In terms of security a threat is an action or tool, which can exploit and expose vulnerability and therefore compromise the integrity of the given system. Not all threats are equal in terms of their ability to expose and exploit the vulnerability. In this regard the main threat to a network comes from malicious hackers and from intruders.
The following are some of the major attacks which are known to be the major threats to any particular network.
- Exploit attack: In this type of attack, the attacker knows of a security problem within an operating system or a piece of software and leverages that knowledge by exploiting the vulnerability.
- Social engineer attack: With a social engineer attack, the attacker compromises the network or system through social interaction with an individual (such as through email or phone can) and tricks the individual into divulging information that can be used in a subsequent attack. For example, a hacker may call the employee, impersonate the network administrator, and try to obtain the user's password.
- Eavesdropping attack: This widely used type of attack typically involves the use of network monitoring tools to analyze and read communications on the network.
- Spoof attack: In a spoof attack, the hacker modifies the source address of the packets he or she is sending so that they appear to be coming from someone else. This may be attempted to try to bypass your firewall rules.
- Hijack attack: In a hijack attack, a hacker takes over a session between you and another individual and disconnects the other individual from the communication. You still believe that you are talking to the original party and may send private information to the backer unintentionally.
- Denial of service: A denial of service (DOS) is a type of attack that causes the system or its services to crash. As a result, the system cannot perform its purpose and provide those services.
- Distributed denial of service (DDOS): The hacker uses multiple systems to attack a single target system. A good example is the SMURF attack, in which the hacker pings a number of computers but modifies the source address of those packets so that they appear to come from another system (the victim in this case). When all of these systems receive the ping request, all systems will reply to the same address, essentially overburdening that system with data.
- Password attack: An attacker tries to crack the passwords stored in a network account database or a password protected file. To use this method hackers use many freeware software applications which can be easily download from the web.
One of the most effective ways of all times, in protecting against these kinds of attacks is, awareness! Having a current knowledge about security and having heard the most commonly adopted ways that people use to fool around people may save your network!
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