Sams Teach Yourself TCP/IP in 24 Hours, Fourth Edition

Vandals and Cyber-Crooks

The growth of the Internet has created unlimited opportunity for intruders to steal secrets, tinker with websites, abscond with credit card information, or just generally make mischief. Internet intruders have also spawned a whole new mythology. They are celebrated for their skill and daring. Some ascribe lofty artistic and political motives to these bandwidth banditos. But the professionals who install and maintain computer networks are not impressed with the activities of network intruders.

This hour explores some of the techniques attackers use to gain control of computer systems. As you study these techniques, you’ll notice that many of the concepts are built around fundamental properties of TCP/IP that you learned ...