...Malicious Attacks and Threats Malicious Attacks and Threats As the lead Information Systems Security Engineer it is my job to ensure that the ongoing threat of malicious attacks and vulnerabilities to the organizations computer network are kept to a minimum so that highly sensitive data will continue to remain protected. However, recent reports from the CIO suggest that there has been a small amount of malicious activity reported on the network. The CIO is requesting I look into the current network infrastructure and make necessary changes to the network so that the system remains free from the threat and vulnerability of future malicious activity that would impact the organizations network. Attacks on computer systems and networks occur by the billions every year and are on a dramatic increase. Many organizations have invested vast amounts of money in computer networks, only to find out that although it is providing means of improving the efficiency and productivity of the organization it also exposes the organization to possible malicious attacks and threats. Such attacks have been the most challenging issue for a majority of Information System Security Engineers where they utilize the necessary resources to protect the network from these vulnerabilities. The greatest overall threat to computer systems and their information comes from humans, through actions that are either malicious or ignorant. When the action is malicious, some motivation or goal...
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...improving the efficiency and productivity of the organization but it also exposes the Organization to possible attacks and threats. Such attacks have been the most challenging issue for most network administrators and a worrying topic for administrators. Organizations need to share services resources and information but they still need to protect these from people who should not have access to them, while at the same time making those resources available to authorized users. Effective security achieves these goals. The greatest threat to computer systems and their information comes from humans, through actions that are either malicious or ignorant. When the action is malicious, some motivation or goal is generally behind the attack. For instance, the goal could be to disrupt normal business operations, thereby denying data availability and production. April 13, 2000, 3:55 P.M. Pacific time: The Web site for the Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA) is suffering intermittent outages, and the organization suspects computer vandals are to blame. A source inside the organization, who asked not to be identified, said that the MPAA is currently “experiencing problems with their public Web site, and they suspect a denial-of-service attack.” The attack was first rumored on http://www.hackernews.com/, a Web site for news on computer hacking. Most of the attacks are becoming more frequent and more damaging, and they are using well-known techniques and methods to exploit...
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...Identifying Potential Malicious Attacks, Threats and Vulnerabilities Brian Cox Strayer Univerity Professor Leonard Roden Networking Security Fundamentals May 03, 2016 Have you ever thought about the measures that you need to go through when protecting yourself from online threats and attacks? There are many different types of attacks and threats that can be carried out against networks and organizations. The attacks that could be carried out can cause serious damage to the company and range on a scale from very minimal to very severe data loss and data theft. It is important for companies to take every precaution available and have not only the best software for prevention of these attacks but stay on top of what the intruders, hackers, attackers are learning and how the technology is forming when they are deploying these systems on their servers, networks, and office computers that employees will use on a day to day basis. The computers each employee is using should come with a User Agreement and the do’s and do not’s when it comes to daily computer usage. This will enhance the security as each employee will understand what is acceptable and how to obtain maximum security of their signed computer. It is also advisable within the User Agreement to list out the things that are unacceptable such as plugging in your phone, downloading things from the internet, and other things that may seem harmless but could hurt the company if it was exploited by accident...
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...understanding of the situation in the network of the company I decided to start the analysis by the vulnerabilities that this one presents. Many of these vulnerabilities are the cause for different types of network attacks. It should be noted that while many of these vulnerabilities may be mitigated or eliminated the possibility of an attack always exists. The first vulnerability is the email server. Although very well controlled for been within the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), this is always a vulnerability with which most companies have to deal with. This vulnerability opens the way for phishing attack. One way to mitigate this vulnerability is configuring the email server so that only authorized email may enter. This is difficult because our video game company has a large list of customers and suppliers that are in constant change. The best option is to alert users about the security measures and company policies regarding private and unknown emails. The Web and FTP server can be a not very alarming vulnerability. Because it is located in the DMZ and after the Intrusion Detection System (IDS), is unlikely to be corrupted without being detected. The location of the file servers in the network is totally unprotected against internal attacks. Any successful attack in the LAN would leave the data servers exposed. The establishment of a demilitarized zone with a completely different set of log on names and password than any other machines would give these servers better security...
