RashtreeyaSikshanaSamithi Trust

RV Institute of Technology and Management®

(Affiliated to VTU, Belagavi)

JP Nagar, Bengaluru – 560076

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering

Course Name: INTODUCTION TO CYBER SECURITY

Course Code: 22ETC154/254
I/II Semester
2022 Scheme

Prepared By
Dr. Vikash Kumar
Department of ECE
RV Institute of Technology & Management
 Module 3: Tools and Methods used in Cybercrime

UNIT -III: Tools and Methods Used in Cybercrime

Introduction, Proxy Servers And Anonymizers, Phishing, Password Cracking, Key Loggers
And Spywares, Virus And Worms, Trojan Horses And Backdoors, Steganography, DoS And
DDoS Attacks, Attacks On Wireless Networks.

Introduction
Different forms of attacks through which attackers target the computer systems are as
follows:
1. Initial uncovering:
 Two steps are involved here.
i. In the first step called as reconnaissance, the attacker gathers information
about the target on the Internet websites.
ii. In the second step, the attacker finds the company’s internal
network, such as, Internet domain, machine names and the company’s
Internet Protocol (IP) address ranges to steal the data.
2. Network probe (investigation):

 At the network probe stage, the attacker scans the organization information
through a “ping sweep” of the network IP addresses.
 Then a “port scanning” tool is used to discover exactly which services are running
on the target system.
 At this point, the attacker has still not done anything that would be
considered as an abnormal activity on the network or anything that can be
classified as an intrusion.

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 Module 3: Tools and Methods used in Cybercrime

3. Crossing the line toward electronic crime (E-crime):

 Once the attackers are able to access a user account, then they will attempt further
exploits to get an administrator or “root” access.
 Root access is a UNIX term and is associated with the system privileges required
to run all services and access all files on the system (readers are expected to have
a basic familiarity with Unix-based systems).
 “Root” is an administrator or super-user access and grants them the privileges to
do anything on the system.
4. Capturing the network:
 At this stage, the attacker attempts to “own” the network. The attacker gains the
internal network quickly and easily by target systems.
 The next step is to remove any evidence of the attack. The attacker will usually
install a set of tools that replace existing files and services with Trojan files
and services that have a backdoor password.
5. Grab the data:
 Now that the attacker has “captured the network,” he/she takes advantage of
his/her position to steal confidential data
6. Covering tracks:
 This is the last step in any cyber attack, which refers to the activities
undertaken by the attacker to extend misuse of the system without being
detected.
 The attacker can remain undetected for long periods.
 During this entire process, the attacker takes optimum care to hide his/her identity
(ID) from the first step itself.

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 Module 3: Tools and Methods used in Cybercrime

Proxy Servers and Anonymizers

Proxy server is a computer on a network which acts as an intermediary for connection
with other computers on that network.
 The attacker first connects to a proxy server and establishes a connection with the
target system through existing connection with proxy.
 This enables an attacker to surf on the Web anonymously and/or hide the attack.
 A client connects to the proxy server and requests some services (such as a file, webpage)
available from a different server.
 The proxy server evaluates the request and provides the resource by establishing
the connection to the respective server and/or requests the required service on
behalf of the client.
 Using a proxy server can allow an attacker to hide ID (i.e., become anonymous
on the network).
A proxy server has following purposes:
1. Keep the systems behind the curtain (mainly for security reasons).
2. Speed up access to a resource (through “caching”). It is usually used to cache the web
pages from a web server.
3. Specialized proxy servers are used to filter unwanted content such as advertisements.
4. Proxy server can be used as IP address multiplexer to enable to connect number of
computers on the Internet, whenever one has only one IP address
 One of the advantages of a proxy server is that its cache memory can serve all
users.
 If one or more websites are requested frequently, may be by different users, it is
likely to be in the proxy’s cache memory, which will improve user response time.
 An anonymizer or an anonymous proxy is a tool that attempts to make activity on
the Internet untraceable. It accesses the Internet on the user’s behalf, protecting
personal information by hiding the source computer’s identifying information.
 Anonymizers are services used to make Web surfing anonymous by utilizing a
website that acts as a proxy server for the web client.

