Operating-system attacks

 

Hacking operating systems (OSs) is a preferred method of the bad guys. OSs

comprise a large portion of hacker attacks simply because every computer

has one and so many well-known exploits can be used against them.

Occasionally, some operating systems that are more secure out of the box —

such as Novell NetWare and the flavors of BSD UNIX — are attacked, and

vulnerabilities turn up. But hackers prefer attacking operating systems like

Windows and Linux because they are widely used and better known for their

vulnerabilities.

Here are some examples of attacks on operating systems:

• Exploiting specific protocol implementations
• Attacking built-in authentication systems
• Breaking file-system security
• Cracking passwords and encryption mechanisms