ATTACK METHODS ( Hacking Terminology)
Information security is as important as the information itself. In the complex world of web and interconnected networks, security is a major concern and only the proactive approach to secure our information can reduce/mitigate the risk posed by the advanced threats and attacks.
As the
technology is growing so are the ways to attack the system/networks.. some
popular attack methods to the systems/information are as below :
Virus :
Virus a
piece of code or program which is pushed in our system by attacker without
our knowledge and gets executed . Virus has the capability to replicate itself.The virus can spread in the system
in no time and can spread even across the network bypassing the security. Virus
can be less or more harmful depends on the code. Its kind of malware which is
attached to the files or programs and as the user runs
the programs the virus infects the system.
Worms:
Worm is
also a kind of virus but the only difference between virus and worms is that
virus needs human action to run as they are attached to the files and programs
but worms can run on its own and spread. They can travel independently from machine to machine, across the networks and cause severe damage to the applications/systems.
Trojan
Horse :
Trojan
horse could be a software or executable file which apparently looks useful
and once we execute, it will install some malicious code in the
system and send out the information across the network. It can
open some ports in the system without the knowledge and wishes of the victim
and open a backdoor for the attacker to gain unauthorised access
compromising the information.
E-mail
Spam:
Email
spam is the situation where the target mailbox is filled by usually unsolicited
mails resulting exceeding the mail quota and preventing the user to use the
email services. it can be un intentional if any of the users sends a mail copying
groups that contains hundreds of recipients. the situation aggravates when unaware recipients start replying to the mail creating flood or
chain of mails consuming the bandwidth and introducing Denial of Service.
Botnets:
A set of compromised computers which are called zombie
computers although their owners are unaware of this, running software usually
installed through worms, Trojan horse or backdoors. The 'Bot' has been taken from
Robot and 'Net' has been derived from network. According to a report from
Russian-based Kaspersky Labs, botnets -- not spam, viruses, or worms --
currently pose the biggest threat to the Internet.
Phishing:
The act
of sending the fraud mails to users falsely claiming from a
legitimate source and then direct them to some fake website persuading the users to
enter their confidential information like password, credit card details and
bank account details. The purpose of phishing is to steal the valuable
information of the users by befooling them. Phishers use a number of different social
engineering and e-mail spoofing ploys to try to trick their victims.
War Dialing :
War Dialing is a situation where the attacker penetrates
the system through dialing to the modem connected to the network. War dialer
usually a freeware program, automatically dials a defined range of numbers to
target the victim.
Brute Force Attack:
Brute force is also called exhaustive search, is a method
where the attacker tries multiple combinations to crack the password or Data
Encryption Standard keys using brute force) in an attempt to gain unauthorized
access. The approach is less intelligent
but has good success though it is very time consuming.
Data
Alternation attack:
Alternation attacks occur when someone makes unsolicited or
unauthorized modifications to code or data, attacking its integrity. These
attacks can occur in different forms and have a variety of consequences. An
organization might have a Software Development Life Cycle, but the binary code
can be altered. A person with access can recompile an existing program to add
another library or DLL. The primary defense against an alteration attack is a
cryptographic hash. If we can record the state of a program or data before it
is altered and securely store the hash, you can periodically recheck the
program or data and compare it with the stored hash. SHA 2 is recommended for
the hash algorithm.
Denial
of Service attack:
Denial
of Service attack happens when the attacker prevents the legitimate user
accessing information or services. This is done either by targeting your
computer or the computer or network/website you are accessing. The attacker can
prevent the users to use email or website or banking accounts. The attacker can
use several methods to do this, for example, ping flood to exhaust the bandwidth
or spam flood exceeding your mail quota resulting in DoS or phlashing where the damage is done to the extent of replacement of hardware.
Brute
force attack, Banana attack, Pulsing zombie and bandwidth saturating attacking
are example of application level DoS attack.
Distributed Denial of Service attack:
Distributed
Denial of Services attack happens when attacker used multiple computers to
flood the victim network or computer in order to prevent him accessing information
or services.
to be continued....