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 Module 3: Tools and Methods used in Cybercrime

Phishing
“Phishing” refers to an attack using mail programs to deceive Internet users into disclosing
confidential information that can be then exploited for illegal purposes.
 While checking electronic mail (E-Mail) one day a user finds a message from the bank
threatening to close the bank account if he/she does not reply immediately.
 Although the message seems to be suspicious from the contents of the message, it is
difficult to conclude that it is a fake/false E-Mail.
 This message and other such messages are examples of Phishing – in addition to stealing
personal and financial data – and can infect systems with viruses and also a method of
online ID theft in various cases.
 These messages look authentic and attempt to get users to reveal their personal
information.
 It is believed that Phishing is an alternative spelling of “fishing,” as in “to fish for
information.”
 The first documented use of the word “Phishing” was in 1996.

How Phishing Works?

Phishers work in the following ways:
1. Planning: Criminals, usually called as phishers, decide the target.
2. Setup: Once phishers know which business/business house to spoof and who their
victims.
3. Attack: the phisher sends a phony message that appears to be from a reputable source.
4. Collection: Phishers record the information of victims entering into webpages or pop-
up windows.
5. Identity theft and fraud: Phishers use the information that they have gathered to make
illegal purchases or commit fraud.
Nowadays, more and more organizations/institutes provide greater online access for their
customers and hence criminals are successfully using Phishing techniques to steal personal
information and conduct ID theft at a global level.

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 Module 3: Tools and Methods used in Cybercrime

Password Cracking
 Password is like a key to get an entry into computerized systems like a lock.
 Password cracking is a process of recovering passwords from data that have been stored
in or transmitted by a computer system.
 Usually, an attacker follows a common approach – repeatedly making guesses for
the password.
The purpose of password cracking is as follows:
1. To recover a forgotten password.
2. As a preventive measure by system administrators to check for easily crackable
passwords.
3. To gain unauthorized access to a system.
Manual password cracking is to attempt to logon with different passwords. The attacker
follows the following steps:
1. Find a valid user account such as an Administrator or Guest;
2. create a list of possible passwords;
3. rank the passwords from high to low probability;
4. key-in each password;
5. try again until a successful password is found.
Passwords can be guessed sometimes with knowledge of the user’s personal
information. Examples of guessable passwords include:
1. Blank (none);
2. the words like “password,” “passcode” and “admin”;
3. series of letters from the “QWERTY” keyboard, for example, qwerty, asdf or
qwertyuiop;
4. user’s name or login name;
5. name of user’s friend/relative/pet;
6. user’s birthplace or date of birth, or a relative’s or a friend’s;
7. user’s vehicle number, office number, residence number or mobile number;
8. name of a celebrity who is considered to be an idol (e.g., actors, actress, spiritual gurus)
by the user;

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 Module 3: Tools and Methods used in Cybercrime

 An attacker can also create a script file (i.e., automated program) which will be executed
to try each password in a list.
 This is still considered manual cracking, is time-consuming and not usually effective.
 Passwords are stored in a database and password verification process is established into
the system when a user attempts to login or access a restricted resource.
 To ensure confidentiality of passwords, the password verification data is usually
not stored in a clear text format.
 For example, one-way function (which may be either an encryption function
or a cryptographic hash) is applied to the password, possibly in combination with other
data, and the resulting value is stored.
 When a user attempts to login to the system by entering the password, the same function
is applied to the entered value and the result is compared with the stored value. If they
match, user gains the access; this process is called authentication.
The most commonly used hash functions can be computed rapidly and the attacker can test
these hashes with the help of passwords cracking tools (see Table 4.3) to get the plain text
password.
Password cracking attacks can be classified under three categories as follows:
1. Online attacks;
2. offline attacks;
3. non-electronic attacks (e.g., social engineering, shoulder surfing and dumpster diving).
Online Attacks
 An attacker can create a script file that will be executed to try each password in a list and
when matches, an attacker can gain the access to the system.
 The most popular online attack is man-in-the middle (MITM) attack, also termed as
“bucket- brigade attack” or sometimes “Janus attack.”
 It is a form of active stealing in which the attacker establishes a connection between a
victim and the server to which a victim is connected.
 When a victim client connects to the fraudulent server, the MITM server intercepts the
call, hashes the password and passes the connection to the victim server (e.g., an attacker
within reception range of an unencrypted Wi-Fi wireless access point can insert himself
as a man-in- the-middle).