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...Recently the Chief Information Officer of our company Celtic Gamers Frontier Inc. (CGF) has read of an increase in the threat space regarding the electronic game industry and he is concerned with regards to our Companies overall architecture, and the risks to our Research and Development efforts and other Intellectual Property. He has tasked the company’s corporate information technology group to produce an information paper detailing the types of cyber threats and malware are being reported on the internet. They would also like the security group to give the company’s executive leadership a detailed report regarding the threats, vulnerabilities and the overall risks that may be present in our current corporate infrastructure. The security department for the organization is relatively small and short on resources so this task has been given to me to do the research and create an executive report detailing the current vulnerabilities, risks and threats and potential impact to our network should we have any security incidents. “Unfortunately, there are inherent risks to computer usage — hackers, viruses, worms, spyware, malware, unethical use of stolen passwords and credentials, unauthorized data removal by employees with USB flash drives, or servers crashing and bringing productivity to a halt” ("Cybersecurity," 2013) . The CGF network is a typical office network composed of an external firewall with an external DMZ with public use servers, and internal firewall protecting...
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...Categories of Computer Crimes Alan Johnson Strayer University Assignment 1 There are four general categories of computer crimes. Generally someone will target a computer to forbid that person access. This is known as your hacker. He could be a single stand-alone hacker or part of a network hacking club or group similar to some of the ones known as Anti-Sec that are affiliated with the group known as ‘Anonymous’ that hacked into some 70 mostly rural law enforcement websites throughout the United States. Then there is the hacker that uses the computer as an instrument of crime to commit such acts as theft of services, fraud and the theft of information technology that can be traded and sold on the black market. This information can damage some financial institutions for years. Many hackers use the instrument of crime to steal phone and computer services. This allows them to use the phone and have internet access free of charge until caught or shut down by officials. Pyramid schemes, lottery schemes and overseas bank fraud transactions are very popular and target your unsuspecting older new computer user that hasn’t been exposed to the criminal world of the computer crimes and they innocently respond to these online criminals with information and money that causes them to become victims of devastating financial crimes without ever leaving their homes. Other aspects of instrumental computer crimes is government sensitive information access or that of a large financial institution...
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...Identifying Potential Malicious Attacks, Threats and Vulnerabilities Networking Security Fundamentals – CIS 333 April 29, 2012 Identifying Potential Malicious Attacks, Threats and Vulnerabilities There are a myriad of potential threats and vulnerabilities that leave a system open to malicious attack, anytime you have a computer network that connects to the internet there is a potential for malicious attack so it is important that you know the vulnerabilities of a system to protect it from potential threats and malicious attacks. “A vulnerability is any weakness in a system that makes it possible for a threat to cause harm.” (Kim & Solomon, 2012, p. 96). There are several common vulnerabilities that exist within the seven domains of an IT infrastructure for example there is the lack of awareness or concern for security policy vulnerability in the User Domain as well as intentional malicious activity ( Kim & Solomon, 2012). Within the Workstation Domain there exists unauthorized user access, weakness in installed software, and malicious software introduced vulnerabilities, unauthorized network access, transmitting private data unencrypted, spreading malicious software, exposure and unauthorized access of internal resources to the public, introduction of malicious software, loss of productivity due to internet access, denial of service attacks, brute-force attacks on access and private data are all examples of vulnerabilities within the seven domains of IT infrastructure...
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...Assignment 1: Identifying Potential Malicious Attack CIS 333 Assignment 1: Identifying Potential Malicious Attack Potential malicious attacks and threats that may be carried out against the network include illegally using user accounts and privileges, Stealing hardware and software, Running code to damage systems, running code to damage and corrupt data, modifying stored data, stealing data, using data for financial gain or for industrial espionage, performing actions that prevent legitimate authorized users from accessing network services and resources, and/or performing actions to deplete network resources and bandwidth. Threats to the network can be initiated from a number of different sources, hence the reason for network attacks being classified as either external or internal network attacks/threats. Individuals carry out external threats or without assistance from internal employees or contractors. A malicious and experienced individual, a group of experienced individuals, an experienced malicious organization, or inexperienced attackers (script kiddies) carry out these attacks. Such attackers usually have a predefined plan and the technologies or techniques to carry out the attack. One of the main characteristics of external threats is that they usually involve scanning and gathering information. Users can therefore detect an external attack by scrutinizing existing firewall logs. Users can also install an Intrusion Detection...
