# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Kali Linux Tutorial for Beginners - Learn Kali Linux in simple and easy steps starting from basic to advanced concepts with examples including Installation and Configuration, Information Gathering, Vulnerability Analyses Tools, Wireless Attacks, Website Penetration Testing, Exploitation, Forensics, Reporting, Stressing, Password Cracking Tools, Social Engineering, Sniffing and Spoofing, Maintaining Access, Reverse Engineering.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Deliver Cyber Security Technologist - L4 | BCS - The Chartered Institute for IT

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Cyber Security Technologist - L4 - This apprenticeship is suitable for employers looking to recruit and train people who apply an understanding of cyber threats, hazards, risks, controls, measures and mitigations to protect organisations systems and people.

# data[].attributes.headline
What Are the Biggest Cybersecurity Threats to Your Business?

# data[].attributes.subject
What Are the Biggest Cybersecurity Threats to Your Business?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The cybersecurity landscape is constantly shifting and evolving as new cybersecurity threats and security solutions emerge. Security measures that work against the top cyber threats one day may be rendered obsolete by new types of cyber threats the next. For businesses to minimize their risk of a data security breach, they need to be constantly vigilant of the different types of cyber security threats that they face-both new and old.

However, it's important to remember that there is no single "silver bullet" solution that can address every cyber threat your business faces. There are too many different kinds of cybersecurity threats out there for any one piece of technology to provide complete protection.

As such, it's important to create a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy to protect your business' most sensitive data-one that covers the biggest cybersecurity threats to your business.

But, what are the top cyber threats to your business? Here's a list of cyber security threats that most businesses contend with on a daily basis-whether they realize it or not:

Cybersecurity Threat #1: The Inside Man (Or Woman)

The single biggest cyber threat to any organization is that organization's own employees. According to data cited by Securitymagazine.com, "Employees are still falling victim to social attacks. Financial pretexting and phishing represent 98 percent of social incidents and 93 percent of all breaches investigated." That's right, a whopping 93% of all the data breaches investigated in the report cited could be traced back to an employee.

While some "insider" attacks are the result of employees intentionally misusing their user credentials, many are the result of employees making some simple mistakes-such as falling for phishing attempts, visiting malware-laden websites, bringing compromised USB drives or other personal devices to work, or sharing their user credentials with someone else.

There are a few things that organizations can do to minimize their cybersecurity risks from insider threats, including:

Implementing a Policy of Least Privilege. By limiting each employee's access to only the specific resources they need to do their job, organizations can minimize the impact of a breach that occurs when an employee account is misused.

Instituting a BYOD Policy. Bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies help set the ground rules for if (and how) employees can use personal devices at work. These rules can help protect a business from being compromised by unprotected personal devices.

Providing Cybersecurity Risk Training. An informed employee is less likely to fall victim to a phishing attack or other cyber threat than an uninformed one. Providing training in common cybersecurity risks can do a lot to improve your "human firewall" and keep employees from compromising your cybersecurity.

Cybersecurity Threat #2: Ransomware

Ransomware still ranks high on the list of cybersecurity threats faced by businesses-both large and small. In fact, according to Verizon's 2018 Data Breach Report, "Ransomware is the top variety of malicious software, found in 39% of cases where malware was identified."

These attacks focus on getting an encryption malware onto a business' network (often through phishing emails with bogus links or attachments that download the malware). Once the malware is on the network, it begins to encrypt all of the files on the network to make them inaccessible to the system's users.

After the files are encrypted, a message is generated telling the victim something along the lines of "your files have been encrypted. If you want them back, pay X dollars/bitcoins to Y account within Z hours to get the encryption key." Sadly, paying the ransom does not guarantee that the attacker will actually provide the encryption key and remove the ransomware.

There are multiple ways for businesses to limit the risk of ransomware, including:

Educating Employees. Ransomware is often introduced as part of a phishing attack, so educating employees about the risk of malware can do a lot to prevent them from accidentally downloading ransomware.

Using Virus/Malware Scanning for Email Attachments. Malware scanning software can identify potentially dangerous malware programs in email attachments and block users from downloading them in the first place.

