How Cybersecurity Really Works: A Hands-On Guide for Total Beginners

How Cybersecurity Really Works: A Hands-On Guide for Total Beginners

by Sam Grubb
How Cybersecurity Really Works: A Hands-On Guide for Total Beginners

How Cybersecurity Really Works: A Hands-On Guide for Total Beginners

by Sam Grubb

Paperback

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Overview

How Cybersecurity Really Works is an engaging introduction to the field of cybersecurity. You'll learn how attackers operate, as well as how to defend yourself and organizations against online attacks.

How Cybersecurity Really Works is the perfect introduction to cybersecurity. Whether you’re a computer science student or a business professional, it will teach you the basics without all the jargon.

This beginners guide covers different types of attacks, common tactics used by online adversaries, and defensive strategies you can use to protect yourself. You’ll learn what security professionals do, what an attack looks like from a cybercriminal’s viewpoint, and how to implement sophisticated cybersecurity measures on your own devices.

In addition, you’ll find explanations of topics like malware, phishing, and social engineering attacks, coupled with real-world examples and hands-on exercises to help you apply what you’ve learned. You’ll explore ways to bypass access controls, prevent infections from worms and viruses, and protect your cloud accounts from attackers.

You’ll also learn how to:

• Analyze emails to detect phishing attempts
• Use SQL injection to attack a website
• Examine malware from the safety of a sandbox environment
• Use the command line to evaluate and improve your computer and network security
• Deploy encryption and hashing to protect your files
• Create a comprehensive risk management plan
You can’t afford to ignore cybersecurity anymore, but attackers won’t wait while you read a long technical manual. That’s why How Cybersecurity Really Works teaches you just the essentials you need to think beyond antivirus and make the right decisions to keep the online monsters at bay.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781718501287
Publisher: No Starch Press
Publication date: 06/16/2021
Pages: 216
Sales rank: 276,567
Product dimensions: 6.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Sam Grubb is a cybersecurity consultant for a managed service provider that works with a large variety of clients. He has six years of experience teaching cybersecurity to both adults and teenagers and holds several cybersecurity certifications, including the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification.

Table of Contents

Preface xv

A Note on the Book's Exercises xvi

Who This Book Is For xvi

What's in the Book? xvi

Acknowledgments xix

1 An Introduction To Cybersecurity 1

What Is Cybersecurity? 2

Cybersecurity and Privacy 2

What Cybersecurity Isn't 3

Black Hats vs. White Hats 4

Types of Black Hats 4

Types of White Hats 6

Exercise: Learning More About Cybersecurity and Threats 10

Conclusion 11

2 Attack Targets On the Internet 13

How the Internet Works 14

TCP/IP: The Backbone of the Internet 15

Public vs. Private Networks 16

How the Internet Looks to a Black Hat 17

The Black Hat Attack Methodology 18

Reconnaissance 18

Weaponization 19

Delivery 19

Exploitation and Installation 20

Command and Control, and Attack on Objectives 20

How Black Hats Find You 21

Example 1: The Merger 21

Example 2: Social Media Hunting 21

How to Hide from Black Hats 22

The Internet is Open 22

The Internet Is Public 23

The Internet Is Forever 24

Exercise: Analyzing Your Network 25

Network Command Line Tools 25

Using Shodan 31

Conclusion 34

3 Phishing Tactics 35

What Is Phishing? 36

An Obvious Phish 36

Not All Phishing Is Obvious 37

Using Details for a More Convincing Phish 37

Vishing and Other Non-Email Phishing 38

How to Protect Yourself Against Phishing 38

How Black Hats Trick You with URLs 39

Typosquatting 39

Complex URLs and Redirects 40

Modifying DNS Records 40

Hoaxes 41

Why Black Hats Love Phishing 42

Think Twice to Avoid Phishing 42

Take an Alternate Route 43

Listen to Your Spidey Sense 43

Exercise: Analyzing a Phishing Email 43

Phishing Email indicators 44

Header Analysis 46

URL Analysts 50

Conclusion 53

4 Malware Infections 55

What Is Malware? 56

Types of Malware 56

Viruses 56

Worms 57

Trojans 59

Ransomware 59

Spyware and Adware 60

Rootkits and Bootkits 60

Polymorphic Malware 61

How Black Hats Deploy Malware 62

How to Defend Against Malware 63

Exercise: Analyzing Malware and Managing Antivirus Settings 65

Analyzing Malware in Attachments 66

Reviewing Antivirus Settings 70

Conclusion 74

5 Password Thefts and Other Account Access Tricks 75

Authentication 76

Types of Authentication 76

Multi-Factor Authentication 80

Authorization 81

Mandatory Access Control 82

Rule-Based Access Control 82

Role-Based Access Control 82

Attribute-Based Access Control 83

Discretionary Access Control 84

Accounting 84

Logging 85

Auditing 86

Indicators of Attack 87

Exercise: Setting Up Accounts in Windows 10 and macOS 89

Windows 10 89

Access Control on macOS 98

Conclusion 101

6 Network Tapping 103

The Basics of Network Design 104

Attacking Your Network 106

How Black Hats See Your Traffic 106

Man-in-the-Middle Attacks 108

Denial of Service 110

Distributed Denial of Service 110

Defense Against Network Attacks 112

Firewalls 113

Intrusion Detection Systems 115

Intrusion Prevention Systems 116

Exercise: Setting Up Your Firewall 117

Windows 117

macOS 122

Conclusion 124

7 Attacks in the Cloud 125

How Cloud Computing Works 126

Software as a Service 127

Platform as a Service 127

Infrastructure as a Service 127

Security as a Service 128

Attacking the Cloud 128

Web Application Attacks 129

Defending the Cloud 133

Exercise: Performing SQL Injection on the Damn Vulnerable Web Application 134

Installing Docker and the DVWA 134

Listing Users 137

Finding Database Table Names 138

Finding Passwords 139

Conclusion 139

8 Wireless Network Pirating 141

How Wireless Networks Work 142

Wireless Standards 144

Wireless Security 145

Wireless Authentication 145

Wireless Encryption 146

Wireless Attacks 147

Rogue Access Points 147

Disassociation Attacks 148

Jamming 149

Setting Up a Wireless Network with Security in Mind 149

Exercise: Secure Your WAP 151

Setting Up Your Access Point 151

Setting Up Wireless Security 152

Enabling Filtering 154

Conclusion 156

9 Encryption Cracking 157

What Is Cryptography? 158

What We Encrypt 158

Early Cryptography 159

Substitution Ciphers 159

Transposition Ciphers 160

Modern Cryptography 160

Symmetric Cryptography 161

Asymmetric Cryptography 163

Validating Public Keys 164

Hashing 166

What Happens When You Visit a Website? 167

How Black Hats Steal Your Keys 168

Cryptanalysis 169

Asymmetric Algorithm Attacks 170

Protecting Your Keys 170

How Black Hats Break Hashes 171

Salting Your Hashes 172

Exercise: Encrypting and Hashing Files 172

Encrypting and Hashing a File in Windows 10 172

Protecting Files Using macOS 174

Using ssh-keygen to Generate a Public Key (Windows 10 or macOS) 176

Conclusion 177

10 How To Defeat Black Hats 179

What's the Worst That Could Happen? 180

Risks 180

Threats 182

Controls 183

Risk Management Programs 184

Putting It All Together 186

Exercise: Conducting a Risk Analysis 187

Farewell and Good Luck 188

Index 189

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