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... There are a myriad of potential threats and vulnerabilities that leave a system open to malicious attack, anytime you have a computer network that connects to the internet there is a potential for malicious attack so it is important that you know the vulnerabilities of a system to protect it from potential threats and malicious attacks. “A vulnerability is any weakness in a system that makes it possible for a threat to cause harm.” (Kim & Solomon, 2012, p. 96). There are several common vulnerabilities that exist within the seven domains of an IT infrastructure for example there is the lack of awareness or concern for security policy vulnerability in the User Domain as well as intentional malicious activity ( Kim & Solomon, 2012). Within the Workstation Domain there exists unauthorized user access, weakness in installed software, and malicious software introduced vulnerabilities, unauthorized network access, transmitting private data unencrypted, spreading malicious software, exposure and unauthorized access of internal resources to the public, introduction of malicious software, loss of productivity due to internet access, denial of service attacks, brute-force attacks on access and private data are all examples of vulnerabilities within the seven domains of IT infrastructure which are User, Workstation, LAN, LAN-to WAN, WAN, Remote Access, and System/Application Domains (Kim & Solomon, 2012). Threats can cause great harm or damage to computer systems through...
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...| PRINT THIS PAGE | CLOSE Internet Security Threat Report Volume 17 Custom Report SHARE THIS PAGE Symantec blocked a total of over 5.5 billion malware attacks in 2011, an 81% increase over 2010. Web based attacks increased by 36% with over 4,500 new attacks each day. 403 million new variants of malware were created in 2011, a 41% increase of 2010. SPAM volumes dropped by 34% in 2011 over rates in 2010. 39% of malware attacks via email used a link to a web page. Mobile vulnerabilities continued to rise, with 315 discovered in 2011. Only 8 zero-day vulnerabilities were discovered in 2011 compared with 14 in 2010. 50% of targeted attacks were aimed at companies with less than 2500 employees. Overall the number of vulnerabilities discovered in 2011 dropped 20%. Only 42% of targeted attacks are aimed at CEOs, Senior Managers and Knowledge Workers. In 2011 232 million identities were exposed. An average of 82 targeted attacks take place each day. Mobile threats are collecting data, tracking users and sending premium text messages. You are more likely to be infected by malware placed on a legitimate web site than one created by a hacker. Introduction Symantec has established some of the most comprehensive sources of Internet threat data in the world through the Symantec Global Intelligence Network, which is made up of more than 64.6 million attack sensors and records thousands of events per second. This network monitors attack activity in more than 200 countries and territories...
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...Modern Day Attacks Against Firewalls and Virtual Private Networks Electronic technology is growing at a rapid rate; more devices are made mobile and wireless, but with those improvement and developments come flaws and malicious opportunities. Cyber attacks are on the rise and no system or device is immune. Many organizations employ multiple layers of firewalls but that doesn’t completely eliminate the threat. Attacks against firewalls and virtual private networks or VPNs are constantly being exploited with new methods everyday, but they are yet another obstacle that a cyber criminal must overcome. First let’s discuss what a firewall is and what a firewall is capable of doing. Firewall applications are normally used to protect and secure private networks. A network can have a software, hardware or both firewalls installed and they provide the “ability to control in-bound and outbound traffic”, according to Pirc of Sans Technology Institute (para 2, nd). Most Microsoft operating systems today come with a firewall installed and Microsoft suggests that you should have a firewall set up on each system in your home, even if you have a hardware firewall such as a router that has security policies adjusted, this can help prevent any malicious activity from spreading across your home network. Most firewalls contain a variety of policies but they all at the very least have the same basic policies that can be set up. There are 3 common policies that you...