Using Remote Data Backups. A cloud-based data backup can allow you to recover your lost data by reformatting the corrupted data storage drives and restoring them from the backup. However, it's important to:

Make sure the ransomware is completely removed from your systems; and

Back up your most important data frequently to minimize data loss.

Cybersecurity Threat #3: Uneven Cybersecurity Protections

According to data from the Verizon Data Breach Report, nearly 60% of data breach incidents in 2016 could be attributed to "hacking," or direct intrusion attempts made by people outside of your organization attempting to bypass your perimeter network security in some fashion-though that percentage has fallen off over the last year. Yet, despite fewer incidents being attributed to "hacking," the danger that these outside attacks pose has not lessened in the least.

Hacking attacks can target numerous vectors, but they typically try to probe a business network's weakest defenses. An uneven security layer between your network and attackers can serve as the entry point they need to penetrate even the toughest defenses-all because ONE asset on your network lacks some key security measure used to protect everything else.

An example of this would be the JP Morgan Chase data breach from 2014. As noted in a New York Times Dealbook article published after the breach, "JPMorgan's security team had apparently neglected to upgrade one of its network servers with the dual password scheme, the people briefed on the matter said. That left the bank vulnerable to intrusion." Although the bank had dual-factor authentication (DFA) to counter password theft-based cyber threats, because one asset on the network didn't have that authentication upgrade, it became an easy entry point for what was, at the time, one of the biggest bank breaches in history.

So, if you apply a new security solution to your business network to counter some specific type of cybersecurity threat, it's important to make sure that the solution is applied to the entirety of your potential "attack surface." Otherwise, the one asset on your network that isn't protected as well as everything else could become the vector for an attack.

Here, performing regular IT asset audits is important for verifying the status of all the assets on your network and making sure that every cybersecurity solution is applied consistently throughout. Risk assessments can further help you prioritize what kinds of solutions need to be applied and identify gaps in your cyber threat protection. Some businesses even use professional security architecture implementation services from a managed security service provider (MSSP) to ensure that there are no gaps or flaws in their cybersecurity protections.

Cybersecurity Threat #4: Unpatched Security Vulnerabilities/Bugs

Other attackers may target known security bugs in popular business software programs-bugs that often have readily-available fixes. All too often, these security updates/patches are not applied to vulnerable software, however. This leaves the business network exposed to outside attack and compromise.

The best solution for defending against intrusion attempts that leverage unpatched vulnerabilities is to create and maintain a rigorous patching schedule. At least once every few weeks, all software programs on the network should be checked to see whether there are any available security patches from the software developer. Any out-of-date software should be patched to the latest security version.

If a software program is no longer supported by the developer, it may be time to uninstall that program and replace it with a newer one that does the same tasks. Making sure every piece of software and IT asset on your business network has the latest security patches can be crucial for preventing a data breach (or, at least minimizing your risk of one).

Cybersecurity Threat #5: DDoS Attacks

Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks remain a significant cyber threat to many organizations. These attacks are designed to overwhelm a victim's network resources so they cannot process legitimate traffic on their network. The methodology of these attacks can vary from one to the next, and may involve varying levels of complexity. This is part of what makes DDoS attacks such a worrisome cybersecurity threat.

As noted in the Securitymagazine.com article mentioned earlier, "DDoS attacks can impact anyone and are often used as camouflage, often being started, stopped and restarted to hide other breaches in progress." By using DDoS attacks as a distraction, attackers can distract your cybersecurity team-much like how a stage magician redirects the attention of his audience so they can't see through the trick.

The specific countermeasures for a DDoS attack can vary depending on the methodology of the attack. For example, there are volume-based, protocol-based, and application layer attacks. A solution that might mitigate a volume-based attack, such as simply adding sufficient capacity to handle the fake bandwidth (which is highly inefficient at any rate), wouldn't be able to counter a protocol-based or application layer DDoS attack. A better solution might be to blacklist IP addresses that are identified as being part of a DDoS attack, but that still may not work for all DDoS attack types.

Thwarting DDoS requires a well-considered cybersecurity strategy that takes a look at the different kinds of DDoS threats you network faces, your available resources, and how to best counter specific DDoS attack types. Here, having the help of a specialized cybersecurity service provider can be invaluable, since they will likely be familiar with the current cybersecurity threat environment and which types of DDoS attacks you're likely to encounter.

