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APPROACH TO HACKIING IN CAMEROON:OVERVIEW AND MITIGATION TECHNIQUES_

Wilfred che niba,ICT UNIVERSITY YAOUNDE,CAMEROON email:wilfredche.niba@ictuniversity.org

Abstract
This research aims to explore how hacking influences in Cameroon.
Data has been collected from different sources ranging from digital sources, Newspapers, interviews so as to
help elucidate this topic that is catching more and more attention and merits to be give the treatment that it
needs and even the media attention it requires.
Hacking is just like a cancer that has very dangerous effects on the society. Today in this modern world, where
measures have been taken to improve the security level in the distributed systems hackers have found a way to
crack into systems and take away information.
In this paper, I will explain you few aspects of hacking and few techniques through which we can mitigate this.

This paper also gives you an insight to consider how important the information security plays to avoid hackers
to steal away information that is very confidential. Measures are to be taken in order to remove these
possibilities.

We will be getting through the entire journal the definition of hacking, types of hackers, the procedures used,
how to mitigate hacking.
The data collected shows the challenges of hacking and how these challenges can be mitigated.
. The results also show how hacking can cause damages and how the Cameroonian Government is trying to
fight it.
Hackers look for ways to get into government confidential files, personal banking details, steal away their
money from the banks, and implant a Trojan or virus into different computers to make them vulnerable to work.
In this paper I have thrown some light on hackers, skills, their perspective, their targets and mitigation
techniques.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Hacking according to oxford dictionary means to “gain unauthorized access (to data in a computer)”. Banks
defines hacking as “something that boring mainframe computer operators did to improve performance and
battle boredom.” .

. Darlington believes hacking is not limited to accessing data or information but also includes an attack on the
privacy of all people Almost all different opinions agree on the illegality of hacking.

On the other hand the word hacker is the agent of hack or hacking and it was defined as a person who enjoys
accessing files whether for fun, imposing power or the interest related to the accessed files or data according to
Taylor
Clear from the definitions mentioned above that there is a controversy that encounters the judgment and
definition of hacking, controversy aroused because it’s hard to decide exactly what the aim is behind hacking or
how to know the mentality of the hacker. That’s why the ethics and motivation of hackers should be paid
attention and discussed, then understanding the hacker will be much easier.

OVERVIEW OF HACKING

The challenging part of the hacker’s personality is the biggest motivation; this means that the hacker feels the
joy and excitement when hacking systems that are provided with the almost perfect security tools”. One of the
main reasons for hacking is the excitement hackers in breaking the law, to find an easy access to earn money by
hacking crucial information of the customers..

What is Hacking?

Hacking is identifying weakness in computer systems or networks to exploit its weaknesses to gain access.
Example of Hacking: Using password cracking algorithm to gain access to a system

Computers have become mandatory to run a successful business. It is not enough to have isolated computers
systems; they need to be networked to facilitate communication with external businesses. This exposes them to
the outside world and hacking. Hacking means using computers to commit fraudulent acts such as fraud,
privacy invasion, stealing corporate/personal data, etc

Types of hacking

Password Hacking: where Hackers find a way to illegally hack into the passwords of users of a computer
system, banks in order to gain benefits from them.

Network intrusions: Malicious Trojan, worms and viruses to gain access into the information systems.

Software piracy: Illegal copying and use of software

Viruses: Viruses, Trojan horses and worm cause the computers to become more vulnerable and susceptible to
hardware damage.

IP address spoofing: Disguising the IP address and using that to gain illegal access into countries most
confidential files.

Data-modification: The modifying all the data.

Smuggling of files: Gain illegal access of confidential files including bodies like military/government
networks, communication systems, power grids, and the financial community

Phishing: This implies replicating the original website so that the unsuspecting user enters the information like
account password, credit card details, which the hacker seizes and misuses. The banking websites are the
frequent target for this.
DNS spoofing:This basically uses the cache data of a website or domain that the user might have forgotten
about. It then directs the data to another malicious website

Keylogger:A keylogger is a simple software that records the key sequence and strokes of your keyboard into a
log file on your machine. These log files might even contain your personal email IDs and passwords.

Denial of Service (DoS\DDoS):A Denial of Service attack is a hacking technique of taking down a site or
server by flooding that site or server with a huge amount of traffic so that the server is unable to process all the
requests in real-time and finally crashes down.

