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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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