It may even be necessary to set up a disaster recovery (DR)/business continuity (BC) solution to help you minimize the impact of a DDoS attack.

Need help protecting your business network from all of the cybersecurity threats on this list? Or, just need advice for minimizing your security risks? Contact the experts at Compuquip Cybersecurity for more information and advice, or download our guide, 9 IT Practices Putting Businesses at High Risk, at the link below:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What Are the Biggest Cybersecurity Threats to Your Business?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The cybersecurity landscape is constantly shifting and evolving as new cybersecurity threats and security solutions emerge. Security measures that work against the top cyber threats one day may be rendered obsolete by new types of cyber threats the next.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
OpenPGP is the most widely used email encryption standard. It is defined by the OpenPGP Working Group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) as a Proposed Standard in RFC 4880. OpenPGP was originally derived from the PGP software, created by Phil Zimmermann.

Email encryption

Although OpenPGP’s main purpose is end-to-end encrypted email communication, it is also utilized for encrypted messaging and other use cases such as password managers.

Learn More

For all operating systems

OpenPGP is available for all major platforms, such as Windows, Mac OS, GNU/Linux, Android, and iOS.

Learn More

Standing the test of time

OpenPGP was standardized in 1997 and since then continuously improved. As far as we know, intelligence organizations aren’t able to break it.

Learn More

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Email encryption. For all operating systems. Standing the test of time.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Advanced IP Scanner - Download Free Network Scanner.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Advanced IP Scanner shows all network devices, gives you access to shared folders, and can even remotely switch computers off. Download it Free.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Apache SpamAssassin is the #1 Open Source anti-spam platform giving system administrators a filter to classify email and block spam.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
World's Biggest Data Breaches & Hacks - Information is Beautiful

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Data visualization of the world biggest data breaches, leaks and hacks. Constantly updated. Powered by @VizSweet.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
OSI Model Explained | OSI Animation | Open System Interconnection Model | OSI 7 layers | TechTerms

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Beginning in 2005 as the self-titled podcast, Hak5 is the flagship show of the network. The weekly show airs on YouTube and syndicates via Discovery Digital Networks (formerly Revision3) covering everything from open source software and network infrastructure to penetration testing.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Immortalized by "Little Bobby Drop Tables" in XKCD 327, SQL injection (SQLi) was first discovered in 1998, yet continues to plague web applications across the internet. Even the OWASP Top Ten lists injection as the number one threat to web application security.

What is SQL injection?

SQL injection is a type of attack that can give an adversary complete control over your web application database by inserting arbitrary SQL code into a database query.

The good news? SQL injection is the lowest of the low-hanging fruit for both attackers and defenders. SQLi isn't some cutting edge NSA Shadow Brokers kit, it's so simple a three-year old can do it. This is script kiddie stuff-and fixing your web application to mitigate the risk of SQLi is so easy that failure to do so looks more and more like gross negligence.

Types of SQL injection attacks

There are several types of SQL injection, but they all involve an attacker inserting arbitrary SQL into a web application database query. The simplest form of SQL injection is through user input. Web applications typically accept user input through a form, and the front end passes the user input to the back-end database for processing. If the web application fails to sanitize user input, an attacker can inject SQL of their choosing into the back-end database and delete, copy, or modify the contents of the database.

An attacker can also modify cookies to poison a web application's database query. Cookies store client state information locally, and web applications commonly load cookies and process that information. A malicious user, or malware, can modify cookies to inject SQL into the back-end database.

Server variables such as HTTP headers can also be used as a SQL injection attack vector. Forged headers containing arbitrary SQL can inject that code into the database if the web application fails to sanitize those inputs as well.

Second-order SQL injection attacks are the sneakiest of the bunch, because they aren't designed to run immediately, but much later. A developer who correctly sanitizes all their input against an immediate attack may still be vulnerable to a second-order SQLi when the poisoned data is used in a different context.

How to test for SQL injection vulnerabilities

SQL injection, as a technique, is older than many of the human attackers using SQLi today. SQLi attacks are rudimentary and have long since been automated. Tools like SQLninja, SQLmap, and Havij make it easy to test your own web applications, but also make it easy for attackers.

