Common techniques used by hackers to steal online account passwords include the following types, each of which usually combines technical means and psychological strategies： ### 1. **Phishing attack (Phishing)** -**Means**: Forge trusted login pages (such as banks, social platforms), send fraudulent emails or text messages, and induce users to enter passwords. -**Example**: Impersonating an ”abnormal account" notification, asking users to click on a link to a fake website to reset their password. ### 2. **Malicious software (Malware)** -**Keylogger (Keylogger)**: Record the key information entered by the user and directly steal the password. -**Spyware**: Steal the password or clipboard content saved by the browser. -**Means of dissemination**: Spread through masquerading as legitimate software, email attachments, or malicious advertisements. ### 3. **Brute Force cracking & Dictionary attack** -**Brute force cracking**: Try all possible password combinations (such as short passwords or simple numbers). -**Dictionary attack**: Use common password libraries (such as “123456” and “password”) to try in batches. -*****: Mostly used for weak protection systems, combined with automated tools (such as Hydra). ### 4. **Man-in-the-middle attack (MITM)** -**Scenario**: Intercept unencrypted communication data (such as passwords transmitted in plain text over HTTP) in insecure networks such as public WiFi. -**Tools**: Use sniffing tools such as Wireshark to capture packets. ### 5. **Credential Stuffing (Credential Stuffing)** -**Principle**: Use the leaked account password (such as purchasing data from the dark web) to “hit the library” in bulk on other websites. -**Success rate**: Rely on users to reuse the same password. ### 6. **Social Engineering (Social Engineering)** -**Means**: Impersonate trusted parties (such as customer service, colleagues) to defraud passwords. -**Example**: Telephone scams say that "a password is required to help solve the problem”, or pretend to be an IT department requesting credentials. ### 7. **Database leakage & exploit** -**Database leakage**: Attack a website server and steal stored passwords (such as unencrypted or weakly hashed storage). -**Exploit**: For example, a SQL injection attack obtains database permissions and directly exports the password. ### 8. **Network sniffing (Sniffing)** -**Applicable scenarios**: Intercept unencrypted network traffic (such as FTP, old HTTP protocols). -**Protection**: After the popularity of HTTPS encryption, the risk is reduced, but it may still be aimed at low-security systems. ### 9. **SIM card hijacking (SIM Swapping)** -**Method**: Deceive the operator by forging an identity, bind the victim's mobile phone number to the attacker's SIM card, intercept the SMS verification code to reset the password. ### 10. **Password reset vulnerability** -**How to use **: Attack the password reset function, such as guessing the weak answer to a security question (such as “place of birth” is public information), or hijacking the reset email. --- ###**User protection recommendations** -**Enable two-factor authentication (2FA)**: Even if the password is leaked, a dynamic verification code is still required. -**Use password manager**: Generate and save high-strength unique passwords. -**Be wary of suspicious links/attachments**: Do not click on requests from unknown sources. -**Check website security**: Make sure the url is HTTPS and avoid logging in to sensitive accounts on public WiFi. -**Update the software regularly**: Reduce the risk of vulnerabilities being exploited. Hacking techniques continue to evolve, but most attacks rely on user behavior vulnerabilities (such as gullible information and password reuse). Improving safety awareness is the key line of defense.