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...Week 3 Lab Part 1: Web and Database Attacks & Malware and Malicious Software Learning Objectives and Outcomes Upon completing this lab, students will be able to: * Identify web application and web server backend database vulnerabilities as viable attack vectors * Develop an attack plan to compromise and exploit a web site using cross-site scripting (XSS) against sample vulnerable web applications * Conduct a manual Cross-site Scripting (XSS) attack against sample vulnerable web applications * Perform SQL injection attacks against sample vulnerable web applications with e-commerce data entry fields * Mitigate known web application and web server vulnerabilities with security countermeasures to eliminate risk from compromise and exploitation Overview This Lab will demonstrate a Cross-site Scripting (XSS) exploit and an SQL Injection attack on the test bed web application and web server using the Damn Vulnerable Web App (DVWA) loaded on an Apache Web Server on “TargetUbuntu01” Linux VM server. They will first identify the IP target host, identify known vulnerabilities and exploits, and then attack the web application and web server using XSS and an SQL Injection to exploit the web application using a web browser and some simple command strings. Assignment Requirements Watch the Demo Lab in Learning Space Unit 5 and then answer questions 1-10 below. Lab Assessment Questions & Answers 1. Why is it critical...
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...Software Threat Analysis and Mitigation CMGT 431 Jan 14, 2015 Software Threat Analysis and Mitigation Many different types of software threats exist today. All of these threats can harm your companies’ bottom line. Whether it is directly by stealing funds, proprietary information, data, or indirectly by damaging code, denial of service, reducing company productivity. There are many different products, services, and procedures that can provide differing levels of protection against these threats. Threats and Counter Measures A buffer overflow attempts to disrupt the function of an application by providing more data to the program than it was designed to handle. This overflow can cause the application to shut down, but it can also cause more malicious effects. Overflow attacks can corrupt program variables causing the program to behave in a way it was not designed to, these attacks can also overwrite software instructions (Gregory, 2010). Malicious software is a generalized term encompassing many forms of code with varying degrees of damage done to a host system. Some of the more common forms are viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spam, spyware/adware, and bots. All of these malicious codes attempt to gain access to your system to degrade your ability to perform as normal. Viruses attempt to corrupt your system so it is unusable, but must be activated by the user accessing a program with the virus attached. Worms are similar to viruses but do not require a user...
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...improving the efficiency and productivity of the organization but it also exposes the Organization to possible attacks and threats. Such attacks have been the most challenging issue for most network administrators and a worrying topic for administrators. Organizations need to share services resources and information but they still need to protect these from people who should not have access to them, while at the same time making those resources available to authorized users. Effective security achieves these goals. The greatest threat to computer systems and their information comes from humans, through actions that are either malicious or ignorant. When the action is malicious, some motivation or goal is generally behind the attack. For instance, the goal could be to disrupt normal business operations, thereby denying data availability and production. April 13, 2000, 3:55 P.M. Pacific time: The Web site for the Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA) is suffering intermittent outages, and the organization suspects computer vandals are to blame. A source inside the organization, who asked not to be identified, said that the MPAA is currently “experiencing problems with their public Web site, and they suspect a denial-of-service attack.” The attack was first rumored on http://www.hackernews.com/, a Web site for news on computer hacking. Most of the attacks are becoming more frequent and more damaging, and they are using well-known techniques and methods to exploit...
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...A. Outline the top five threats to each of the following in the given scenario: 1. The server 2. The workstations 3. The website Threats - Server Rootkits – This software, which is malicious in nature, allows hackers to gain and maintain elevated or administrative access to servers. Often times, this type of software come as an attachment shared among e-mail contacts, and is accidently initiated when saved to a local folder. The software can then hold open a gateway to allow the attacker access to the compromised server, without intervention or further initiation from the unsuspecting user. This may have been one possible highway that was used by the attackers to gain access to and delete data from the customer website. Open Ports & Services – By default, many server type operating systems leave a large quantity of ports open. This allows greater configurability and compatibility for software and server based services. However, leaving these default ports and a multitude of default services in operation, increase the attack surface and overall vulnerability of the server. These vulnerable ports allow for attacks such as ‘Denial of Service’, and this may have been factor in the latency and slowdown experienced by employees and customers alike. Missed Patches – Every day new attack vectors are discovered, and operating system and software vulnerabilities are identified. Many server type operating systems come with a robust security suite, however these security measures...
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