Ten years ago, a SQLi worm rampaged across the internet. Cut to the present: Not much has changed. Despite a widespread awareness of SQL injection as a problem, a large percentage of web applications remains vulnerable.

Automated testing tools can keep you a step ahead of attackers looking for an easy payday. Pentesting your web applications with a tool like SQLmap is a quick way to see if your mitigations are adequate. SQLmap supports pretty much every major database in use today and can detect and exploit most known SQL injection vulnerabilities.

Sanitize your input, but test to verify your mitigations are successful. A useful reminder: Blue team and red team are two sides to the same coin.

SQL injection example

Let's look at a basic SQL injection attack. Suppose you've built a web application that lets customers enter their customer IDs and retrieve their customer profiles. The web application front end passes the user-entered customer ID to the back-end database. The database runs an SQL query and returns the results to the web application, which displays the results to the end user.

The back-end database query might look something like this:

SELECT *

FROM customers

WHERE customer_id = '1234567'

Suppose a user entered the following customer_id in a web form field:

1234567; DELETE * customers WHERE '1' = '1

The back-end database would then obediently execute the following SQL:

SELECT *

FROM customers

WHERE customer_id = '1234567';

DELETE *

FROM customers

WHERE 'x' = 'x'

Remember, databases will happily execute multiple SQL statements in a row if separated by a semicolon. Failure to sanitize the user input for the single quote "'" character makes it possible for an attacker to delete the entire table. Hope you had good backups. Right? Right...?

This was a deliberately simple example, and there are many different SQL injection attack vectors, but all work on the same principle: A web application's failure to sanitize input leads to remote SQL code execution.

How to detect SQL injection attacks

Mitigating SQL injection attacks is not difficult, but even the smartest and best-intentioned developers still make mistakes. Detection is therefore an important component of mitigating the risk of a SQL injection attack. A web application firewall (WAF) can detect and block basic SQL injection attacks, but you shouldn't rely on it as the sole preventive measure.

Intrusion detection systems (IDS), both network- and host-based, can be tuned to detect SQL injection attacks. Network-based IDSes can monitor all connections to your database server, and flag suspicious activity. A host-based IDS can monitor web server logs and alert when something strange happens.

Ultimately, though, SQL injection attacks are well-understood and easily preventable, and the priority for risk mitigation should be preventing SQL injection attacks in the first place.

How to prevent SQL injection attacks

Listen to Little Bobby Tables and sanitize your database inputs. Any input to your web application database should be considered untrustworthy and treated accordingly. And listen to the good folks from OWASP when they tell you "It's somewhat shameful that there are so many successful SQL Injection attacks occurring, because it is EXTREMELY simple to avoid SQL injection vulnerabilities in your code." [their emphasis]

The OWASP SQL injection cheat sheet dives deeper than we ever could here, but preventing SQL injection attacks, the OWASP tell us, requires developers to whitelist input validation (not blacklisting), to use prepared statements with parameterized queries, and to escape all user-supplied input.

Also limit account privileges. Assume a breach. What if a developer fails to sanitize a single user input field? Hey, it happens. Developers are only human. Sanitize input but assume something is going to slip past you. Limit the account privileges of the database user. Is your web application read only, for example? Does it need to have DROP TABLES privileges? Probably not. The principle of least privilege applies here. Give the web application the minimum privileges it needs to run.

Stored procedures can also make SQLi a lot harder - although not impossible. If your web application only needs to run a handful of SQL queries, create stored procedures to execute those queries. Typically, only the database administrator has privileges to create or modify stored procedures. Be aware, though, that many databases ship with default stored procedures out of the box, and attackers know this. Consider removing those default stored procedures unless you really need them.

Minimum due diligence

SQL injection is the lowest of the low-hanging web application security fruit. This well-known attack vector is easily exploited by unsophisticated attackers, but it is easily mitigated with a small amount of due diligence. In 2018 there is no longer any excuse for a web application to be vulnerable to SQL injection. This is what minimum due diligence in web application security looks like, folks.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What is sql injection? How SQLi attacks work and how to prevent them

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Immortalized by "Little Bobby Drop Tables" in XKCD 327, SQL injection (SQLi) was first discovered in 1998, yet continues to plague web applications across the internet. Even the OWASP Top Ten lists injection as the number one threat to web application security.