Fake WAP: a hacker can use software to fake a wireless access point. This WAP connects to the official public
place WAP. Once you get connected to the fake WAP, a hacker can access your data,

Cookie Theft:The cookies in our browser store personal data such as browsing history, username, and
passwords for different sites we access. Once the hacker gets the access to your cookie, he can even authenticate
himself as you on a browser. A popular method to carry out this attack is to manipulate a user’s IP packets to
pass through attacker’s machine.

Bait and Switch: an attacker buy’s advertising space on the websites. Later, when a user clicks on the ad, he
might get directed to a page that’s infected with malware. This way, they can further install malware or adware
on your computer.

Ethical Hacking

Ethical Hacking is identifying weakness in computer systems and/or computer networks and coming with
countermeasures that protect the weaknesses. Ethical hackers must abide by the following rules.
Get written permission from the owner of the computer system and/or computer network before hacking.
Protect the privacy of the organization been hacked. Transparently
report all the identified weaknesses in the computer system to the organization. Inform hardware
and software vendors of the identified weaknesses. Ethical Hacking is legal if the
hacker abides by the rules stipulated by the definition of ethical hacking.

In some cases, to test the effectiveness of their information system security team, an organization will not
inform their team of the ethical hacker’s activities. This situation is referred to as operating in a double blind
environment. To operate effectively, the ethical hacker must be informed of the assets that should be protected,
potential threat sources, and the extent to which the organization will support the ethical hacker’s efforts
TYPES OF HACKERS

1. White Hat Hacker White Hackers,


white hat hackers or ethical hackers are the people who test existing information system infrastructures to
research loopholes in the system. They create algorithms and perform multiple methodologies to break into
systems, with the sole aim of strengthening them.

2. Black Hat Hacker These guys break


into systems purely with negative intentions. From stealing credit card information, to altering public databases,
a black hat hacker looks to gain fame or monetary benefits from exploiting the loopholes in internet
frameworks.

3. Grey Hat Hacker


A grey hat hacker usually has mixed intentions. As the color code implies, this hacker type does not have the
good intentions of a white hat hacker, nor does he have the ill intentions of a black hacker. A grey hat would
break into systems but never for his own benefit. Famous grey hat hackers have exploited systems only to make
the information public, and to bring to limelight vast datasets of information that contains wrongdoings.

4. Script Kiddie
The kids of the hacking realm, this hacker type isn’t responsible for a lot of damage, particularly because of the
little skill or effort they put into their hacking. Downloading hacking software, or pre-written scripts, these
hackers would just run a website against a software and disrupt it’s working.

5. Suicide Hacker
Similarly, a suicide hacker would know that his identity would be revealed, or he would be caught but proceeds
to carry out a hacking attempt nonetheless. This could be either for money or for fame or even forceful, just like
a suicide bomber.

6. A Hacktivist
Hacktivists are the protesters of the internet. Just like a group of protesters in the real world stir up attention by
marching on the streets, the hacktivist type of hacker would break into systems and infrastructures to ask for
attention towards social causes. Hacktivism includes defacing websites and uploading promotional material, so
that the viewers would receive info based on hackers’ intention, not the developer of the website.

7. Red Hat Hacker


The red hat hacker acts ruthlessly towards black hat hackers. Their sole objective is to destroy the effort of
every black hacker type and to bring their entire infrastructure down. A red hat hacker would be on the lookout
for a black hat hack, intercept it and hack into the black hat hacker’s system. Not only would this halt the attack,
but also push the black hat hacker out of business!

8. Blue Hat Hacker


A blue hat hacker is someone outside computer security consulting firms who is used to bug-test a system prior
to its launch. They look for loopholes that can be exploited and try to close these gaps. Microsoft highly uses
them.

9. Green Hat Hacker


This type of hacker is the one who learns in the world of hacking. A green hat hacker is usually responsible for
no real activity but is easily recognizable for his intent to learn and understand how it all works. Green Hat
Hackers are often part of large learning communities online, where they watch videos and tutorials on how to
make it big.
10. Social Media Hacker .
As its name implies they focus on hacking social media accounts by using various techniques. This hacker type
is similar to black hat hacker for their criminal intentions, data theft.

State/Nation Sponsored Hackers:


State or Nation sponsored hackers are those who are appointed by the government to provide them
cybersecurity and to gain confidential information from other countries to stay at the top or to avoid any kind of
danger to the country. They are highly paid government workers.

