Different Kinds of Backdoor Access

There are a lot of different types of backdoors, but each one bypasses the traditional security on a system so that the attacker can gain access. For example, normal users might have to type in a password that changes every 90 days. With a backdoor, an attacker could use a static password that never needs to be changed, like the "joshua" password that lingered for years on the WarGames computer. Similarly, normal users might have to authenticate with a one-time password or smart card. Using a backdoor planted on the system, an attacker might be able to log in without providing any password at all. Normal users might be forced to use some fancy-pants encrypted protocol to access the machine. The attacker could use a backdoor to access the box using an entirely different protocol. Once a backdoor is installed, it's up to the attacker to determine how the attacker will access the box.

A lot of people refer to every single backdoor as a Trojan horse or simply a Trojan. This mixing together of the terms backdoor and Trojan horse is quite confusing and should be avoided. Backdoors simply give access. Trojan horses, pretend to be some useful program. Don't mix the terms up. If a program just gives backdoor access, it's just a backdoor. If it pretends to be some useful program, it's a Trojan horse. Of course some tools are both backdoors and Trojan horses at the same time. However, a backdoor is only a Trojan horse if the attacker attempts to dress it up as some useful program. We label such tools with the unambiguous phrase Trojan horse backdoors, because they give access while pretending to be some benign program. Using the terminology properly will help people understand what types of tools and attacks you are talking about.

As you can see in our definition, backdoors are focused on giving the attacker access to the target machine. This access could take many different forms, depending on the attacker's goals and the particular backdoor in use. Backdoors could give the attacker many different types of access, including the following:

• Local Escalation of Privilege: This type of backdoor lets attackers with an account on the system suddenly change their privilege level to root or administrator. With these superuser privileges, the attacker can reconfigure the box or access any files stored on it.

• Remote Execution of Individual Commands: Using this type of backdoor, an attacker can send a message to the target machine to execute a single command at a time. The backdoor runs the attacker's command and returns the output to the attacker.

• Remote Command-Line Access: Also known as remote shell, this type of backdoor lets the attacker type directly into a command prompt of the victim machine from across the network. The attacker can utilize all of the features of the command line, including the ability to run a series of commands, write scripts, and select groups of files to manipulate. Remote shells are more powerful than simple remote execution of individual commands because they simulate the attacker having direct access to the keyboard of the target system.

• Remote Control of the GUI: Rather than messing around with command lines, some backdoors let an attacker see the GUI of the victim machine, control mouse movements, and enter keystrokes, all across the network. With remote control of the GUI, the attacker can watch all of a victim's actions on the machine or even remotely control the GUI.

Regardless of which type of access the backdoor provides, we can see that each of these methods is focused on control. Backdoors let the attacker control the box, usually remotely across a network. With a backdoor installed on the target, an attacker can use this control to search the machine for sensitive files, to alter any data stored on the system, to reconfigure the box, or even to trash the system. Using a backdoor, the attacker could have just as much control of the victim machine as that machine's own administrator. Topping it off, an attacker can exercise this control from anywhere in the world across the Internet.