What Hackers Actually Do — Attack Vectors in Plain English
Common attack types explained simply: phishing, brute force, social engineering, supply chain attacks
13 min readsecurity, attacks, fundamentals
Movies show hackers furiously typing green text on black screens, cracking into the Pentagon in 30 seconds. Real hacking is nothing like that.
Most attacks are boring. They're automated. They exploit the same handful of mistakes over and over. Understanding what attackers actually do — and don't do — is the key to knowing where to focus your security efforts.
The Reality of Modern Attacks
Here's something that surprises most people: the vast majority of successful attacks don't involve "hacking" at all, at least not in the Hollywood sense. They involve:
- Tricking people into giving up their credentials
- Finding secrets that were accidentally left in public places
- Exploiting known vulnerabilities that haven't been patched
- Automated scanning for common misconfigurations
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