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 Module 3: Tools and Methods used in Cybercrime

 This type of attack is used to obtain the passwords for E-Mail accounts on public
websites such as Yahoo, Hotmail and Gmail and can also used to get the
passwords for financial websites that would like to gain the access to banking websites.

Offline Attacks
 Mostly offline attacks are performed from a location other than the target (i.e.,
either a computer system or while on the network) where these passwords reside or are
used.
 Offline attacks usually require physical access to the computer and copying the password
file from the system onto removable media.

Password guidelines.
1. Passwords used for business E-Mail accounts, personal E-Mail accounts and
banking/financial user accounts should be kept separate.
2. Passwords should be of minimum eight alphanumeric characters (common names or
phrases should be phrased).
3. Passwords should be changed every 30/45 days.
4. Passwords should not be shared with relatives and/or friends.
5. Password used previously should not be used while renewing the password.
6. Passwords of personal E-Mail accounts and banking/financial user accounts should
be changed from a secured system, within couple of days, if these E-Mail
accounts has been accessed from public Internet facilities such as
cybercafes/hotels/libraries.
7. Passwords should not be stored under mobile phones/PDAs, as these devices are also
prone to cyberattacks.
8. In case E-Mail accounts/user accounts have been hacked, respective agencies/institutes
should be contacted immediately.

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 Module 3: Tools and Methods used in Cybercrime

Keyloggers and Spywares

 Keystroke logging, often called keylogging, is the practice of noting (or logging) the keys
struck on a keyboard, typically in a covert manner so that the person using the keyboard
is unaware that such actions are being monitored.
 Keystroke logger or keylogger is quicker and easier way of capturing the passwords and
monitoring the victims’ IT savvy behavior. It can be classified as software keylogger and
hardware keylogger.
Software Keyloggers
 Software keyloggers are software programs installed on the computer systems which
usually are located between the OS and the keyboard hardware, and every keystroke is
recorded.
 Software keyloggers are installed on a computer system by Trojans or viruses without the
knowledge of the user.
 Cybercriminals always install such tools on the insecure computer systems available in
public places (i.e., cybercafés, etc) and can obtain the required information about the
victim very easily.
 A keylogger usually consists of two files that get installed in the same directory: a
dynamic link library (DLL) file and an EXEcutable (EXE) file that installs the DLL file
and triggers it to work. DLL does all the recording of keystrokes.
Some Important Keyloggers are as follows
All In One Keylogger Stealth Keylogger Perfect Keylogger
KGB Spy Spy Buddy Elite Keylogger
CyberSpy Powered Keylogger

Hardware Keyloggers
 Hardware keyloggers are small hardware devices.
 These are connected to the PC and/or to the keyboard and save every keystroke into a file
or in the memory of the hardware device.
 Cybercriminals install such devices on ATM machines to capture ATM Cards’ PINs.
 Each keypress on the keyboard of the ATM gets registered by these keyloggers.
 These keyloggers look like an integrated part of such systems; hence, bank customers are
unaware of their presence.

