Task 6A-1

Hacking Sites:

1)
http://www.puremango.co.uk/cm_how_to_hack_79.php (Beginners Guide to Hacking)
http://www.cquis.com/mainpages/hacking.htm (Hacking files and programs)

2)
Common hacking programs used are IP Spoofers (giveing you a fake IP to bypass firewalls and appear to be someone else)
Email Bombers (Overlaod email severs with millions of emails)
Keyloggers (Secretly monitor keystrokes on a computer to discover passwords, etc)

Network administrators are constantly trying to stay ahead of hackers. Firewalls, Anti virus and anti spyware software are common tools used. Third part security companies can also be consulted.

Personally I don't think that this information is good to be freely available. It gets more people involved in hacking, each one having the potential to create his own new ideas and malicious software, making it impossible for network administrators to keep up. Unfortunately this will never happen so the best people can do is learn how to keep their data safe by monitoring the techniques used.

Therefore it is essential for network administrators to monitor these sites. In some cases companies even hire hackers/ex-hackers to help secure their data.

1. A good site I found was http://www.puremango.co.uk (very poorly designed tho :-/ but some pretty good hacking and cracking info there.

2. (a) Loop has basically said all that needs to be said. Other than that i can list a few things to add on: IP sniffers, Packet sniffers,Port Scanners, Trojans, and my favourite Virus/Trojan program that is really interesting, SubSeven. I have played around with it before and its quite a fun little program... just NEVER run it on your own system... especially if you intend it for nasty purposes.

(b) By looking for vulnerabilities in the security, looking for ways to get in.

(c) I have to disagree with you there Loop. Having the information readily available to the public is the best, Admins are constantly looking for information to increase the websites security and the best way to do it is instead of not only looking through the whole website for vulnerabilities. They would just need to check hacker sites for any found vulnerabilities they could counter.

Completed Successfully with no problems what so ever!

I see password-hacking software up for download here - http://www.eurodownload.com/download-software/110196/Email-Password-Hacking-Software.html

I've no idea how well it works (if it does). I'm skeptical of these 'easy hacks'.

http://www.iwar.org.uk/hackers/ - has resources for people who consider themselves 'hacktivists' - hacking to achieve a political/social goal.

Knowledge is power, and therefore to have these sort of online homages to hacking can only benefit network administrators who need to keep in the loop with regards to information security.
I'm also pretty sure the real hackers aren't hanging around on a site that comes up in google's first ten results. So these very same network administrators may need to find out where the real threat information is.