Name: Montasir Antondo Ladu Kenyi

ID: 110043422

Security threats

Introduction

The communication has been playing an important role since the dawn of civilization. It has
become an integral part of existence in the societies which are highly networked where we live in.
A few types of communication types have been developed during the earlier stage of civilization
which resulted in evolving many types of communications till today. The communication through
the internet is the best examples of the latest communication types.There are different types of
communications prevailing in our day to day life such as Radio communication, Mobile
communication, Telephonic communication and Network communication. Each communication
type has its own importance but the communication over a network has been mostly implemented
in our life and has been evolved as the most powerful and highly developed communication
methods. The network communication method has created a great impact on lives of humans. So
as this method is gradually developing and being used by many individuals and organizations,
such advance in the technology has resulted in the security issues such as threats or malicious
attacks to the individuals and organizations. So there is a need to encounter these threats and
attacks which resulted in the introduction and development of different mechanisms for providing
different services and CRYPTOGRAPHY is one of the mechanisms which is mostly used in the
network communication. Computers and networks aren’t safe, unless there is proper information
security implemented.

Threats
● A threat is anything that can disrupt the operation, functioning, integrity, or availability
of a network or system.
● There are different categories of threats;
✓ Natural threats - occurrences such as floods, earthquakes, and storms.
✓ Unintentional threats that are the result of accidents and stupidity.
 ✓ Intentional threats that are the result of malicious intent. Each type of
threat can be deadly to a network.

Examples of Threats:
❖ Unauthorized Access
Happens when an unauthorized individuals gains access to the system either
through passwords and access credentials divulged to them or stolen from
authorized users
❖ Malicious software
➢ Viruses
■ Rogue software program that attaches itself to other software
programs or data files in order to be executed
➢ Worms
■ Independent computer programs that copy themselves from one
computer to other computers over a network
Trojan horses
■ Software program that appears to be benign but then does something
other than expected
Key loggers
■ Record every keystroke on computer to steal serial numbers,
passwords, launch Internet attacks
❖ Spoofing

➢ Faking an e-mail address or Web page to trick users into passing along
critical information like passwords or credit card numbers
➢ Redirecting Web link to address different from intended one,
with site masquerading as intended destination

❖ Sniffer
➢ Eavesdropping program that monitors information traveling over
network
 ➢ Programs that search individual packets of data as they pass
through the Internet
➢ Legitimate use → Identify potential network trouble spot or
criminal activity in network Capturing passwords or entire
contents
Enables hackers to steal proprietary information (e-mail, company files).

❖ Denial-of-service attacks (DoS)

➢ Flooding server with thousands of false requests to crash the network
➢ Hammering a website’s equipment with too many requests for
information
➢ Clogging the system, slowing performance or even crashing the site
➢ Very Costly for busy e-commerce websites
❖ Social Engineering
➢ Gaining access to computer systems by talking unsuspecting
company employees out of valuable information such as
passwords
❖ Identity theft
➢ Theft of personal Information (social security id, driver’s license or
credit card numbers) to impersonate someone else
❖ Phishing
➢ Setting up fake Web sites or sending email messages that look like
legitimate businesses to ask users for confidential personal data.
❖ Pharming
➢ Redirects users to a bogus Web page, even when individual types
correct Web page address into his or her browser

Attacks
➢ Security Attack: Any action that compromises the security of information.
➢ Security Mechanism: A mechanism that is designed to detect, prevent, or recover from
a security attack.
 ➢ Security Service: A service that enhances the security of data processing systems and
information transfers. A security service makes use of one or more security mechanisms

Forms of Attacks
i. Interruption: This is an attack on availability
ii. Interception: This is an attack on confidentiality
iii. Modification: This is an attack on integrity
iv. Fabrication: This is an attack on authenticity

There are four general types of security attacks.

Interruption Attack:
In an interruption attack, a network service is made degraded or unavailable for legitimate use.
They are the attacks against the availability of the network.

Examples of Interruption attacks:

➢ Overloading a server host so that it cannot respond.
➢ Cutting a communication line.
➢ Blocking access to a service by overloading an intermediate network or network device.
➢ Redirecting requests to invalid destinations.
➢ Theft or destruction of software or hardware involved.

Mitigate the attack:

➢ Use Firewalls - Firewalls have simple rules such as to allow or deny protocols, ports or IP
addresses. Modern crateful firewalls like Checkpoint FW1 NGX and Cisco PIX have a built-in
capability to differentiate good traffic from DoS attack traffic.
➢ Keeping backups of system configuration data properly.
➢ Replication.
Interception Attacks:
In an interception attack, an unauthorized individual gains access to confidential or private
information. Interception attacks are attacks against network confidentiality.

Examples of Interception attacks:

➢ Eavesdropping on communication.
➢ Wiretapping telecommunications networks.
➢ Illicit copying of files or programs.
➢ Obtaining copies of messages for later replay.
➢ Packet sniffing and key logging to capture data from a computer system or network

Mitigate the attack:

➢ Using Encryption - SSL, VPN, 3DES, BPI+ are deployed to encrypt the flow of
information from source to destination so that if someone is able to snoop in on the flow of traffic,
all the person will see is ciphered text.
➢ Traffic Padding - It is a function that produces cipher text output continuously, even in the
absence of plain text. A continuous random data stream is generated. When plaintext is available,
it is encrypted and transmitted. When input plaintext is not present, the random data are encrypted
and transmitted. This makes it impossible for an attacker to distinguish between tree data flow and
noise and therefore impossible to deduce the amount of traffic.
Modification Attack
It is an attempt to modify information that an attacker is not authorized to modify. This type of
attack is an attack against the integrity of the information. Basically there is three types of
modifications.
➢ Change: Change existing information. The information is already existed but incorrect.
Change attacks can be targeted at sensitive information or public information.
➢ Insertion: When an insertion attack is made, information that did not previously exist is
added. This attack may be mounted against historical information or information that is yet to be
acted upon.
➢ Deletion: Removal of existing information.
Examples of Modification attack:
➢ Modifying the contents of messages in the network.
➢ Changing information stored in data files.
➢ Altering programs so they perform differently.
➢ Reconfiguring system hardware or network topologies.

Mitigate the attack:

➢ Introduction of intrusion detection systems (IDS) which could look for different signatures
which represent an attack.
➢ Using Encryption mechanisms
➢ Traffic padding
➢ Keeping backups
➢ Use messaging techniques such as checksums, sequence numbers, digests, authentication
codes
Fabrication Attack:
In a fabrication attack, an individual inserts counterfeit information, resources, or services into the
network. These attacks are attacks against the authentication, access control, and authorization
capabilities of the network.

Examples of Fabrication Attack:

➢ Inserting messages into the network using the identity of another individual.
➢ Replaying previously intercepted messages.
➢ Spoofing a web site or other network service.
➢ Taking the address of another host or service, essentially becoming that host or service.
Mitigate the attack:
➢ Use of Authentication and authorization mechanisms
➢ Using Firewalls
➢ Use Digital Signatures - Digital signature scheme is a mathematical scheme for
demonstrating the authenticity of a digital message or document.

Conclusion
Computer security attempts to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of computing
systems and their components. Three principal parts of a computing system are subject to attacks:
hardware, software, and data. These three, and the communications among them, are susceptible
to computer security vulnerabilities. In turn, those people and systems interested in compromising
a system can devise attacks that exploit the vulnerabilities.