What is the primary objective of System Hacking in CEH?
To gain, escalate, maintain access to a target system and cover tracks
What is meant by gaining access in System Hacking?
Obtaining the ability to authenticate to or execute on a target system
Which phase follows Vulnerability Analysis in CEH methodology?
System Hacking
What is the most common technique used to gain initial system access?
Password-based attacks
What is password cracking?
Recovering plaintext passwords from hashed or encrypted values
What is password guessing?
Attempting authentication using likely or common passwords
What is the difference between online and offline password attacks?
Online attacks interact with live systems, offline attacks use stolen hashes
Why are weak passwords dangerous?
They allow attackers to gain unauthorized system access
What is credential harvesting?
Collecting user credentials through technical or social means
What is a credential reuse attack?
Using credentials from one system to access another system
Why is password reuse a major security risk?
Compromise of one system can lead to multiple system breaches
What is meant by exploiting OS vulnerabilities?
Abusing known flaws in an operating system to gain access
What role do unpatched systems play in system hacking?
They expose known vulnerabilities attackers can exploit
What is a misconfigured service?
A service that violates security best practices or least privilege
Why are misconfigurations commonly exploited?
They often bypass security controls without exploiting vulnerabilities
What is privilege abuse?
Using excessive permissions granted to services or users
What is the principle of least privilege?
Users and services should have only the permissions they need
Why is least privilege important for system security?
It limits the impact of a compromised account
What is authentication protocol weakness exploitation?
Abusing flaws in authentication design rather than passwords
Why are legacy authentication protocols risky?
They often lack strong encryption or mutual authentication
What is trust exploitation in system hacking?
Abusing implicit trust between systems or users
What is social engineering in the context of system hacking?
Manipulating users to gain system access
Why is social engineering effective?
It targets human behavior instead of technical controls
What is the role of human error in system hacking?
It can bypass strong technical security measures