HACKING IN THE CAMEROON CONTEXT

Skimming, hacking, “SIM box” fraud, defacement amongst others are the different tactics through which the
phenomenon is manifested with banks, telecom companies and other State institutions mostly hit in Cameroon.

. With this digital boom, cyber fraudsters are also devising various sophisticated methods to defraud companies,
banks and public institutions. Cameroon is floating the digital economy as the new gold-mine to trigger
economic growth and job creation but the growing rate of cyber criminality is a veritable menace to the digital
economy drive.

Every day, hundreds of millions of cyber-attacks occur with the intention to steal strategic corporate or personal
data.” Cameroon is ranked third after Nigeria and Ghana in terms of countries worst hit by cyber criminality..

The Director General of the National Agency for Information and Communication Technologies (ANTIC), Dr
Ebot Enaw, said last year that local banks lost at least FCFA3.5 billion through acts of skimming. Skimming
consists of criminals hacking magnetic cards with special devices inserted in automated teller machines. Apart
from skimming, “SIM box” fraud appears to be more dangerous method as it targets telecom companies. A SIM
box is a device that enables people abroad to place calls at local tariffs, causing huge financial losses to
companies as well as the State treasury. The illicit activity cost local telephone companies FCFA38 billion and
the State FCFA4billion between 2011 and 2015. Philisiwe Sibiya, the then Chief Executive of MTN Cameroon,
said fraudsters diverted “close to 60 million minutes” of international call traffic through SIM box fraud during
the period.

Hacking in Cameroon also manifests itself through “web defacement”, whereby criminals change the interface
of a website, fake profiles on social networks, and hack into e-mails of enterprises and individuals. ANTIC
reveals that 17 web defacement were detected in websites of ministries in the last five years with 3000
vulnerabilities discovered during security audits. Statistics from the regulatory agency also show that some 62
identification requests related to cybercrimes originating from Cameroon and targeting foreigners were referred
to ANTIC specialised services by International Police (Interpol). Over FCFA 3 billion lost incurred through
scamming.

The watchdog had to present the limits of the national defence system against cyber-attacks.

We learned that the Cameroonian regulation is still incomplete. Indeed, ANTIC still has no authority to sanction
though it is in charge of regulating the sector. There is also no legal data protection framework. And this when
53% of cyber-criminal attacks worldwide are on identity theft.
. Cameroon is not safe in a world where 16 pieces of data are stolen every second. It could start with an email
which should have been opened, or a counterfeit software which opens the door to all kinds of threats. ANTIC
even reminds that over 90% of software and operating systems used in Cameroon are hacked.

Moreover, it is common for email addresses and social media accounts to be hacked, even those belonging to
government members. Telephone calls fraud is also rampant in Cameroon. In 2015, the mobile phone sector
lamented losses of FCfa 18 billion for operators; another FCfa 4 billion for the State. According to the 2014
report from the National Anti-Corruption Commission, cyber-criminality cost FCfa 3.5 billion to Cameroon
between November and December 2013.

(Business in Cameroon) - Fcfa 3 billion. According to the National Agency for Information and Communication
Technologies (Antic), this is the amount lost by banks in 2015, because of cyber-criminality. These losses, the
MD of Antic, Ebot Ebot Enaw explained during a recent forum on cyber-security, are the consequence of
"Skimming", a cybercrime which consists in "hacking magnetic cards with special devices inserted in automatic
bank teller machines".

But, the consequences of "Skimming" on banks are a lesser evil compared to the havoc wreaked by the use of
simboxes in the telecommunication sector. Indeed, this device which enables people abroad to place calls at
local tariffs, causes huge financial losses to companies as well as the Treasury.