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 Module 3: Tools and Methods used in Cybercrime

Antikeylogger
 Antikeylogger is a tool that can detect the keylogger installed on the computer system
and can remove the tool. (Visit http://www.anti-keyloggers.com for more information)
Advantages of using antikeylogger are as follows:
1. Firewalls cannot detect the installations of keyloggers on the systems; hence,
antikeyloggers can detect installations of keylogger.
2. This software does not require regular updates of signature bases to work effectively such
as other antivirus and antispy programs; if not updated, it does not serve the purpose,
which makes the users at risk.
3. Prevents Internet banking frauds. Passwords can be easily gained with the help of
installing keyloggers.
4. It prevents ID theft
5. It secures E-Mail and instant messaging/chatting.

Spywares
 Spyware is a type of malware (i.e., malicious software) that is installed on computers
which collects information about users without their knowledge.
 The presence of Spyware is typically hidden from the user; it is secretly installed on the
user’s personal computer.
 Sometimes, however, Spywares such as keyloggers are installed by the owner of a
shared, corporate or public computer on purpose to secretly monitor other users.
Some Important Spywares are as follows:
Spy. Spector Pro. Spector Pro.
eBlaster. Remotespy . Stealth Recorder Pro.
Stealth Website Logger. Flexispy. Wiretap Professional.
PC PhoneHome. SpyArsenal Print Monitor Pro.

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 Module 3: Tools and Methods used in Cybercrime

Virus and Worms

 Computer virus is a program that can “infect” legitimate programs by modifying them to
include a possibly “evolved” copy of itself.
 Viruses spread themselves, without the knowledge or permission of the users, to
potentially large numbers of programs on many machines.
 A computer virus passes from computer to computer in a similar manner as a biological
virus passes from person to person.
 Viruses may also contain malicious instructions that may cause damage or annoyance;
the combination of possibly Malicious Code with the ability to spread is what makes
viruses a considerable concern.
 Viruses can often spread without any readily visible symptoms.
 A virus can start on event-driven effects (e.g., triggered after a specific number of
executions), time-driven effects (e.g., triggered on a specific date, such as Friday the
13th) or can occur at random.
Viruses can take some typical actions:
1. Display a message to prompt an action which may set of the virus;
2. delete files inside the system into which viruses enter;
3. scramble data on a hard disk;
4. cause erratic screen behavior;
5. halt the system (PC);
6. just replicate themselves to propagate further harm.

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 Module 3: Tools and Methods used in Cybercrime

Figure 3.1: Virus Spread Through Internet

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 Module 3: Tools and Methods used in Cybercrime

Figure 3.2 : Virus Spread Through stand alone System

 Computer virus has the ability to copy itself and infect the system.
 The term virus is also commonly but erroneously used to refer to other types of malware,
Adware and Spyware programs that do not have reproductive ability.
 A true virus can only spread from one system to another (in some form of executable
code) when its host is taken to the target computer; for instance, when a user sent it over
the Internet or a network, or carried it on a removable media such as CD, DVD or USB
drives.
 Viruses can increase their chances of spreading to other systems by infecting files on a
network file system or a file system that is accessed by another system.
 Malware includes computer viruses, worms, Trojans, most Rootkits, Spyware, dishonest
Adware, crimeware and other malicious and unwanted software as well as true viruses.
 Viruses are sometimes confused with computer worms and Trojan Horses, which are
technically different (see Table 4.7 to understand the difference between computer virus
and worm).
 A worm spreads itself automatically to other computers through networks by exploiting
security vulnerabilities, whereas a Trojan is a code/program that appears to be harmless
but hides malicious functions.

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 Worms and Trojans, such as viruses, may harm the system’s data or performance.
 Some viruses and other malware have noticeable symptoms that enable computer user to
take necessary corrective actions, but many viruses are surreptitious or simply do nothing
for user’s to take note of them.
 Some viruses do nothing beyond reproducing themselves.

