10 Ways How Hackers Can Hack Facebook Accounts In 2011
So here are the top 10 methods which have been the most popular in 2011:
1. Facebook Phishing
Phishing still is the most popular attack vector used for hacking facebook accounts, There are variety of methods to carry out phishing attack, In a simple phishing attacks a hacker creates a fake login page which exactly looks like the real facebook page and then asks the victim to login into that page, Once the victim logins through the fake page the victims "Email Address" and "Password" is stored in to a text file, The hacker then downloads the text file and get's his hands on the victims credentials.
I have explained the step by step phishing process in my post below:
2. Keylogging
Keylogging, according to me is the easiest way to hack a facebook password, Keylogging sometimes can be so dangerous that even a person with good knowledge of computers can fall for it. A keylogger is basically a small program which once is installed on victims computer will record every thing which victim types on his/her computer. The logs are then send back to the attacker by either FTP or directly to hackers email address. I have dedicated a half of my newsest book "An introduction to keyloggers, RATS And Malware" to this topic.
3. Stealers
Almost 80% percent people use stored passwords in their browser to access the facebook, This is is quite convenient but can sometimes be extremely dangerous, Stealers are software's specially designed to capture the saved passwords stored in the victims browser, Stealers once FUD can be extremely powerful. If you want to how stealers work and how you can set up your own one?, Kindly refer the book above.
4. Session Hijacking
Session Hijacking can be often very dangerous if you are accessing Facebook on a http:// connection, In a Session Hijacking attack a hacker steals the victims browser cookie which is used to authenticate a user on a website and uses to it to access victims account, Session hijacking is widely used on Lan's. I have already written a three part series on How session hijacking works? and also a separate post on Facebook session hijacking.
Further Information
5. Sidejacking With Firesheep
Sidejacking attack went common in late 2010, however it's still popular now a days, Firesheep is widely used to carry out sidejacking attacks, Firesheep only works when the attacker and victim is on the same wifi network. A sidejacking attack is basically another name for http session hijacking, but it's more targeted towards wifi users.
To know more about sidejacking attack and firesheep, read the post mentioned below:
6. Mobile Phone Hacking
Millions of Facebook users access Facebook through their mobile phones. In case the hacker can gain access to the victims mobile phone then he can probably gain access to his/her Facebook account. Their are lots of Mobile Spying softwares used to monitor a Cellphone.
The most popular Mobile Phone Spying softwares are:
1. Mobile Spy
2. Spy Phone Gold
7. DNS Spoofing
If both the victim and attacker are on the same network, an attacker can use a DNS spoofing attack and change the original facebook.com page to his own fake page and hence can get access to victims facebook account.
If both the victim and attacker are on the same network, an attacker can use a DNS spoofing attack and change the original facebook.com page to his own fake page and hence can get access to victims facebook account.
8. USB Hacking
If an attacker has physical access to your computer, he could just insert a USB programmed with a function to automatically extract saved passwords in the browser, I have also posted related to this attack which you can read by accessing the link below:
9. Man In the Middle Attacks
If the victim and attacker are on the same lan and on a switch based network, A hacker can place himself b/w the client and the server or he could also act as a default gateway and hence capturing all the traffic in between, ARP Poisoning which is the other name for man in the middle attacks is a very broad topic and is beyond the scope of this article, We have written a couple of articles on man in the middle attacks which canb be accessed from the links mentioned below:
If the victim and attacker are on the same lan and on a switch based network, A hacker can place himself b/w the client and the server or he could also act as a default gateway and hence capturing all the traffic in between, ARP Poisoning which is the other name for man in the middle attacks is a very broad topic and is beyond the scope of this article, We have written a couple of articles on man in the middle attacks which canb be accessed from the links mentioned below:
If you are really interested in learning how man in the middle attacks, you can view the presentation below by oxid.it.
Botnets are not commonly used for hacking facebook accounts, because of it's high setup costs, They are used to carry more advanced attacks, A botnet is basically a collection of compromised computer, The infection process is same as the keylogging, however a botnet gives you, additional options in for carrying out attacks with the compromised computer. Some of the most popular botnets include Spyeye and Zeus.
Facebook Hacking Course
Facebook hacking course is a facebook security course created by me, which tells you exactly how how hackers can compromise your facebook accounts and what can you do to protect your facebook accounts from getting hacked.
Click here to get access to the course