# data[].attributes.headline
What is the difference between black, white and grey hat hackers

# data[].attributes.subject
What is the difference between black, white and grey hat hackers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Not all hackers are inherently bad. When used in mainstream media, the word, "hacker," is usually used in relation to cyber criminals, but a hacker can actually be anyone, regardless of their intentions, who utilizes their knowledge of computer software and hardware to break down and bypass security measures on a computer, device or network. Hacking itself is not an illegal activity unless the hacker is compromising a system without the owner's permission. Many companies and government agencies actually employ hackers to help them secure their systems.

Hackers are generally categorized by type of metaphorical "hat" they don: "white hat", "grey hat", and "black hat". The terms come from old spaghetti westerns, where the bad guy wears a black cowboy hat, and the good guy wears a white hat. There are two main factors that determine the type of hacker you're dealing with: their motivations, and whether or not they are breaking the law.

Black Hat Hackers

Like all hackers, black hat hackers usually have extensive knowledge about breaking into computer networks and bypassing security protocols. They are also responsible for writing malware, which is a method used to gain access to these systems.

Their primary motivation is usually for personal or financial gain, but they can also be involved in cyber espionage, protest or perhaps are just addicted to the thrill of cybercrime. Black hat hackers can range from amateurs getting their feet wet by spreading malware, to experienced hackers that aim to steal data, specifically financial information, personal information and login credentials. Not only do black hat hackers seek to steal data, they also seek to modify or destroy data as well.

White Hat Hackers

White hat hackers choose to use their powers for good rather than evil. Also known as "ethical hackers," white hat hackers can sometimes be paid employees or contractors working for companies as security specialists that attempt to find security holes via hacking.

White hat hackers employ the same methods of hacking as black hats, with one exception- they do it with permission from the owner of the system first, which makes the process completely legal. White hat hackers perform penetration testing, test in-place security systems and perform vulnerability assessments for companies. There are even courses, training, conferences and certifications for ethical hacking.

Grey Hat Hackers

As in life, there are grey areas that are neither black nor white. Grey hat hackers are a blend of both black hat and white hat activities. Often, grey hat hackers will look for vulnerabilities in a system without the owner's permission or knowledge. If issues are found, they will report them to the owner, sometimes requesting a small fee to fix the issue. If the owner does not respond or comply, then sometimes the hackers will post the newly found exploit online for the world to see.

These types of hackers are not inherently malicious with their intentions; they're just looking to get something out of their discoveries for themselves. Usually, grey hat hackers will not exploit the found vulnerabilities. However, this type of hacking is still considered illegal because the hacker did not receive permission from the owner prior to attempting to attack the system.

Although the word hacker tends to evoke negative connotations when referred to, it is important to remember that all hackers are not created equal. If we didn't have white hat hackers diligently seeking out threats and vulnerabilities before the black hats can find them, then there would probably be a lot more activity involving cybercriminals exploiting vulnerabilities and collecting sensitive data than there is now.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What is the Difference Between Black, White and Grey Hat Hackers?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Not all hackers are inherently bad. When used in mainstream media, the word, "hacker," is usually used in relation to cyber criminals, but a hacker can actually be anyone, regardless of their intentions, who utilizes their knowledge of computer software and hardware to break down and bypass security measures on a computer, device or network.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
SQL is useful for creating and querying relational databases. Learn how to use SQL with this interactive course!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
List of Well-Known TCP Port Numbers - Webopedia Reference

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Port numbers 0 to 1024 are reserved for privileged services and designated as well-known ports. This list of port numbers are specified in RFC 1700.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Brute Force Attack explained and demonstrated

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Live Cyber Attack Threat Map | Check Point Software

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Check Point's Live Cyber Attack Threat Map provides real-time tracking of cyber attacks as they're launched around the world.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In this article
Applies to
This topic provides a high-level overview of BitLocker, including a list of system requirements, practical applications, and deprecated features.

BitLocker overview

BitLocker Drive Encryption is a data protection feature that integrates with the operating system and addresses the threats of data theft or exposure from lost, stolen, or inappropriately decommissioned computers.