Combating Hacking (cybercrime)in Cameroon

The government of Cameroon in his campaign to combat computer crimes & security threats targeted to
foreigners, individuals and corporate institution have promulgated the law on cybersecurity and cyber
criminality in 2010. Internet extortion in Cameroon takes the form of; phishing (theft of identity), theft of bank
cards, cyber pornography, scams, software piercing, sales frauds & forgery data & airtime, charity fund,
hacking and theft of network service. Here are some of the causes of internet extortion in Cameroon;
unemployment, quest of wealth by youths, incompetent security and control on a personal computer

The legal, political and strategic problems identified cyber terrorism, internet fraud, spying, scamming,
intrusion, phishing, spamming, viruses, malware, piracy etc. as some of the menaces inherent to the cyberspace
in Cameroon. Other international threats include stolen or leaked IP, stolen funds, stolen computer resources,
stolen business information, account data breach, employee information, email dump, DDoS attack, Cyber
bombs, back doors, marketplace fraud, physical theft / sabotage, audio surveillance, brand phishing
Cameroon is currently experiencing rapid growth of e-services (e-Government and e-Commerce related
services) development, Internet usage increase and high penetration of mobile services.
 
Analysis of the Impact of hacking in Cameroon

1. Increase in Hacking: The world loses millions annually to cybercrime, with Cameroon now ranked
among the top 10 countries in the world where the crime, popularly known as “419”, is most prevalent
2. FCFA 3 billion lost by banks in 2015 due to skimming (ANTIC: 2015). Skimming is the act of hacking
magnetic cards with special devices inserted in automatic bank teller machines.
3. Increase in simboxes: a device which enables people abroad to place calls at local tariffs, causing huge
financial losses to companies as well as the Treasury. Four telecom operators lost over fcfa 18 billion
and the state lost fcfa 4 billion, due to the simbox fraud in 2015(ANTIC:2015)
4. Close to 90% of the software and operating systems used in Cameroon are hacked.
5. Government prioritizing capacity building in other to empower people to master the tools and solutions
available to combat cybercrimes (CTO: 2013).
6. Industries and government are progressively providing lots of services online, and the need to address
security issues is important.
7. Cameroonian Web sites are the most dangerous in the world for unwary Web surfers. More than half the
sites in Cameroon’s domain space–sites ending in the abbreviation “.cm” are determined to be engaged
in shady behavior, such as infecting visitors with password-stealing or spam-sending software. (McAfee:
2015)
8. The survival of Cameroon's digital economy depends on good cyber security
9. Certification: Cameroon does not have any officially approved national (and sector specific)
cybersecurity frameworks for the certification and accreditation of national agencies and public sector
professionals. (data source: United Nations Statistics Division, December 2012) Agency Certification:
Cameroon does not have any certified government and public sector agencies certified under
internationally recognized standards in cybersecurity.
10. Foreign Aid: In 2011, Antic became a member of the ITU-IMPACT, an international multilateral
partnership against cyber threats that offers high-level training programmes to help partner countries
(Cameroon inclusive) to fight and prevent the scourge.

Cameroon, which is among the countries worst affected by cybercrime in Africa, is facing a dilemma as it
adopts measures to address the crisis.

The central African country plans to upskill professionals and youth with technology expertise to thwart
cybercriminals but there are fears they could backfire as the beneficiaries could use the skills attained to commit
similar acts, hence worsen the problem.

Owing to the prevalence of these crimes that involve the use of computer networks or devices to commit fraud
and identity theft, police commissioner N’tangh Bay Emile has called for the training of “a new generation of
policemen” who would be able to monitor the Cameroon cyberspace and keep the criminals at bay.

“Cyber police officers should be trained and assigned specific roles like identifying, locating and tracking down
cyber criminals. Even though we are already doing this, it is still on a limited scale that needs to be
expanded,”he said.

Cameroon has launched a systematic crackdown on cybercrime. Last year, a Centre for Digital Forensic and
Cyber Security was set up under the University of Buea in partnership with the Cameroon Ministry of Posts and
Telecommunications and the University of Bloomsburg in the US.

The director general of the National Agency for Information and Communication Technologies (Antic), Ebot
Enaw, said last year that local banks lost at least CFA3 billion (more than $5 million) through acts of skimming.
Skimming consists of criminals hacking magnetic cards with special devices inserted in automated teller
machines.
“After pirating the electronic bank card details of unsuspecting customers, criminals then go to ATMs and
withdraw money from the bank accounts of their victims,” Ebot said.

But the danger posed by skimming pales in comparison to that of “SIM box” fraud.

A SIM box is a device that enables people abroad to place calls at local tariffs, causing huge financial losses to
companies as well as the Treasury.

Last October, all four telephone operators in Cameroon – MTN, Orange, Camtel and Nextel – revealed that they
had lost significant amounts of money to SIM box fraud.

The illicit activity cost local telephone companies CFA18bn and the state CFA4bn last year.