Types of Viruses
1. Boot sector viruses: It infects the storage media on which OS is stored (e.g., hard drives)
and which is used to start the computer system.
2. Program viruses: These viruses become active when the program file (usually with
extensions .bin, .com,.exe, .ovl, .drv) is excuted
3. Multipartite viruses: It is a hybrid of a boot sector and program viruses. It infects
program files along with the boot record when the infected program is active.
4. Stealth viruses: It hides itself and so detecting this type of virus is very difficult. It can
hiding itself such a way that antivirus software also cannot detect it. Example for Stealth
virus is “Brain Virus”.
5. Polymorphic viruses: It acts like a “chameleon” that changes its virus signature (i.e.,
binary pattern) every time it spreads through the system (i.e., multiplies and infects a new
file). Hence, it is always difficult to detect polymorphic virus with the help of an antivirus
program.
6. Macro viruses: Many applications, such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel,
support MACROs (i.e., macrolanguages). These macros are programmed as a macro
embedded in a document. Once macrovirus gets onto a victim’s computer then every
document he/she produces will become infected.
7. Active X and Java Control: All the web browsers have settings about Active X and
Java Controls.
World’s worst worm attacks.
Conficker INF/AutoRun Win32 PSW Win32/Agent
Win32/FlyStudio Win32/Pacex.Gen Win32/Qhost WMA/ TrojanDownloader

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The world’s worst virus and worm attacks!!!

Morris Worm ILOVEYOU Nimda Jerusalem
Code Red Melissa Melissa
Sobig Storm Worm Michelangelo

Trojan Horses and Backdoors

 Trojan Horse is a program in which malicious or harmful code is contained inside
apparently harmless programming or data in such a way that it can get control and cause
harm, for example, ruining the file allocation table on the hard disk.
 A Trojan Horse may get widely redistributed as part of a computer virus.
 The term Trojan Horse comes from Greek mythology about the Trojan War.
 Like Spyware and Adware, Trojans can get into the system in a number of ways,
including from a web browser, via E-Mail.
 It is possible that one could be forced to reformat USB flash drive or other portable
device to eliminate infection and avoid transferring it to other machines.
 Unlike viruses or worms, Trojans do not replicate themselves but they can be equally
destructive.
 On the surface, Trojans appear benign and harmless, but once the infected code is
executed, Trojans kick in and perform malicious functions to harm the computer system
without the user’s knowledge.
 For example, waterfalls.scr is a waterfall screen saver as originally claimed by the author;
however, it can be associated with malware and become a Trojan to unload hidden
programs and allow unauthorized access to the user’s PC.

Some typical examples of threats by Trojans are as follows:

1. They erase, overwrite or corrupt data on a computer.
2. They help to spread other malware such as viruses (by a dropper Trojan).
3. They deactivate or interfere with antivirus and firewall programs.
4. They allow remote access to your computer (by a remote access Trojan).
5. They upload and download files without your knowledge.
6. They gather E-Mail addresses and use them for Spam.

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7. They log keystrokes to steal information such as passwords and credit card numbers.
8. They copy fake links to false websites, display porno sites, play sounds/videos and
display images.
9. They slow down, restart or shutdown the system.
10. They reinstall themselves after being disabled.
11. They disable the task manager.
12. They disable the control panel.

Backdoor
 A backdoor is a means of access to a computer program that bypasses security
mechanisms. A programmer may sometimes install a backdoor so that the program can
be accessed for troubleshooting or other purposes.
 However, attackers often use backdoors that they detect or install themselves as part of an
exploit.
 In some cases, a worm is designed to take advantage of a backdoor created by an earlier
attack.
 A backdoor works in background and hides from the user.
 It is very similar to a virus and, therefore, is quite difficult to detect and completely
disable.
 A backdoor is one of the most dangerous parasite, as it allows a malicious person to
perform any possible action on a compromised system.

Following are some functions of backdoor:

1. It allows an attacker to create, delete, rename, copy or edit any file, execute various
commands; change any system settings; alter the Windows registry; run, control and
terminate applications; install arbitrary software and parasites.
2. It allows an attacker to control computer hardware devices, modify related settings,
shutdown or restart a computer without asking for user permission.
3. It steals sensitive personal information, valuable documents, passwords, login names, ID
details; logs user activity and tracks web browsing habits.

