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\section*{Handout 3 (Buffer Overflow Attacks)}

By far the most popular attack method on computers are buffer

overflow attacks or variations thereof. The popularity is

unfortunate because we now have technology to prevent them

effectively. But these kind of attacks are still very relevant

even today since there are many legacy systems out there and

also many modern embedded systems do not take any precautions

to prevent such attacks.

To understand how buffer overflow attacks work we have to have

a look at how computers work ``under the hood'' (on the

machine level) and also understand some aspects of the C/C++

programming language. This might not be everyday fare for

computer science students, but who said that criminal hackers

restrict themselves to everyday fare? Not to mention the

free-riding script-kiddies who use this technology without

knowing what are the underlying ideas.

\bigskip\bigskip \noindent If you want to know more about

buffer overflow attacks, the original Phrack article

``Smashing The Stack For Fun And Profit'' by Elias Levy (also

known as Aleph One) is an engaging read:

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\url{http://phrack.org/issues/49/14.html}

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