social media makes it a very lucrative target for hackers. There are several ways in which social media accounts are hacked, and this article will give details on why hackers hack social media accounts, and how social media hacks 2021 could be different from past hacks.
Some common reasons for hacking include basic bragging rights, curiosity, revenge, boredom, challenge, theft for financial gain, sabotage, vandalism, corporate espionage, blackmail, and extortion. Hackers are known to regularly cite these reasons to explain their behavior. All of that information can be used to gain your trust or deceive your co-workers. For instance, a hacker might find out personal histories from your social media, then send a phishing email that says things like: “I’m sorry about your parents’ passing.
The three types of hackers are the white hat hacker, the grey hat hacker, and the black hat hacker. Each type of hacker hacks for a different reason, a cause, or both. All have the required skills needed to accomplish their mission.
How Hacker Accesses Your Social Media Account
Man in the Middle Attack
This type of attack occurs when a hacker privately steals and alters the communication between the sender and receiver. A user may think he is communicating with a legitimate user, but actually, all the conversation is passing through hacker, and he possibly alters their communication without their knowledge.
For this purpose, BurpSuite is the commonly used tool by hackers to perform a man in the middle attack. By using this tool, hackers can intercept between the machine and a server, captures the request that is generated by machine to the server, and alters it by requesting another thing from the server.
Prevention
Always use a good antivirus with a firewall that can detect the fake user. Besides, use VPN and Proxy server to access the network.
Phishing Attack
Phishing is the most common yet most effective tactic used by hackers to fool people and steal their information. In this attack, a hacker will make a fake social media login page that looks legitimate and share it with victims to get login from a fake site. When a victim enters its credentials, it directly redirects to the hacker’s machine. This is the most effective technique because many users can not differentiate between the real and fake sites’ login pages and get fooled by giving their credentials. This attack requires persistence and excellent skills for making the victim login from your duplicate fake page.
Prevention
Double-check the URL before entering your credentials or any personal information. Moreover, do not log in through messages and emails.
DNS Spoofing/ Cache Poisoning Attack
DNS Spoofing is a type of malicious attack wherein a user is forced to navigate to a fake website page disguised to look like a legitimate one, divert traffic or steal credentials of the users.
Attackers can poison a DNS cache by manipulating DNS resolvers into caching false information, with the result that the resolver sends the wrong IP address to users, and users attempting to navigate to a website will be directed to the wrong place.
Spoofing attacks can go on for a long period without being detected and can cause severe security issues.
Prevention
Learn to manage your DNS server and firewall securely.
Cookie Hijacking
This attack generated by saved cookies from your browser. When the user login an online account i.e. Facebook or Twitter account, the server returns a session cookie, which is a piece of data that indicates the user to the server and provides them access to their account. Given that the user’s device holds on to that session token, the server will allow them to use the application.
When a user signs out of an application, the server immediately invalidates the session token, and all further access to the account requires the user to submit their login credentials again.
A hacker steals the session token and, with the help of this token, access the user’s account. The token can be hijacked by inflicting the user’s device with malware that monitors and steals session data. Another method can be used to hijack the session i.e., cross-site scripting attack in which hacker uploads a malicious code into a webpage that the user frequently visits and forces the user’s computer to send the session cookie data to the server.
Prevention
Clean your cookies from browsers in every 4-5 days and never use public wifi.
Keylogging
Another most straightforward way to hack social media is keylogging. There is a software named “key logger” that is made by hackers to trace out the pattern of the keys of keyboard typed by the user. After that, it immediately generates a file of that key pattern and sends it to the hacker’s computer through the internet. With this technique, a hacker can compromise even computer experts because this can be downloaded from anywhere.
Keyloggers can be installed by a social engineering attack when a user clicks on a link or opens an attachment/file from a phishing mail.
Keyloggers can also be installed through the webpage script. This is done by exploiting a vulnerable browser, and the keylogger is launched when the user visits the malicious site.
Prevention
Always download software from trusted sites only and avoid opening phishing emails.
Saved Passwords
Most of the time we share our login and credit card details in the web browser. Anyone can see your Social media account from your browser’s password manager. A hacker can get physical access to your computer and insert a USB programmed to automatically extract or retrieve saved passwords in the Internet browser or any other information the hacker may need.
How to avoid Password Hacking?
- Try not to save passwords in web browsers
- Do not share your device with people
- Block the device connectors
Botnets
Basically, botnets are networks made of remote-controlled computers or bots. These bots have been infected with malware that allows them to be remotely controlled. It’s expensive to set up botnets and this makes them be minimally used in cases of hacking login accounts. Some very popular botnets include spy eye and Zeus.
How to avoid Botnets?
- Keep all your software up to date
- Ensure that your firewall is always on
Social Networking Security Tips
Panda Security offers 4 very simple social networking security tips:
- Don’t post everything about your life.
- Use strong passwords, with upper case letters and numbers.
- Configure your profile privacy settings.
- Keep your antivirus and operating system up-to-date.
Conclusion:
Social media is big these days. From sharing videos to the latest news, it seems everyone has a social media account (even the White House now has an official Twitter Account). Social media is a great way to remind family and friends of what you are up to. But have you ever wondered why hackers hack social media accounts?