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4. It records keystrokes that a user types on a computer’s keyboard and captures

screenshots.
5. It sends all gathered data to a predefined E-Mail address, uploads it to a predetermined
FTP server or transfers it through a background Internet connection to a remote host.
6. It infects files, corrupts installed applications and damages the entire system.

Following are a few examples of backdoor Trojans:

1. Back Orifice
2. Bifrost:
3. SAP backdoors
4. Onapsis Bizploit:

Follow the following steps to protect your systems from Trojan Horses and backdoors:
1. Stay away from suspect websites/weblinks:
2. Surf on the Web cautiously:
3. Install antivirus/Trojan remover software:

Steganography
 Steganography is the practice of concealing (hiding) a file, message, image, or video
within another file, message, image, or video. The word steganography combines the
Greek words steganos , meaning "covered, concealed, or protected", and graphein
meaning "writing".
 It is a method that attempts to hide the existence of a message or communication.
 Steganography is always misunderstood with cryptography
 The different names for steganography are data hiding, information hiding and digital
watermarking.
 Steganography can be used to make a digital watermark to detect illegal copying of
digital images. Thus, it aids confidentiality and integrity of the data.
 Digital watermarking is the process of possibly irreversibly embedding information into
a digital signal.
 The Digital signal may be, for example, audio, pictures or video.

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 If the signal is copied then the information is also carried in the copy.
 In other words, when steganography is used to place a hidden “trademark” in images,
music and software, the result is a technique referred to as “watermarking”

Steganalysis
 Steganalysis is the art and science of detecting messages that are hidden in images,
audio/video files using steganography.
 The goal of steganalysis is to identify suspected packages and to determine whether or
not they have a payload encoded into them, and if possible recover it.
 Automated tools are used to detect such steganographed data/information hidden in the
image and audio and/or video files.

DoS and DDoS Attacks

A denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) or distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS
attack) is an attempt to make a computer resource (i.e., information systems) unavailable to its
intended users.

DoS Attacks
 In this type of criminal act, the attacker floods the bandwidth of the victim’s network
or fills his E-Mail box with Spam mail depriving him of the services he is entitled to
access or provide.
 The attackers typically target sites or services hosted on high-profile web servers
such as banks, credit card payment gateways, mobile phone networks and even root name
servers.

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 Buffer overflow technique is employed to commit such kind of criminal attack known as
Spoofing.
 The term IP address Spoofing refers to the creation of IP packets with a forged (spoofed)
source IP address with the purpose of concealing the ID of the sender or impersonating
another computing system.
 A packet is a formatted unit of data carried by a packet mode computer network.
 The attacker spoofs the IP address and floods the network of the victim with repeated
requests.
 As the IP address is fake, the victim machine keeps waiting for response from the
attacker’s machine for each request.
 This consumes the bandwidth of the network which then fails to serve the legitimate
requests and ultimately breaks down.
 The United States Computer Emergency Response Team defines symptoms of DoS
attacks to include:
1. Unusually slow network performance (opening fi les or accessing websites);
2. unavailability of a particular website;
3. inability to access any website;
4. dramatic increase in the number of Spam E-Mails received (this type of DoS
attack is termed as an E-Mail bomb).
The goal of DoS is not to gain unauthorized access to systems or data, but to prevent
intended users (i.e., legitimate users) of a service from using it.

A DoS attack may do the following:

1. Flood a network with traffic, thereby preventing legitimate network traffic.
2. Disrupt connections between two systems, thereby preventing access to a service.
3. Prevent a particular individual from accessing a service.
4. Disrupt service to a specific system or person.

Classification of DoS Attacks

1. Bandwidth attacks: Loading any website takes certain time. Loading means complete
webpage appearing on the screen and system is awaiting user’s input.