Philisiwe Sibiya, the chief executive of MTN Cameroon, said fraudsters diverted “close to 60 million minutes”
of international call traffic through SIM box fraud during the period.

Cybercrime in Cameroon also manifests itself through “we defacement”, whereby criminals change the
interface of a website, fake profiles on social networks, and hack into e-mails to con citizens.

Government departments have not been spared.

At least 20 government establishments, including the National Assembly and the Cameroon Radio Television,
had fallen prey to "web defacement" fraud.

“About 90 percent of the software and operating systems used in Cameroon have been hacked,” he added.

While the criminals excel in attacking the websites of prominent institutions, they constantly change their own
websites and e-mails, making them hard to monitor.

“Antic was able to unveil 100 cases where cyber criminals attacked websites in an attempt to get the e-mails of
some personalities while 700 cases of ‘scamming’ were uncovered,” Ebot disclosed.

Experts from multiple cyber-security firms pointed out that the reasons banks are targeted in these regions are
because there's a high chance that not all invested in their IT infrastructure and cyber-security measures. A
poorly designed and unsupervised network makes attacks easier to carry out and hacks easier to hide for long
periods of time, compared to an attack aimed at banks located in Western Europe or North America.

Lacking from reports from the past years was Africa, which surprisingly hasn't been targeted until now,
according to Symantec.

Unfortunately, the African financial sector's period of calm appears to be over.

Indicators of compromise for these recent attacks are available in Symatec's report,

Cameroon is one among many Central African states that are experiencing an upsurge in Cyber criminality.
Individuals, small groups and major organisations, have today devised new strategies in committing old crimes
under these new generational crimes.

Cyber criminals generally use fake identities to commit heinous crimes such as hacking and scamming, which
are very rampant in towns like Buea, Bamenda, Douala, Yaounde and other major metropolitan towns in
Cameroon.

In a bid to forestall the upsurge in cyber criminality and protect the country’s cyber space from foreign attacks,
the University of Buea, UB, in partnership with the Ministries of Post and Telecommunication and Justice and
the University of Bloomsburg in USA, have set up a Centre for Digital Forensic and Cyber Security under UB,
which would train young Cameroonians on how to protect the country’s cyber space and, in the case of an
attack, the trained Cameroonians will be able to mitigate its effects and bring the perpetrators to face the law.

The Minister said the Centre will, therefore, train Lawyers, Magistrates, Attorneys General, Professors, law
enforcement officers, IT specialist, among others, who will use the experience to fight cyber crimes in their
various spheres of competence in order to guarantee the security of the country. Meantime, Professor Scott
Inch, Digital Forensic expert at the Bloomsburg University, USA, said the Centre will be very useful to
Cameroon because, those trained can use the knowledge, not only to safeguard the country’s cyber space, but
also to unmask perpetrators of murder, embezzlement, kidnapping, human trafficking and accounting fraud
among others.

“Attention should be tilted more on internet security than cheaper infrastructure technologies.

In Cameroon, a 287.5 million FCFA project was launched in July 2015 to fight cyber crimes in the
country. The National Cyber Expertise Centre, based at the Buea Posts and Telecommunications
School, will carry out research and train experts - 25 per class - to develop cyber security protection
measures, fight cyber criminality, and thwart cyber terrorist threats.

Cameroon has adopted over the last few years a number of specific laws focused on cyber crime. In
addition, Cameroon has established a national Computer Emergency Response Team (www.cirt.antic.
cm) to handle incidents related to cyber threats. Cameroon has a state agency known as the ANTIC
- National Agency of Information and Communication Technologies, which coordinates with Information
Communication Technology (ICT) security. One of ANTIC’s primary functions is to help raise cyber
threat awareness and strengthen the overall technical capacity to deter cyber crime and enhance
cyber security.

There are several challenges that the Government of Cameroon is facing, including
enhancing international, national, and intra-agency cooperation as well as public private partnerships.
While Cameroon does not currently have a government agency certified to international cyber
security standards, efforts in this area continue.

Cameroon maintains a division, which is specially tasked to investigate cyber crimes within the
Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. Authorities have established mechanisms, procedures, and
policies for responding to cyber incidents and the government assigns their CERT with national-level
responsibilities. Cameroon is still developing a national cyber strategy to help guide and coordinate
budget resources and cyber security efforts. The main pillars of the national strategy will be cyber
security awareness, security auditing, and the maintaining of electronic certificates. The national
strategy will also be very helpful in improving cyber resilience and help drive awareness initiatives.
While Cameroon does not currently have personal data protection laws on the books, they are
currently considering legislation.

