\documentclass{article}\usepackage{../style}\begin{document}\section*{Handout 3 (Buffer Overflow Attacks)}By far the most popular attack method on computers are bufferoverflow attacks or variations thereof. The popularity isunfortunate because we now have technology to prevent themeffectively. But these kind of attacks are still very relevanteven today since there are many legacy systems out there andalso many modern embedded systems do not take any precautionsto prevent such attacks.To understand how buffer overflow attacks work we have to havea look at how computers work ``under the hood'' (on themachine level) and also understand some aspects of the C/C++programming language. This might not be everyday fare forcomputer science students, but who said that criminal hackersrestrict themselves to everyday fare? Not to mention thefree-riding script-kiddies who use this technology withoutknowing what are the underlying ideas.\bigskip\bigskip \noindent If you want to know more aboutbuffer overflow attacks, the original Phrack article``Smashing The Stack For Fun And Profit'' by Elias Levy (alsoknown as Aleph One) is an engaging read:\begin{center}\url{http://phrack.org/issues/49/14.html}\end{center} \end{document}%%% Local Variables: %%% mode: latex%%% TeX-master: t%%% End: