COM 426 COMPUT4R SECURITY COURSE NOTEpdf
COM 426 COMPUT4R SECURITY COURSE NOTEpdf
1. Malware Attack
This is one of the most common types of cyberattacks. “Malware” refers to malicious
software viruses including worms, spyware, ransomware, adware, and trojans.
The trojan virus disguises itself as legitimate software. Ransomware blocks access to the
network's key components, whereas Spyware is software that steals all your confidential
data without your knowledge. Adware is software that displays advertising content such
as banners on a user's screen.
Malware breaches a network through a vulnerability. When the user clicks a dangerous
link, it downloads an email attachment or when an infected pen drive is used.
2. Phishing Attack
Phishing attacks are one of the most prominent widespread types of cyberattacks. It is a
type of social engineering attack wherein an attacker impersonates to be a trusted
contact and sends the victim fake mails.
Unaware of this, the victim opens the mail and clicks on the malicious link or opens the
mail's attachment. By doing so, attackers gain access to confidential information and
account credentials. They can also install malware through a phishing attack.
Scrutinize the emails you receive. Most phishing emails have significant errors like
spelling mistakes and format changes from that of legitimate sources.
Make use of an anti-phishing toolbar.
3. Password Attack
It is a form of attack wherein a hacker cracks your password with various programs and
password cracking tools like Aircrack, Cain, Abel, John the Ripper, Hashcat, etc. There
are different types of password attacks like brute force attacks, dictionary attacks, and
keylogger attacks.
Abstain from using the same password for multiple websites or accounts.
Update your passwords; this will limit your exposure to a password attack.
4. Man-in-the-Middle Attack
As seen below, the client-server communication has been cut off, and instead, the
communication line goes through the hacker.
Be mindful of the security of the website you are using. Use encryption on your
devices.
Carry out a validation of the user-supplied data. With a validation process, it keeps
the user input in check.
6. Denial-of-Service Attack
When this happens, catering to the incoming requests becomes overwhelming for the
servers, resulting in the website it hosts either shut down or slow down. This leaves the
legitimate service requests unattended.
7. Insider Threat
As the name suggests, an insider threat does not involve a third party but an insider. In
such a case; it could be an individual from within the organization who knows
everything about the organization. Insider threats have the potential to cause
tremendous damages.
Insider threats are rampant in small businesses, as the staff there hold access to
multiple accounts with data. Reasons for this form of an attack are many, it can be
greed, malice, or even carelessness. Insider threats are hard to predict and hence tricky.
To prevent the insider threat attack:
With a DoS attack, the target site gets flooded with illegitimate requests. Because the site
has to respond to each request, its resources get consumed by all the responses. This makes
it impossible for the site to serve users as it normally does and often results in a complete
shutdown of the site.
DoS and DDoS attacks are different from other types of cyber attacks that enable the hacker
to either obtain access to a system or increase the access they currently have. With these
types of attacks, the attacker directly benefits from their efforts. With DoS and DDoS
network attacks, on the other hand, the objective is simply to interrupt the effectiveness of
the target's service. If the attacker is hired by a business competitor, they may benefit
financially from their efforts.
Ransomware
With Ransomware, the victim’s system is held hostage until they agree to pay a ransom to
the attacker. After the payment has been sent, the attacker then provides instructions
regarding how the target can regain control of their computer. The name "ransomware” is
appropriate because the malware demands a ransom from the victim.
URL Interpretation
With URL interpretation, attackers alter and fabricate certain URL addresses and use them
to gain access to the target’s personal and professional data. This kind of attack is also
referred to as URL poisoning. The name “URL interpretation” comes from the fact that the
attacker knows the order in which a web-page’s URL information needs to be entered. The
attacker then “interprets” this syntax, using it to figure out how to get into areas they do not
have access to.
DNS Spoofing
With Domain Name System (DNS) spoofing, a hacker alters DNS records to send traffic to a
fake or “spoofed” website. Once on the fraudulent site, the victim may enter sensitive
information that can be used or sold by the hacker. The hacker may also construct a poor-
quality site with derogatory or inflammatory content to make a competitor company look
bad.
In a DNS spoofing attack, the attacker takes advantage of the fact that the user thinks the
site they are visiting is legitimate. This gives the attacker the ability to commit crimes in the
name of an innocent company, at least from the perspective of the visitor.
Session Hijacking
Session hijacking is one of multiple types of MITM attacks. The attacker takes over a session
between a client and the server. The computer being used in the attack substitutes its
Internet Protocol (IP) address for that of the client computer, and the server continues the
session without suspecting it is communicating with the attacker instead of the client. This
kind of attack is effective because the server uses the client's IP address to verify its identity.
If the attacker's IP address is inserted partway through the session, the server may not
suspect a breach because it is already engaged in a trusted connection.
A brute-force attack gets its name from the “brutish” or simple methodology employed by
the attack. The attacker simply tries to guess the login credentials of someone with access to
the target system. Once they get it right, they are in.
Trojan Horses
A Trojan horse attack uses a malicious program that is hidden inside a seemingly legitimate
one. When the user executes the presumably innocent program, the malware inside the
Trojan can be used to open a backdoor into the system through which hackers can penetrate
the computer or network. This threat gets its name from the story of the Greek soldiers who
hid inside a horse to infiltrate the city of Troy and win the war. Once the “gift” was accepted
and brought within the gates of Troy, the Greek soldiers jumped out and attacked. In a
similar way, an unsuspecting user may welcome an innocent-looking application into their
system only to usher in a hidden threat.
Centralize:
All logs should be centralized into a single platform to streamline analysis, search and
investigations. Be careful not to leave out critical systems to avoid missing logs with
crucial information when investigating a breach.
Incident response (IR) is the steps used to prepare for, detect, contain,
and recover from a data breach
IMPORTANCE OF INCEDENCE RESPONSE
A well-designed IR Plan can ensure efficient identification, containment and resolution
of cyber security incidents. It will also help organisations to:
• Minimise downtime & financial losses.
• Quickly assess the impact of cyber threats & take corrective measures.
• Identify the root cause of an attack & prevent similar incidents in future.
• Restore normal operations & protect data from further loss or misuse.
These assessments typically involve testing the application for common vulnerabilities,
such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and cross-site request forgery
(CSRF). Application vulnerability assessments can be performed using both
automated and manual methods.
3. API-Based Vulnerability Assessment
These assessments typically involve scanning the host system for known
vulnerabilities, such as missing security patches or outdated software. Host-based
vulnerability assessments can be performed using both automated and manual
methods.
5. Wireless Network Vulnerability Assessment
These assessments scan the cloud infrastructure for known vulnerabilities and test the
security of cloud applications and services.
1. Asset discovery
First, you need to decide what you want to scan, which isn’t always as simple
as it sounds. One of the most common cyber security challenges facing
organizations is a lack of visibility into their digital infrastructure and its
connected devices. Some reasons for this include:
IoT Devices: IoT devices are part of the corporate infrastructure but may
be connected primarily to mobile networks.
2. Prioritization
Once you know what you’ve got, the next question is whether you can afford to
run a vulnerability assessment on all of it. In a perfect world, you would be
running a vulnerability assessment regularly on all of your systems. However,
vendors often charge per-asset, so prioritization can help where budgets can’t
cover every asset the company owns.
Some examples of where you may wish to prioritize are:
Internet-facing servers
Customer-facing applications
3. Vulnerability scanning
Vulnerability scanners are designed to identify known security weaknesses
and provide guidance on how to fix them. Because these vulnerabilities are
commonly publicly reported, there is a lot of information available about
vulnerable software. Vulnerability scanners use this information to identify
vulnerable devices and software in an organization’s infrastructure. The
scanner initially sends probes to systems to identify:
Software versions
Configuration settings
based upon its severity. When planning for remediation, focus on the
most severe vulnerabilities first, but avoid ignoring the rest forever. It’s
not uncommon for hackers to chain several mild vulnerabilities to create
an exploit. A good vulnerability scanner will suggest timelines for when
to fix each issue.
Identifying weak spots in your armor helps you to address them in the next
steps.
Verify Security Vendor SLA
Consider Upgrading Your DDoS Defenses