BitLocker provides the most protection when used with a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) version 1.2 or later. The TPM is a hardware component installed in many newer computers by the computer manufacturers. It works with BitLocker to help protect user data and to ensure that a computer has not been tampered with while the system was offline.

On computers that do not have a TPM version 1.2 or later, you can still use BitLocker to encrypt the Windows operating system drive. However, this implementation will require the user to insert a USB startup key to start the computer or resume from hibernation. Starting with Windows 8, you can use an operating system volume password to protect the operating system volume on a computer without TPM. Both options do not provide the pre-startup system integrity verification offered by BitLocker with a TPM.

In addition to the TPM, BitLocker offers the option to lock the normal startup process until the user supplies a personal identification number (PIN) or inserts a removable device, such as a USB flash drive, that contains a startup key. These additional security measures provide multifactor authentication and assurance that the computer will not start or resume from hibernation until the correct PIN or startup key is presented.

Practical applications

Data on a lost or stolen computer is vulnerable to unauthorized access, either by running a software-attack tool against it or by transferring the computer's hard disk to a different computer. BitLocker helps mitigate unauthorized data access by enhancing file and system protections. BitLocker also helps render data inaccessible when BitLocker-protected computers are decommissioned or recycled.

There are two additional tools in the Remote Server Administration Tools, which you can use to manage BitLocker.

BitLocker Recovery Password Viewer. The BitLocker Recovery Password Viewer enables you to locate and view BitLocker Drive Encryption recovery passwords that have been backed up to Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). You can use this tool to help recover data that is stored on a drive that has been encrypted by using BitLocker. The BitLocker Recovery Password Viewer tool is an extension for the Active Directory Users and Computers Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in. By using this tool, you can examine a computer object's Properties dialog box to view the corresponding BitLocker recovery passwords. Additionally, you can right-click a domain container and then search for a BitLocker recovery password across all the domains in the Active Directory forest. To view recovery passwords, you must be a domain administrator, or you must have been delegated permissions by a domain administrator.

BitLocker Drive Encryption Tools. BitLocker Drive Encryption Tools include the command-line tools, manage-bde and repair-bde, and the BitLocker cmdlets for Windows PowerShell. Both manage-bde and the BitLocker cmdlets can be used to perform any task that can be accomplished through the BitLocker control panel, and they are appropriate to use for automated deployments and other scripting scenarios. Repair-bde is provided for disaster recovery scenarios in which a BitLocker protected drive cannot be unlocked normally or by using the recovery console.

New and changed functionality

To find out what's new in BitLocker for Windows 10, such as support for the XTS-AES encryption algorithm, see the BitLocker section in "What's new in Windows 10, versions 1507 and 1511."

System requirements

BitLocker has the following hardware requirements:

For BitLocker to use the system integrity check provided by a Trusted Platform Module (TPM), the computer must have TPM 1.2 or later. If your computer does not have a TPM, enabling BitLocker requires that you save a startup key on a removable device, such as a USB flash drive.

A computer with a TPM must also have a Trusted Computing Group (TCG)-compliant BIOS or UEFI firmware. The BIOS or UEFI firmware establishes a chain of trust for the pre-operating system startup, and it must include support for TCG-specified Static Root of Trust Measurement. A computer without a TPM does not require TCG-compliant firmware.

The system BIOS or UEFI firmware (for TPM and non-TPM computers) must support the USB mass storage device class, including reading small files on a USB flash drive in the pre-operating system environment.

The hard disk must be partitioned with at least two drives:

The operating system drive (or boot drive) contains the operating system and its support files. It must be formatted with the NTFS file system.

The system drive contains the files that are needed to load Windows after the firmware has prepared the system hardware. BitLocker is not enabled on this drive. For BitLocker to work, the system drive must not be encrypted, must differ from the operating system drive, and must be formatted with the FAT32 file system on computers that use UEFI-based firmware or with the NTFS file system on computers that use BIOS firmware. We recommend that system drive be approximately 350 MB in size. After BitLocker is turned on it should have approximately 250 MB of free space.

When installed on a new computer, Windows will automatically create the partitions that are required for BitLocker.