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2. Logic attacks: These kind of attacks can exploit vulnerabilities in network software such
as web server or TCP/IP stack.
3. Protocol attacks: Protocols here are rules that are to be followed to send data over
network.
4. Unintentional DoS attack : This is a scenario where a website ends up denied not due to
a attack by a single individual or group of individuals, but simply due to a sudden
enormous spike in popularity.

Types or Levels of DoS Attacks

There are several types or levels of DoS attacks as follows:
1. Flood attack: This is the earliest form of DoS attack and is also known as ping food. It is
based on an attacker simply sending the victim overwhelming number of ping packets,
usually by using the “ping” command, which result into more traffic than the victim can
handle.
2. Ping of death attack: The ping of death attack sends oversized Internet Control
Message Protocol (ICMP) packets, and it is one of the core protocols of the IP Suite. It
is mainly used by networked computers’ OSs to send error messages indicating (e.g., that
a requested service is not available or that a host or router could not be reached)
datagrams (encapsulated in IP packets) to the victim.
3. SYN attack: It is also termed as TCP SYN Flooding. In the TCP, handshaking of
network connections is done with SYN and ACK messages.
 An attacker initiates a TCP connection to the server with an SYN.
 The server replies with an SYN-ACK.
 The client then does not send back an ACK, causing the server to allocate memory for
the pending connection and wait.
 This fills up the buffer space for SYN messages on the target system, preventing
other systems on the network from communicating with the target system.
4. Teardrop attack: The teardrop attack is an attack where fragmented packets are
forged to overlap each other when the receiving host tries to reassemble them. IP’s
packet fragmentation algorithm is used to send corrupted packets to confuse the victim

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and may hang the system. This attack can crash various OSs due to a bug in their TCP/IP
fragmentation reassembly code.
5. Smurf attack: This is a type of DoS attack that floods a target system via spoofed
broadcast ping messages. This attack consists of a host sending an echo request (ping)
to a network broadcast address.
6. Nuke: Nuke is an old DoS attack against computer networks consisting of fragmented
or invalid packets sent to the target.

Tools Used to Launch DoS Attack

1. Jolt2 : The vulnerability allows remote attackers to cause a DoS attack against Windows-
based machines – the attack causes the target machine to consume of the CPU time on
processing of illegal packets.
2. Nemesy : This program generates random packets of spoofed source IP to enable the
attacker to launch DoS attack.
3. Targa : It is a program that can be used to run eight different DoS attacks. The attacker
has the option to launch either individual attacks or try all the attacks until one is
successful.
4. Crazy Pinger : This tool could send large packets of ICMP(Internet Control Message
Protocol) to a remote target network.
5. SomeTrouble: It is a remote flooder and bomber. It is developed in Delphi.

DDoS Attacks
 In a DDoS attack, an attacker may use your computer to attack another computer.
 By taking advantage of security vulnerabilities or weaknesses, an attacker could take
control of your computer.
 He/she could then force your computer to send huge amounts of data to a website or send
Spam to particular E-Mail addresses.
 The attack is “distributed” because the attacker is using multiple computers, including
yours, to launch the DoS attack.
 A DDoS attack is a distributed DoS wherein a large number of zombie systems are
synchronized to attack a particular system.

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 The zombie systems are called “secondary victims” and the main target is called
“primary victim.”
 Malware can carry DDoS attack mechanisms – one of the better-known examples of this
is MyDoom.
 Botnet is the popular medium to launch DoS/DDoS attacks.
 Attackers can also break into systems using automated tools that exploit flaws in
programs that listen for connections from remote hosts.

