Attack Prevention: Preventing Cyber Attacks
Krista McCafferty
CMGT441: Introduction to Information Systems Security
April 20, 2012

Attack Prevention: Preventing Cyber Attacks

In today’s society technology is everywhere. The use of computers, cell phones, GPS’s, and internet are a lot more common. Now that today’s technology is expanding and growing which means that the reliance and dependence of these products is also growing. The dependence and the reliance are not the only two things that technology brings. The more reliance of these things causes cyber attacks which are gradually increasing the occurrence. It is harder to stop these attacks before they occur is more difficult than what can be expected but however it is not impossible. There is a trick to catching these attacks which is within programs and applications that the users uses which detects as well as notifies the user that there is an attack. This could be something like an anti-virus and/or a malware program or even a firewall. The purpose within this paper is to discuss cyber attacks as well as the steps involved and how to prevent them which was discussed in the article by Tony M. Damico entitled Cyber Attack Prevention for the Home User: How to Prevent a Cyber Attack (2009) and other sources

Cyber Attack: What It Is
A cyber attack is “an attempt to undermine or compromise the function of a computer-based system, or an attempt to track the online movements of individuals without their permission” (WiseGeek, 2011). The easier way to describe a cyber attack would be the targeting something electronic to make it malfunction so that someone is able to collect what it is they need. The cyber attacks that specifically carried out for the purpose of tracking and then gathering information within the movements that the users make to copy important document that are stored on a hard drive, when the ones that do harm usually involve monetary theft and disruption of services. When a cyber attack occurs it is usually done by following certain steps.

Steps of a Cyber Attack

Cyber attacks are different in quantity and quality but they usually follow a certain path which can be seen in Appendices A and B. The path usually contains seven basic steps. (SANS website, 2009) and includes: Placement of Malware within Trusted Website’s, Client-Side Exploitation, Reverse Backdoor, Hash Dumping, Pass-the-Hack Attack to Pivot, Compromise of the Domain Controller, and Exfiltration. There are sometimes that the path can be shortened to five steps (Mah, 2010) and includes: Selection of Malware, Social Engineering, Spoofing, Exploitation, and Exploration. Prevention Techniques The basic flow of cyber attacks may look discouraging but can be prevented. The requirements are a combination of at least one of the following prevent techniques but are all recommended: Risk Assessment and Identity of Weakness, Back-up of Vital Information, Anti-Virus Software and Firewalls, and Account Activity Monitoring (Wasik & Teixeira, 2011. P.2 and Radenhausen, n.d.,p.1).

Conclusion
Cyber attacks are a very large problem that is growing within the whole world not just within the United States. So, by utilizing the prevention methods which are listed within this paper, the attacks can be reduced traumatically. Now due to the fact that the criminal element is always looking for new and innovative ways to bypass security measure that are used on most computers and internet makes home networks as well as companies develop a more sophisticated program to stop them. This is something that can be done through a more advanced anti-virus and/or malware software as well as a connection of firewalls.

APPENDIX A Figure 1: Cyber Attack Steps 1 through 3
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Step 1 (depicted as 0)

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Step 2 (depicted as 1)

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Step 3 (depicted as 2)

Figure 1: Cyber attack steps 1 through 3. Images obtained from the SANS website (2009).
APPENDIX B

Figure 2: Cyber Attack Steps 4 through 6
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Steps 4 and 5 (depicted as 3 and 4 respectively)

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Step 6 (depicted as 5)

Figure 2: Cyber attack steps 4 through 6. Images obtained from the SANS website (2009).

References:
Apollo Group (2006). Kudler Fine Foods History. Retrieved April 20, 2012, from https:// ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/aapd/cist/vop/Business/Kudler/KudlerHomes002.htm.
Damico, T. M. (2010, November 13). Cyber Attack Prevention for the Home User: How to Prevent a Cyber Attack. Student Pulse website.
Mah, P. (2010). The Anatomy of a Cyber Attack, Part 1. Retrieved April 20, 2012, from http://itbusinessedge.com/cm/blogs/mah/the-anatomy-of-a-cyber-attack-part-1/?cs=3.
Mah, P. (2010). The Anatomy of a Cyber Attack, Part 2. Retrieved April 20, 2012, from http://itbusinessedge.com/cm/blogs/mah/the-anatomy-of-a-cyber-attack-part-2/?cs=3.
Radenhausen, J. (n.d.). Ways to Prevent Cyber Identity Theft. Retrieved April 20, 2012, from http://www.ehow.com/print/way_5676604_ways-prevent-cyber-identity-theft.html.
SANS (2009). Top Cyber Security Risks – Tutorial: HTTP Client-Side Exploit. Retrieved April 20, 2012, from http://www.sans.org/top-cyber-security-risks/tutorial.php.
Waslik, D. & Teixeira, R. (2011). Five Ways Small Businesses Can Combat Cyber Crime. Retrieved April 20, 2012, from http://www.startupnation.com/NET_ROOT/print_ template/PrintContent.aspx?content_id=.