What is a Network Attack?

A network attack is an effort to gain unlawful access to company’s network, with the object of pilfering data or carrying out other malicious activity. In a network attack, cybercriminals are engaged in penetrating the corporate network limit and gaining access to internal systems. Quite frequently, threat actors combine other types of attacks, such as impacting an endpoint, disseminating malware or abusing a fault in a system within the network.

Approaches of Network Security

A number of approaches to network security are available for companies to choose from. A specific method, or model, impacts all ensuing security decisions and set the tone for the whole organization’s network security setup. Network security models can be categorized by either the scope of security actions taken (perimeter, layered) or how hands-on the system is.

Perimeter Security Approach

In this type of approach, the chunk of security attempts is focused on the border of the network. This might comprise firewalls, proxy servers, password policies, and any technology or process that makes unlawful access of the network less probable. Practically no effort is made to protect the systems within the network. While the perimeter is protected in this method, the several systems within that perimeter are often susceptible.

Although this perimeter approach is evidently faulty, some small companies still use it due to budget constraints or inexperienced network administrators.

Layered Security Approach

In this approach, the perimeter is not only protected, but separate systems within the network are also safe. One way to achieve this is to split the network into sections and protect each piece as if it were a discrete network so that, if perimeter security is affected, all internal systems are not compromised. Layered security is the favored approach whenever likely.

Your security approach should also be measured by how proactive and/or reactive it is. This can be done by finding out how much of the system’s security setup and policies are devoted to protective measures versus how much are dedicated to simply responding to an attack after it has happened.

Hybrid Security Approach

Network security is seldom complete in one model or another in the real world. Networks usually fall along a range with essentials of more than one security model. The two types also combine to form a hybrid approach. You can have a network that is mostly passive but layered, or one that is mainly perimeter, but hands-on. Taking into account methods to computer security along a Cartesian coordinate system, with the x axis denoting the level of passive-active methods and the y axis portraying the range from perimeter to layered defence, can be useful. The most sought-after hybrid approach is a layered model that is dynamic.

Types of Network Security Attacks

Internet is today’s bread-giver as many people rely on it for various professional, social, and personal activities. The communication, sharing of data, business transactions, or in short, the entire trade and commerce industry is dependent on the network. Though the internet can network and connect the world-at-large, some people may attempt to damage and disrupt these networks repeatedly for various reasons. These attackers violate privacy and intrude the internet-connected devices either to retrieve information or to make it inoperable.

In the wake of a variety of existing frequent network attacks and the threat of new destructive future attacks, network security has gained prominence in the scope of computer networking.

Common Types of Networking Attacks

Virus

A virus needs the user’s communication to infect a computer and spread across the network. An instance is an email with a suspicious link or malicious attachment. When a recipient opens the attachment or clicks the link, the suspicious code gets triggered and avoids the systems security controls and makes them unworkable. In this case, the user unintentionally corrupts the device.

Malware

This is one of the most critical cyberattacks that is explicitly intended to destroy or gain unlawful access over a targeted computer system. When malware infects a specific system, it enters the internet and then affects all the systems linked to the internet in the network. An outside endpoint device, if linked, also get infected, working remarkably quicker than other types of malicious content.

Worm

A worm can enter a device without the user’s help. When a user runs a susceptible network application, a hacker on the same internet connection can send malware to that application. The application may agree to take the malware from the internet and implement it, thus creating a worm.

Phishing

This is the most common type of network attack. Phishing stands for sending emails claiming as from known resources or bankers and generating a sense of urgency to stimulate user to act on it. The email may contain suspicious link or attachment or may ask to share private information.

Botnet

In botnet the attacker controls all the computers on the network without the owner’s information. Each computer on the network is considered as zombies as they are aimed at spreading and infecting several devices or as directed by the attacker.

DoS (Denial of Service)

A DoS is a vital attack that terminates, completely or partially, a victim’s network or the complete IT setup to make it inaccessible to the genuine users. The DoS attacks can be pigeonholed in three parts: connection flooding; vulnerability attack; and bandwidth flooding.

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)

It is a multifaceted version of a DoS attack and is much tougher to spot and protect compared to a DoS attack. In DDoS attack, the attacker uses numerous compromised systems to attack a single DoS attack targeted system.

Man-in-the-middle

This attack is someone who stands in between the talk happening between you and the other individual. By being in the middle, the cyber-attacker captures, oversees, and controls your communication efficiently. For instance, when the lower layer of the network sends information, the computers in the layer may not be able to find out the recipient with which they are trading information.

Packet Sniffer

When a passive recipient located in the terrain of the wireless transmitter, it registers a copy of every packet transmitted. These packets can hold private information, sensitive and critical data, trade secrets, etc., which when hovered over a packet receiver will get through it. The packet receiver will then operate as a packet sniffer, snuffling all the conveyed packets entering the range. The best protection against packet sniffer is cryptography.

DNS Spoofing

It is about affecting a computer by debasing domain name system (DNS) data and then presenting in the resolver’s cache, causing the name server to return an inappropriate IP address.

IP Spoofing

It is the procedure of inserting packets in the internet using a incorrect source address and is one of the ways to subterfuge as another user. An end-point verification that ensures the inevitability of a message originating from the place we found would help protect from IP spoofing.

Compromised Key

In this type of attack, a hacker gains unlawful access to a protected communication using a compromised key, a secret number or code essential to construe protected information without any intimation to the sender or receiver. When the key is gained by the attacker, it is mentioned as a compromised key which serves as a means to retrieve information.

Conclusion

Network security is not confined to just updating the systems frequently and installing a reliable antivirus. To oversee, defend, and fight the different types of network attacks, a Network Defender capable of protecting, detecting, and responding to the threats on the network is of paramount importance. Proactive organizations hire the services of such experts to constantly guard and monitor their systems to avoid any untoward incident.