Some of the main challenges that the Government of Cameroon has faced in the process of implementing
their cyber security strategy are budgetary constraints and the coordination of multinational
actors (including experts, civil society, and the private sector).

Cameroon has a national cyber security


awareness campaign and it is referred to as the National Target Awareness Seminar. This campaign
is aimed at the general public to help raise overall cyber security awareness.
Today, the Government of Cameroon works with civil society organizations and NGOs in order to
education the population and raise awareness in an effort to mitigate cyber risks.

Universities and academic institutions in Cameroon maintain several cyber security degree programs that the
government has established.

The current implementation of Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) will allow,
among other things, the strengthening of the security of “.cm”, by guaranteeing the authenticity and
integrity of the transactions related to the resolution of domain names in “.cm” and prevent spoofing
of domain names in “.cm”.

The development of a repository containing good safety practices to be followed for the implementation
and deployment of a secure website, monitoring of websites “.cm” which aims to detect
websites engaged in illegal activity and block. There has been a drop in illicit cyber activities since the
new policies have been implemented.

The most significant cyber incidents, which took place over the past year, include credit card
fraud from a bank. The perpetrators of the incident were quickly identified. According to electronic
evidence, the actors who perpetrated the attack were located both within and outside of Cameroon.

The Government of Cameroon works with a number of private sector partners on cyber security
related issues and has been able to establish fruitful working relationships with other countries when
managing and responding to cyber threats. This has been the case particularly with Czech Republic,
INTERPOL, and Nigeria in the context of digital investigations following a scam, which has been the
victim of a pharma sales company online.

Today Cameroon authorities promote several confidence


building measures (CBM) and international cooperation agreements in cyberspace by exchanging

information on cyber incidents and best practices for cyber security.

CONSEQUENCES OF HACKING

Loss of Information

Hacking often results in a loss of data due to files being deleted or changed. Customer information and order
information can be stolen and deleted, or a leak of top secret information could cause real-world security issues.

Decreased Privacy
When hackers gain access to your computer, they can see everything. Since much of the personal, professional
and financial parts of our lives have moved online, we risk losing much more than money or information.
Because of the Internet, privacy is limited, usually by choice.

Damaged Reputation

Companies that get hacked have a bigger problem than just paying for the initial damage costs and lawsuits.
Reputation damage can be devastating to a company's fortunes. If a bank has been compromised multiple times,
customers are less likely to give them their personal information or even accord them credibilty.

As my research continued to find stories of how the media talks about hackers in modern day it was easy to see
that they are downgraded heavily. I googled “hackers in the news” and three different stories immediately came
up that show criminal driven attacks.

The need for ethical hackers is one that is under appreciated but is definitely an essential for technological
advancements.

Hacking mitigation Techniques on a Global Scope

There is no way to make your personal computer completely impenetrable to a cyberattack. Even a corporate
enterprise system with a full-time computer security team cannot guarantee this. Luckily, the harder you make it
for hackers to break into your system, the less likely they are to devote the time and effort to try. The list below
is composed of steps you can take, and should keep your system safe from almost all security threats.

