Chapter 2 - General Security Concepts: Attacks

Abstract

One of the more exciting and dynamic aspects of network security relates to attacks. There are many different varieties and methods of attacks, they can generally all be grouped into several categories: by the general target of the attack, i.e., application, network, or mixed; by whether the attack is active or passive; by how the attack works, i.e., via password cracking or by exploiting code and cryptographic algorithms. This chapter focuses on some of the specific types of each attack, such as active attacks, passive attacks, password attacks, code and cryptographic attacks. Active attacks can be described as attacks in which the attacker is actively attempting to cause harm to a network or system. These include DoS, Distributed Denial of Service ((DDoS), buffer overflow, synchronous (SYN) attack, spoofing, Man-in-the-Middle (MITM), replay, Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) hijacking, wardialing, dumpster diving, social engineering, and vulnerability scanning. In a passive attack, the attacker isn't directly affecting the victim's network. These include sniffing and eavesdropping. Password attacks are extremely common, as they are easy to perform and often result in a successful intrusion. There are two basic types of password guessing that can be performed: brute force or dictionary-based attacks. Code attacks are carefully crafted programs written by attackers and designed to do damage. Trojan horses, viruses, spyware, rootkits, and malware are all examples of this kind of attack.