Catered Cyber Attacks and Classification of Multiple Cyber Attacks
A cyberattack can be any offensive intrusion that targets information systems, infrastructures, computer networks, or personal computer devices, using various methods to steal, alter, or destroy data or information systems. A piece of comprehensive knowledge about multiple ways through which hackers can penetrate your networks is required to safeguard the networks.
Classification of Cyber Attacks
Some of the types of cyber attacks are listed below:
Phishing and spear-phishing attacks
This form of attack is executed to steal some confidential and some sensitive information like credit card numbers or passwords by masquerading as a legitimate enterprise. It is a combination of Social Engineering and technical tactics. Generally, it is executed through email spoofing that has some links to some legitimate appearing websites. It may have an attachment to an email that brings malware to your computer.
Spear phishing is a research-based attacking activity in which cybercriminals invest their time to do a lot of research on their targets and then they create personal and pertinent messages. Due to this, it is very hard to locate and harder to launch a defense mechanism.
Denial-of-service (DoS) and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks
A Denial of Service (DoS) attack is an intended practice to make an application or website unavailable to users through various means. One of the most common approaches is to flood the website with network traffic and they use multiple techniques like consuming huge amounts of network bandwidth or tie up other system resources, disrupting access for legitimate users.
The major difference between DoS and DDoS attcak is the number of sources, an attacker uses. In simplest form like in DoS, a lone attacker executes a DoS Attack by using a single source. While, in DDoS, an attacker uses numerous sources— such as distributed groups of malware-infected computers, routers, IoT devices, and other endpoints to execute the attack. A Flood of packets and requests are generated to burdened the target when compromised hosts and networks participate in the attack.
SQL Injections
It is a technique in which hackers trick the software that runs a website by taking advantage of security vulnerabilities of that software. These attacks hit any unprotected or improperly protected SQL database. The process involves entering portions of SQL code into a web form entry field – most commonly usernames and passwords so that a hacker can get access to the website or user’s account. So as long as you enter your credentials in sing-in blocks, that information gets converted into SL command. If your input data matches the data in the table, access is granted, or otherwise, access is denied. An SQL injection is generally an additional command that on insertion into the web form, tries to change the content of the database to reflect a successful login.
Theft of FTP Passwords
This is another technique of tempering websites in which hackers take advantage of the fact that quite a several webmasters save their website login information on their badly protected PCs. The hacker looks for the target’s victim for FTP login information and then shifts that to his remote system. After that, he can log into the web via his remote system and edits the web pages or web information.
Cross-site Scripting
It is a very simple technique to penetrate the system as it is a hard-to-find loophole in a web site, making it vulnerable to attack. Commonly, a hacker injects a web page with some malicious information like a client-side script or program. On visiting that page, that script is automatically downloaded in the researcher’s browser. Normally, attackers inject HTML, JavaScript, VBScript, ActiveX, or Flash into a vulnerable application to dodge you and collect confidential information.
Virus dissemination
Viruses are computer programs that infect a file or system by attaching themselves to the target and have the capability to circulate to other networks. They tend to affect the data and operating systems through deleting/modifying them. . “Worms” unlike viruses don’t need a host to cling on to. They get replicated unless they eat up all the memory in the system. Trojan horses are also types of viruses but different in their propagation. They appear as a legitimate file, such as an email attachment from a known sender with some trustworthy name. The user can also unknowingly install a Trojan-infected program via drive-by downloads when visiting a website, playing online games, or using internet-driven applications. It also causes damage like stealing information or disrupting the functionality of systems.
Eavesdropping attack
Eavesdropping attacks are executed through the interception of network traffic. Through these attacks, an attacker can obtain passwords, credit card numbers, and other confidential information that a target might be sending over the network.
It can be passive or active. In passive eavesdropping, a hacker gathers the information by listening to the message transmission in the network. Inactive eavesdropping, a hacker actively gets the information by disguising himself as a friendly unit and by sending queries to transmitters. This is called probing, scanning, or tampering. Data encryption is the best countermeasure for eavesdropping.
Man-in-the-Middle (MiTM) Attack
These types of attacks are executed when a hacker acts as a middleman between client and server and he overhears the information illegitimately between them. Every intersection between a client and a server has a session ID that is private to both of them. But, an intruder hijacks the session (through the XSS attack, for example) by capturing the session ID and poses as a legitimate resource and continuing the session with the server on behalf of the user. The invader gains access to unauthorized sets of information on the server and can wreak havoc. This attack comes in many flavors, like IP and DNS spoofing, replay attack, and session hijacking.
Malware attack
A malware attack could be any malicious software that is installed in the target’s system without its consent. This malicious software can attach itself to legitimate code and propagate; it can lurk in useful applications or replicate itself across the Internet. Some malware intends to gain access to troves of information, like credentials, credit card information, etc., while others are purely disruption oriented. They are orchestrated attacks to initiate problems in a computer, rendering the system inoperable.
Here are some of the most common types of malware:
• Macro viruses
• File infectors
• System or boot-record infectors
• Polymorphic
• Stealth viruses
• Logic bombs
• Worms
• Droppers
• Ransomware
Catered Cyber Attacks and Networkfort
NetworkFort is a security provider firm that offers multiple services and tools to mitigate all these attacks. It has a skilled team that not only delivers the services but also the assistance in any type of cyberattack. Its solution Suite can protect the customer against several types of cyberattacks.
For further queries, please visit our website http://www.networkfort.com