How to Protect from DoS/DDoS Attacks

Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center (CERT/CC) offers many
preventive measures from being a victim of DoS attack.
1. Implement router filters. This will lessen your exposure to certain DoS attacks.
2. If such filters are available for your system, install patches to guard against TCP SYN
flooding.
3. Disable any unused or inessential network service.
4. Enable quota systems on your OS if they are available.
5. Observe your system’s performance and establish baselines for ordinary activity.
6. Routinely examine your physical security with regard to your current needs.
7. Use Tripwire or a similar tool to detect changes in configuration information or other
files.
8. Invest in and maintain “hot spares” – machines that can be placed into service quickly if a
similar machine is disabled.
9. Invest in redundant and fault-tolerant network configurations.
10. Establish and maintain regular backup schedules
11. Establish and maintain appropriate password policies

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Attacks on Wireless Networks

 Wireless technologies have become increasingly popular in day-to-day business and
personal lives.
 Hand-held devices such as the PDAs allow individuals to access calendars, E-Mail
addresses, phone number lists and the Internet.
 Wireless networks extend the range of traditional wired networks by using radio waves to
transmit data to wireless-enabled devices such as laptops and PDAs.
 Wireless networks are generally composed of two basic elements
o access points (APs) and
o other wireless-enabled devices, such as laptops radio transmitters and receivers to
communicate or “connect” with each other.
 APs are connected through physical wiring to a conventional network, and they broadcast
signals with which a wireless device can connect.
 Wireless access to networks has become very common by now in India – for
organizations and for individuals.

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 Module 3: Tools and Methods used in Cybercrime

Wireless Networks

Traditional Techniques of Attacks on Wireless Networks

In security breaches, penetration of a wireless network through unauthorized access is
termed as wireless cracking. There are various methods that demand high level of technological
skill and knowledge, and availability of numerous software tools made it less sophisticated with
minimal technological skill to crack WLANs.
1. Sniffing: The attacker usually installs the sniffers remotely on the victim’s system and
conducts activities such as
 Passive scanning of wireless network;
 detection of SSID;
 colleting the MAC address;
 collecting the frames to crack WEP.
2. Spoofing: The attacker often launches an attack on a wireless network by simply creating
a new network with a stronger wireless signal and a copied SSID in the same area as a
original network. Different types of Spoofing are as follows.
 MAC address Spoofing
 IP Spoofing:
 Frame Spoofing:
3. Denial of service (DoS): We have explained this attack in detail in UNIT-2.
4. Man-in-the-middle attack (MITM): It refers to the scenario wherein an attacker on host

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A inserts A between all communications – between hosts X and Y without knowledge of X

and Y. All messages sent by X do reach Y but through A and vice versa. The objective
behind this attack is to merely observe the communication or modify it before sending it
out.

5. Encryption cracking: It is always advised that the first step to protect wireless networks
is to use WPA encryption. The attackers always devise new tools and techniques to
deconstruct the older encryption technology, which is quite easy for attackers due to
continuous research in this field. Hence, the second step is to use a long and highly
randomized encryption key; this is very important. It is a little pain to remember long
random encryption; however, at the same time these keys are much harder to crack.

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How to Secure the Wireless Networks

Nowadays, security features of Wi-Fi networking products are not that
time-consuming and nonintuitive; however, they are still ignored, especially, by
home users. Although following summarized steps will help to improve and
strengthen the security of wireless network, to know the available tools to
monitor and protect the wireless networks:
1. Change the default settings of all the equipments/components of
wireless network (e.g., IP address/ user IDs/administrator passwords,
etc.).
2. Enable WPA/WEP encryption.
3. Change the default SSID.
4. Enable MAC address filtering.
5. Disable remote login.
6. Disable SSID broadcast.
7. Disable the features that are not used in the AP (e.g., printing/music support).
8. Avoid providing the network a name which can be easily identified (e.g., My_Ho
9. Connect only to secured wireless network (i.e., do not autoconnect to
open Wi-Fihotspots).
10. Upgrade router’s firmware periodically.
11. Assign static IP addresses to devices.
12. Enable firewalls on each computer and the router.
13. Position the router or AP safely.
14. Turn off the network during extended periods when not in use.
15. Periodic and regular monitor wireless network security.

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