Network Attacks Overview

Which of the following is a type of DoS (Denial of Service) attack where the attacker aims to overwhelm a system with excessive traffic or requests, causing it to become slow, unresponsive, or completely unavailable?

What type of attack involves intercepting and potentially altering the communication between two parties without their knowledge?

Which of the following is a deceptive attempt to obtain sensitive information by pretending to be a trustworthy entity in electronic communications, typically through email?

Which attack involves injecting malicious SQL code into a vulnerable web application's database query, allowing the attacker to manipulate the database and potentially expose sensitive data?

What type of attack involves injecting malicious scripts (usually JavaScript) into web pages, which are executed in the context of the user's browser, often leading to data theft or website defacement?

Which of the following attacks involves an attacker stealing a session token (often from cookies or HTTP headers) and impersonating a user?

Which attack involves an attacker sending false DNS records to a DNS resolver, causing it to return incorrect IP addresses for domain names, possibly redirecting users to malicious websites?

What type of attack involves gaining higher privileges within the same system or gaining access to the same level of privileges, but on a different account?

Which attack occurs when an attacker connects an unauthorized device (such as a rogue access point or USB device) to a network, potentially bypassing security controls like firewalls?

Which attack involves an attacker sending fake Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) messages to associate their MAC address with the IP address of another device on the network, allowing them to intercept traffic intended for another device?

Which attack uses the victim's computing resources to mine cryptocurrency without their consent, often facilitated by malicious scripts embedded in websites or malware installed on devices?

Which attack relies on manipulating human behavior to gain access to systems, data, or physical locations?

Which social engineering attack involves an attacker creating a false sense of trust by impersonating someone who is authorized to access information?

Which social engineering attack involves an attacker offering something enticing, such as free software or a prize, to get the victim to download malicious software or give away sensitive information?

A firewall is an example of a proactive defense against network attacks.

Educating users about potential cybersecurity threats, such as phishing and social engineering, is not a crucial part of network security.

Intrusion detection systems (IDS) are proactive defenses that solely prevent attacks.

Rate limiting is a technique used to limit the amount of traffic a user can send to a server within a certain time frame.

Anycast routing is a method used to distribute network traffic to multiple data centers, helping to disperse the attack load.

Using SSL/TLS (HTTPS) to encrypt data in transit can help prevent interception or tampering by attackers.

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) can be used to secure communication between endpoints, especially on public or unsecured networks.

Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) involves using digital certificates to authenticate users and systems, ensuring that communication occurs with legitimate parties.

HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) prevents attackers from downgrading secure HTTPS connections to insecure HTTP connections.

Email filtering is a passive countermeasure used to identify and block suspicious emails, effectively reducing the risk of phishing attacks.

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is an effective security measure that requires multiple credentials for access, enhancing security even if one credential is compromised.

User education programs that teach users to recognize and avoid phishing attacks are unnecessary and do not contribute to network security.

Anti-phishing software can only identify and block malicious websites, not email attachments.

Strong password policies that enforce the use of complex passwords, including a mix of characters and a combination of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols, can help mitigate password attacks.

Rate limiting and account lockout mechanisms are essential to prevent brute force attacks by limiting the number of login attempts within a specified time frame.

Password hashing, using secure algorithms like bcrypt, PBKDF2, or Argon2, ensures that even if the database containing passwords is compromised, the passwords are not easily recovered.

Password managers are not recommended as they can store multiple passwords in a single, easily accessible location.

IP Spoofing involves attackers pretending to be someone else by falsifying information like their IP address, MAC address, or email header.

Implementing Ingress and Egress filtering at the network perimeter can help mitigate IP Spoofing by blocking packets with invalid or spoofed IP addresses.

MAC Address Filtering can ensure that only trusted devices are allowed to connect to a wireless network, reducing the risk of rogue device attacks.

Email authentication protocols like SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) are primarily used to prevent email spoofing attacks.

