Computer hijacking is a network security attack in which the attacker seizes control of computer systems, software programs, and/or network communications.
A control-hijacking attack modifies a victim program's data structures, alters its control flow, and eventually seizes control of the program and perhaps the underlying system. These types of attacks eventually make it possible to corrupt or overwrite the data that was being stored. A control-sensitive data structure is one that can alter the control flow of a program. Examples include return addresses, function pointers, global offset tables/import tables, C+ + virtual functions table pointers, etc.
Once the attacker seizes control of the victim program, she can perform any operation that the effective use of the victim program is permitted to perform. Attacks that directly exploit software bugs without the need for user intervention are regarded as the most dangerous because they are used as the fundamental building blocks by malicious computer worms to spread from one machine to another.
A type of network security attack known as cyber hijacking, also known as computer hijacking, involves the attacker seizing control of computer systems, software, and/or network communications. A variety of cyber-attacks rely on hijacking in one way or another. Like other hijackings, such as when a criminal takes control of an armored transport vehicle or when an airplane is hijacked, cyber-hijacking is frequently, though not always, highly illegal and has serious repercussions for both the attacker and the victim.
There are several different kinds of cyber hijacking, among them:
Browser hijacking
Session hijacking
Domain hijacking
Clipboard hijacking
Domain name system (DNS) hijacking
Internet Protocol (IP) hijacking
Page hijacking