I want to hack [Insert social media site here] help please.

#socialmedia #hacking #facebook #twitter #education #nothollywood

Quite often newly inspired "hackers" pop up in forums and blogs asking for help with a complex task, generally a bout of revenge, idea's for malevolent deeds, and just perpetual desire to be a rectal itch.  Questions like "how can I hack Facebook?" or "can someone teach me how to steal a twitter account?" and of course the more dubious, and dumb to ask online "how do I steal credit/gift cards from people so I can make purchases?"  Wow brilliant to start by asking online, but there seems to be this predetermined notion that because Seth Green can hack a security system in five minutes on the silver screen, a quick keyboard swipe should allow the "hacker" the same abilities.  Well sadly this post is in place to not just squash their dreams, but to bring a little more understanding to what it is a hacker does, its not all type type ha ha, there is a bit more knowledge and legwork required to make things happen.

First to destroy is "how can I hack anyone's Facebook?"  Sounds easy enough right?  There are tons of stories all over the internet of people getting their accounts compromised by a roaming hacking group of ne'er-do-wells all the time.  Facebook account account grasped from the clutches of some of the most powerful men and women of the world, how is it done?  As previously stated its not all type type ha ha, there is planning put in place, as well as a bit of know how to make these sorts of things happen.

Lets use a couple metaphors to break this one down.  Facebook is comprised of many checks and balances to cover its bank vault of secrets, its surrounded by a one mile thick concrete barrier on all sides except for the entrance, the entrance is guarded by guard dogs, armed guards, and for the dungeons and dragons nerds out there, a Beholder or two.  How would anyone get in?  Planting traps and laying host to a plethora of deceptive abilities to get past all the front gates is the easiest path.  The concrete walls are the thousands, if not millions of lines of code put in place to keep people out from the side lines.  Sure if anyone is persistent enough they can blow through these walls, but how long would it take?  Minutes?  Hours?  Days?  Probably months, which means its not the most logical path to get in, it is possible but not probable as a solution.  You'll have to find a way to convince the guards, dog dogs, and the beholders that you're either not a threat, or you're someone you say you aren't, and possibly throw out a few haunches of pig meat as a distraction.  So there are multiple layers required to get through, its not a simple A to B task.  There is planning required, there are resources needed, there are back up plans, and there is a need to cover your own tracks.  Good luck breaking down the concrete barrier in time before they go down for maintenance, or update code at some point.

In short, its not going to be an individual slamming their forehead on a keyboard for five minutes until they get into the vault.  The person in question is going to have to intercept packages, they're going to have to wear a disguise, and they are going to have to figure out codes if they want to get in by a reasonable time, or with a reasonable amount of effort.  The computers can only do so much, and the human element is going to be the point of failure.

Not only is there more footwork and time required to make any form of hacking possible, there is knowledge required.  Knowing what something means when it scrolls across a screen, knowing what is intended when code pops up, or knowing an alternate purpose for a tool.  Learning how to hack in a half hour, or two hour session isn't feasible.  Remember commonly used port numbers isn't very likely in that time frame either, knowing what an exploit is without running a google search is complex.  Now that repeatedly bashing your face into a keyboard is debunked as a potential entry way, what other routes can be done?

A Phishing website would be an good approach.  Before typing up a full post on this (which will be done at a later date), I'll refer to a post from Akash Puri over on his blog (link), where he gives a quick run down of how to on making a website that can easily be deceitful enough for someone to make a mistake in where they put their information.  In terms of hosting this page, or how you'd use the page he doesn't really go to far in depth with.  Ideally using a page like this would either be hosted by a web host, OR a much safer approach would be on a public WiFi after hacking the DNS records to reroute traffic to a laptop.  That's just an opinion though.  Phishing though as a whole is going to be the most feasible and appropriate solution to hacking a Facebook account, or twitter account, or really any account for that matter.  Setting up a false page to a site for signing up for email would be one, or setting up a Facebook account from scratch where users input their personal information including address, date of birth, or really what any information that the hacker wants to harvest.

Now there will be a full post on phishing later on, as well as web hosting, so don't be discouraged at this point, Akash has just had such a good post there was no way it couldn't get an honorable mention in this post.

To further break myth's about hacking, its not all about revenge or just being a complete ass, there is technical know how and learning to be gained from hacking.  If the intentions to hack are hell bent on just being a nuisance then there is really no hope that they'll ever be a good hacker, there has to be an underlying desire to learn something new, or at least figure out how to re-purpose tools.  Re-purposing tools is really one of the biggest foundations of what hacking is.  Learning how to take one thing design to do this, and make it do that, is what a hacker wants to do.  SQL injection is a good example, inputting code to confuse a system into giving access where there is none, is brilliant.

More metaphors if you will.  A hacker at a young age before they have a computer takes apart toys, because they want to know how they work.  Taking apart a G.I. Joe to find that silly rubber band in the middle and reassembling him with the torso of Duke and the legs of Snake Eyes is what a hacker is at a young age.  Disassembling a G.I. Joe, a Barbie, and Optimus Prime to combine and create G.I. Optimus Barbie is a natural progression of modifying the given code and producing a new code, stronger or weaker, hell that actually sounds kind of cool.  But what this really symbolizes is an innate desire to know how things work.  Any hacker who doesn't want to know how things work and just wants to know how they can break down walls to get what they want, will never obtain the knowledge or the know how to ever fully do it.  Without this desire to learn how things work, or at least learn how to re-purpose tools, all that'll ever exist is a steaming pile of rage and revenge that gets nowhere beyond a silly web post asking for help with activities that are generally less than legal.

To recap a hacker has to break toys and learn how they work.  A hacker has to understand what code is and how it works.  A hacker needs to understand that hacking isn't just pointless typing and clicking to get from point A to point B.  All good hackers out in the world, aren't Hollywoodized pretty boys with computers.  Every single hacker in the world is patient and persistent, being a hacker takes time, a keystroke and mouse click won't open a door.  Drilling and feeding puppies along with wearing a disguise have to be methodically planned before any walls come crashing down before the power of the hacker.

Lastly I'd like to give one more shout out to Akash for his awesome post on phishing sites.  And as always, be safe my goblins.

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