Secure email gateways typically use anti-spoofing and anti-spam filters to detect and block spoofed emails.

SQL Injection attacks can be mitigated by implementing input validation and sanitization, always sanitizing user inputs to ensure they contain no executable SQL code.

Parameterized queries are an effective countermeasure that helps prevent SQL Injection attacks by separating user input from the SQL code.

Web application firewalls (WAFs) can be used to monitor network traffic for malicious SQL injection attempts and block them.

The principle of least privilege (PoLP) ensures that the database account used by an application has only the minimum required permissions, reducing the potential damage caused by a successful SQL injection attack.

Cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks can be mitigated by implementing input sanitization and output encoding, encoding potentially harmful scripts into harmless data before they are displayed to the user.

Content Security Policy (CSP) helps mitigate XSS attacks by restricting the types of content, such as scripts, that can be executed on a webpage.

HttpOnly cookies restrict browser JavaScript from accessing session cookies, making it harder for attackers to exploit them in XSS attacks.

The X-XSS-Protection header is a browser-based security feature that can help block reflected XSS attacks.

Session hijacking attacks can be mitigated by implementing secure session management techniques, such as regenerating session IDs after login and using secure session tokens.

Using SSL/TLS encryption to protect sensitive data, including session tokens, while in transit can help prevent session hijacking attacks.

Implementing session timeouts can automatically log users out after a certain period of inactivity, reducing the risk of session hijacking if session tokens are compromised.

Using Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) can help protect against session hijacking even if session tokens are compromised.

DNS Spoofing (Cache Poisoning) is primarily used to redirect users to malicious websites.

DNSSEC (DNS Security Extensions) and DNS Filtering are both effective countermeasures that can help mitigate DNS Spoofing attacks.

Regularly flushing DNS server caches can remove potentially poisoned DNS records, helping prevent future DNS Spoofing attacks.

Using trusted and secure DNS providers or configuring DNS resolvers to only accept queries from trusted sources can help mitigate DNS Spoofing attacks.

Privilege escalation attacks can be mitigated by implementing strong password policies.

Regularly applying patches and updates to all systems can help mitigate privilege escalation attacks by fixing known vulnerabilities.

The principle of least privilege (PoLP) helps prevent privilege escalation attacks by granting users only the minimum privileges required to perform their job functions.

Role-based access control (RBAC) is a security measure that helps prevent privilege escalation attacks by managing access based on user roles, ensuring that users have only the required permissions.

Performing regular audits of user accounts, permissions, and access logs can help detect abnormal privilege escalation attempts.

Network Access Control (NAC) solutions can be used to enforce security policies and ensure only authorized devices are allowed to connect to the network, helping to mitigate rogue device attacks.

802.1X authentication for network access control requires devices to authenticate before connecting to the network, preventing unauthorized devices from accessing the network.

Wireless Intrusion Prevention Systems (WIPS) can detect and block rogue wireless access points and unauthorized devices, mitigating rogue device attacks on wireless networks.

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) solutions can be used to monitor endpoint devices for signs of rogue activity or unauthorized device connections, mitigating the risk of rogue device attacks.

Cryptojacking occurs when an attacker uses a victim's system resources to mine cryptocurrency without their consent, potentially impacting system performance and security.

Using ad blockers and anti-malware tools can help mitigate Cryptojacking by detecting and blocking malicious scripts.

Browser extensions can be used to help mitigate Cryptojacking by blocking cryptojacking scripts.

Keeping all software, browsers, and plugins up-to-date can help mitigate Cryptojacking by reducing the risk of exploiting vulnerabilities for cryptojacking.

Regularly monitoring CPU/GPU usage and network activity can help detect unusual mining activities, potentially identifying and mitigating instances of Cryptojacking.

Effective network security relies solely on implementing proactive defenses, such as monitoring and detection, as opposed to preventive measures.

Implementing a multi-layered approach, incorporating both preventive measures and proactive defenses, can significantly reduce the risk of network attacks.