When installing the BitLocker optional component on a server you will also need to install the Enhanced Storage feature, which is used to support hardware encrypted drives.

In this section

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In this article Applies to This topic provides a high-level overview of BitLocker, including a list of system requirements, practical applications, and deprecated features. BitLocker Drive Encryption is a data protection feature that integrates with the operating system and addresses the threats of data theft or exposure from lost, stolen, or inappropriately decommissioned computers.

# data[].attributes.body
The Course is around £200 but Udemy are always doing sales so I got it for £9.99. Just keep an eye on the site every now and again and you should be able to get it for cheap :)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Welcome this comprehensive course on Ethical Hacking! This course assumes you have NO prior knowledge in hacking and by the end of it you'll be able to hack systems like black-hat hackers and secure them like security experts!

This course is highly practical but it won't neglect the theory, so we'll start with ethical hacking basics and the different fields in penetration testing, installing the needed software (works on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X) and then we'll dive and start hacking systems straight away. From here onwards you'll learn everything by example, by analysing and exploiting computer systems such as networks, servers, clients, websites .....etc, so we'll never have any boring dry theoretical lectures.

The course is divided into a number of sections, each section covers a penetration testing / hacking field, in each of these sections you'll first learn how the target system works, the weaknesses of this system, and how to practically exploit theses weaknesses and hack into it, not only that but you'll also learn how to secure this system from the discussed attacks. This course will take you from a beginner to a more advanced level by the time you finish, you will have knowledge about most penetration testing fields.

The course is divided into four main sections:

1. Network Hacking - This section will teach you how to test the security of networks, both wired and wireless. First, you will learn some basic network terminology, how networks work, and how devices communicate with each other. Then it will branch into three sub sections:

Pre-connectionattacks:in this subsection you'll learn what can you do before even connecting to a network, and even before having internet access; you'll start by learning how to gather information about the networks around you, discover the devices connected to them, and how to control connections around you (ie: deny/allow devices from connecting to networks) even without knowing the password of the target network.

Gaining Access: Now that you gathered information about the networks around you, in this subsection you will learn how to crack the key and get the password to your target network weather it uses WEP, WPA or even WPA2.

Post Connection attacks: Now that you have the key, you can connect to the target network, in this subsection you will learn a number of powerful techniques that allow you to gather comprehensive information about the connected devices, see anything they do on the internet (such as login information, passwords, visited urls, images, videos ....etc), redirect requests, inject evil code in loaded pages and much more! All the attacks here work against both wireless and wired networks. You will also learn how to create a fake WiFi network, attract users to connect to it and use all of the above techniques against the connected clients.

2. Gaining Access - In this section you will learn two main approaches to gain full control or hack computer systems:

Server Side Attacks: In this subsection you will learn how to gain full access to computer systems without the need for user interaction. You will learn how to gather useful information about a target computer system such as its operating system, open ports, installed services, then you'll learn how to use this information to discover weaknesses and vulnerabilities and exploit them to gain full control over the target. Finally you will learn how to generate different types of reports for your discoveries.

Client Side Attacks - If the target system does not contain any weaknesses then the only way to gain access to it is by interacting with the users, in this subsection you'll learn how to get the target user to install a backdoor on their system without even realising, this is done by hijacking updates or backdoornig downloadeds on the fly. Not only that but you'll also learn how to create trojans by backdooring normal files (such as an image or a pdf) and use social engineering to deliver this trojan to the target, to do this you'll learn how to spoof emails so they appear as if they're sent from the target's friend, boss or any email account they're likely to interact with.

3. Post Exploitation - In this section you will learn how to interact with the systems you compromised so far. You'll learn how to access the file system (read/write/upload/execute), maintain your access, spy on the target and even use the target computer as a pivot to hack other computer systems.

4. Website / Web Application Hacking - In this section you will learn how websites work, how to gather information about a target website (such as website owner, server location, used technologies ....etc) and how to discover and exploit the following dangerous vulnerabilities to hack into websites:

At the end of each section you will learn how to detect, prevent and secure your system and yourself from the discussed attacks.

All the techniques in this course are practical and work against real systems, you'll understand the whole mechanism of each technique first, then you'll learn how to use it to hack into the target system, so by the end of the course you'll be able to modify the these techniques to launch more powerful attacks, and adopt them to different situations and different scenarios.