 Install or Update Antivirus Software. If it has capabilities to let you surf the web safely or protect
your identity online, turn these options on.
 Secure Your Home Network. Make sure it is password-protected and be certain to set up a firewall to
keep out intruders. Many routers come with pre-installed firewalls.
 Update Your Software. This fixes known security holes. Your operating system and web browser
should be updated as often as possible.
 Download Only From Trusted Sources. Even if the site administrator is trustworthy, without proper
security measures in place the site might be compromised.
 Be Vigilant With Email Attachments. These are a favorite with hackers. Be careful what you click on,
even if the email says it’s from the government or your bank.
 Never Visit Questionable Sites. If you’re not sure whether a website is secure, verify it first with online
site checking services such as Norton Safe Web.
 Maintain Your Passwords. Create passwords that are difficult to guess, change them regularly, and
never use the same one for multiple sites.
 Try Not to Use Free WiFi. When using a WiFi connection at your local café, always assume someone
is eavesdropping on your connection and take the appropriate measures.
 Turn Off Your Computer. When not in use for long periods of time, turn off your computer. This is a
surefire way to protect your system against any intrusion.
 Create complex passwords. Your passwords to access your accounts on apps or websites should
consist of a combination of numbers, upper- and lower-case letters, and special characters that is
difficult to guess.
 Use a password manager. Password managers store and auto-fill your credentials for different sites,
allowing you to create a complex and unique password for each site without having to worry about
entering the password itself more than once. While you should absolutely keep track of your passwords
on your own as well, a password manager will help make your device much more secure.
 Don't give out your password. This is an obvious piece of advice, but one that bears revisiting: with
the exception of some school services, you shouldn't ever have to provide a site administrator with your
password for them to access your account.
 Change your passwords often. In addition to keeping your password a secret, you should change the
passwords on your various accounts and devices at least once every six months.
 Use two-factor authentication. Two-factor authentication requires you to enter a code sent to you in a
text message or another service to access your account after you enter your user name and password.
This makes it more difficult for a hacker to access your information, even if they are able to crack your
password.
 Read privacy policies carefully. Any company that has information from you must have a privacy
policy that details how they use that information and the extent to which they share it with others
 Log out of accounts when you're done with them. Simply closing the browser window isn't always
enough, so make sure you click (or tap) on your account name and select Log Out (or Sign Out in some
cases) to manually sign out of your account and remove your login credentials from the site.
 Charge your phone on reliable USB ports. These include the ports on your computer and in your car
(if applicable). Public USB ports, like the ones you may see in a coffee shop, can compromise your
information.
 Encrypt your hard drive. If your hard drive is encrypted, a hacker will be unable to read the data
stored there, even if they manage to gain access to your hard drive. While you've taken steps to prevent
access, encryption is another method of protecting your information.
 Back up your data frequently. Despite even the strictest security, it's still possible that your data may
become compromised. This may be the result of hacking, or simply computer failure. Backing up your
data ensures you don't lose anything.
 Avoid clicking suspicious links or responding to unknown emails. If you get an unsolicited email, or
an email from a sender that you cannot verify, treat it as a hacking attempt.
 Use secured wireless networks. Generally speaking, secured networks require you to enter a password
before you can connect to them. In some locations (such as airports or coffee shops), you can request the
password after purchasing an item.
 Keep personal information off social media. You may think you're just sharing with friends but
revealing too much about yourself and your life on social media can make you vulnerable to hackers.
Share personal information directly with people who need to know rather than openly posting on social
media.
 Virtual Private Networks secure your online activity by routing your traffic through their servers. This
both hides your identity, as the VPN accesses websites on your behalf, and secures your connection, as
VPNs encrypt the data between you and their servers.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS


From all that has been said above,the information security landscape in Cameroon is not exempt from attacks
and so there security must be put at the heart fo every IT insfrastrucure
The government,corporations and individuals will have to give the attention the inframtion secirty deserves
Thise having It sinsfrasctrucyure will have to invest more in cyber security so as to mitigate these dangers that
are posed to day by these hackers who will stop at nothing to illegally steal information that is poorly protected.
Hacking techniques are becoming more sophisticated as the days go by and so to be able to contain thse ahckers
and their malicious acts.it will be important that the ETHICAL HACKERS be trained so that they can be an
opposing to the spread if this act from these guys of the Digital underworld.
Security awareness becomes mandatory if we have to be able to contain these cyber terrorists who are hackers.

REFERENCES

ETHICAL HACKING: PROCEDURES, INTRUSION AND PENETRATIONby WILFRED CHE NIBA


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https://www.kinsmenadvocates.services/combatig-cybercrimes-in-cameroon/
www.antic.cm
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https://www.thehaguesecuritydelta.com/media/com_hsd/report/135/document/Cyber-security-trends-report-
Africa-en.pdf
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/computer-science/the-problems-and-solution-of-hacking-computer-science-
essay.php
https://www.wikihow.com/Prevent-Hacking
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/technology/a-solution-to-hackers-more-hackers.html
https://www.savethestudent.org/extra-guides/32-ways-avoid-cyber-hacked.html
https://www.complex.com/life/2018/11/how-to-avoid-getting-hacked/encryption-software
https://www.inc.com/jon-levy/6-expert-tips-to-avoid-getting-hacked.html

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