• Evidently, hacking started as a recreational activity for exploring, improving, and testing the limits of existing programs. But it quickly started to serve malicious intents of those who possessed the skills to execute such an activity.
• The world started to see the ugly face of hacking when hacks of telephone systems became prevalent in the 1970s. The phone hackers or phreakers created a heavy influence on the world before hacking shifted to computer systems on a large scale.
• The period from the 1980s to the 2000s was a golden age of hacking. Numerous hacks over top businesses, government entities, or even military networks were successfully executed in those days. Bigwigs like Microsoft, eBay, Yahoo!, and Amazon suffered through massive denial-of-service attacks. Moreover, it was a wake-up blow for the security leaders around the world when a 15-year-old boy breached the Department of Defense and International Space Station.
• It was the time when hacking announced itself to the world with a bang. After that, we all are continuously witnessing an exponential increase in the frequency of cyber-attack incidents. Not only the number of attacks is increasing, but the attacks are growing to be more sophisticated and complex.

Modern Hacking Methods

Modern hackers are in possession of top-level skills, advanced technology, and powerful machines to execute their malicious intentions. The following are the major attack vectors hackers use today:

1. Phishing

It is among the most common hacking techniques used these days. Hackers usually send emails having malicious links to many accounts. These emails are disguised as legitimate emails from reputed service-based companies like Amazon, Netflix, etc. The purpose of phishing is to trick you into clicking on the malicious link and get access to some of your pertinent information.