System Threats

System Threats

1. Phishing

   • Phishing is an online fraud technique used by criminals to entice you to disclose personal information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by disguising as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.
     • Effects: •Accessing a victim’s account and withdraw money or purchase merchandise or services. • Open new bank or credit-card accounts in a victim’s names, and use the new account to cash illegitimate checks or purchase merchandise. • Gaining access to high-value corporate data. • Financial services can blacklist institutions, resulting in reputational damage.
       • Prevention: -Strong security software (firewall, spam filter, anti-virus, anti-spam). And Staff training: awareness of spotting fake websites & emails. - never disclose personal or financial information. - disable pop-ups.

2. Denial of service attack

   • Flooding a server with useless traffic causes servers to become overloaded preventing them responding to legitimate client-server requests from users. Many DoS attacks, such as the Ping of Death and Teardrop attacks, exploit limitations in the TCP/IP protocols. DDoS is a type of attack where multiple compromised systems, which are often infected with a Trojan, are used to target a single system causing a Denial of Service attack.
     • Effects: • Revenue losses: downtime affects profits. • Productivity Loss: when critical network systems are shut down, your workforce’s productivity comes to a halt. • Reputation Damage: your brand suffers if customers can’t access your site or become casualties of a data breach.
       • • Strong security software (firewall). • Packet filters on routers. • Configuration of the webserver. • Good network policy: audits, logs, monitoring.

3. Malware

   • software written to infect computers and commit crimes such as fraud and identity theft.
     • Effects: The computer may crash, reboot spontaneously or slow down without any logical explanation. The internet connection may become slow, also files may be deleted, become corrupt or encrypted.
       • prevention: You can use strong security software(firewall, spam filter, anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-spam) you need to make sure it is regularly updated. Staff training: caution opening attachments and back up file regularly.
   • Types of Malware
     • spyware
     • Bugs
     • rootkits
     • Bots
       • A malicious bot is self-propagating malware designed to infect a host and connect back to a central server or servers that act as a command and control (C&C) center for an entire network of compromised devices, or "botnet." With a botnet, attackers can launch broad-based, "remote-control," flood-type attacks against their target(s). In addition to the worm-like ability to self-propagate, bots can include the ability to log keystrokes, gather passwords, capture and analyze packets, gather financial information, launch DoS attacks, relay spam, and open back doors on the infected host.
     • Adware
     • Trojan horses
       • It is a harmful piece of software that looks legitimate. Users are typically tricked into loading and executing it on their systems. After it is activated, it can achieve any number of attacks on the host, from irritating the user (popping up windows or changing desktops) to damaging the host (deleting files, stealing data, or activating and spreading other malware, such as viruses).
     • Viruses
       • A computer virus is a type of malware that propagates by inserting a copy of itself into and becoming part of another program. It spreads from one computer to another, leaving infections as it travels. Viruses can range in severity from causing mildly annoying effects to damaging data or software and causing denial-of-service conditions.
     • worms
       • it's a program that replicates itself in order to spread to other computers. Often, it uses a computer network to spread itself, relying on security failures on the target computer to access it.

4. SQL injection

   • SQL injection is a code injection technique, used to attack data-driven applications. If a database application has not been coded in a secure way, code can be entered into text boxes, and will be executed by the server.
     • Effects: • Contents of the database can be output, revealing data that otherwise would be hidden. • Data in the database can be amended and deleted. • New rogue records can be added.
       • Prevention: - Validation of input fields, Penetration testing - where you see how far into the system you can get.

5. brute force attack

   • A brute force attack is a trial and error method used b y programs to decode encrypted data such as passwords or Data Encryption Standard (DES) keys,
     • Effects: • Theft of data. • Access to corporate and private computer systems.
       • prevention: • Network lockout policy: locks out after a number of tries. • Staff training: using effective passwords that contain symbols and numbers. • Challenge response tests e.g. reCAPTCHA – user has to look at a picture and answer a question.

6. Data interception and theft

   • An attacker monitors data streams to or from a target, in order to gather sensitive information. This attack usually involves sniffing network traffic. Sniffing is the act of monitoring traffic on the network for data such as plaintext passwords or configuration information. With a simple packet sniffer program, an attacker can easily read all plaintext traffic.
     • Effects: • Discovering username and password credentials. • Gaining access to systems. • Disclosure of corporate data. • Theft of data.
       • Prevention: Strong encryption. • Using virtual networks. • Staff training: use of passwords, locking and portable storage devices. • Network forensics.

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