With this course you'll get 24/7 support, so if you have any questions you can post them in the Q&A section and we'll respond to you within 15 hours.

NOTE: This course is created for educational purposes only and all the attacks are launched in my own lab or against devices that I have permission to test.
NOTE: This course is totally a product of Zaid Sabih and no other organisation is associated with it or a certification exam. Although, you will receive a Course Completion Certification from Udemy, apart from that NO OTHER ORGANISATION IS INVOLVED.

Anybody who is interested in learning ethical hacking / penetration testing

Anybody who wants to learn how hackers hack computer systems

Anybody who wants to learn how to secure their systems from hackers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Learn Ethical Hacking From Scratch | Udemy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Welcome this comprehensive course on Ethical Hacking! This course assumes you have NO prior knowledge in hacking and by the end of it you'll be able to hack systems like black-hat hackers and secure them like security experts!

# data[].attributes.headline
DDoS Distributed Denial of Service Attacks and Threats: Protection and Prevention

# data[].attributes.subject
DDoS Distributed Denial of Service Attacks and Threats: Protection and Prevention

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
DDoS Distributed Denial of Service Attacks: Protection, Prevention

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Distributed Denial of Service or DDoS has a long history, and it became completely mainstream when Anonymous group started its operations against any website against Wikileaks. Until then, the term and what it meant was known only to people with knowledge of Internet Security.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
SQL is useful for creating and querying relational databases. Learn how to use SQL with this interactive course!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A cyber attack is any type of offensive action that targets computer information systems, infrastructures, computer networks or personal computer devices, using various methods to steal, alter or destroy data or information systems.

Today I'll describe the 10 most common cyber attack types:

1. Denial-of-service (DoS) and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks

2. Man-in-the-middle (MitM) attack

3. Phishing and spear phishing attacks

4. Drive-by attack

5. Password attack

6. SQL injection attack

7. Cross-site scripting (XSS) attack

8. Eavesdropping attack

9. Birthday attack

10. Malware attack

1. Denial-of-service (DoS) and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks

A denial-of-service attack overwhelms a system's resources so that it cannot respond to service requests. A DDoS attack is also an attack on system's resources, but it is launched from a large number of other host machines that are infected by malicious software controlled by the attacker.

Unlike attacks that are designed to enable the attacker to gain or increase access, denial-of-service doesn't provide direct benefits for attackers. For some of them, it's enough to have the satisfaction of service denial. However, if the attacked resource belongs to a business competitor, then the benefit to the attacker may be real enough. Another purpose of a DoS attack can be to take a system offline so that a different kind of attack can be launched. One common example is session hijacking, which I'll describe later.

There are different types of DoS and DDoS attacks; the most common are TCP SYN flood attack, teardrop attack, smurf attack, ping-of-death attack and botnets.

TCP SYN flood attack

In this attack, an attacker exploits the use of the buffer space during a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) session initialization handshake. The attacker's device floods the target system's small in-process queue with connection requests, but it does not respond when the target system replies to those requests. This causes the target system to time out while waiting for the response from the attacker's device, which makes the system crash or become unusable when the connection queue fills up.

There are a few countermeasures to a TCP SYN flood attack:

Place servers behind a firewall configured to stop inbound SYN packets.

Increase the size of the connection queue and decrease the timeout on open connections.

Teardrop attack

This attack causes the length and fragmentation offset fields in sequential Internet Protocol (IP) packets to overlap one another on the attacked host; the attacked system attempts to reconstruct packets during the process but fails. The target system then becomes confused and crashes.

If users don't have patches to protect against this DoS attack, disable SMBv2 and block ports 139 and 445.

Smurf attack

This attack involves using IP spoofing and the ICMP to saturate a target network with traffic. This attack method uses ICMP echo requests targeted at broadcast IP addresses. These ICMP requests originate from a spoofed "victim" address. For instance, if the intended victim address is 10.0.0.10, the attacker would spoof an ICMP echo request from 10.0.0.10 to the broadcast address 10.255.255.255. This request would go to all IPs in the range, with all the responses going back to 10.0.0.10, overwhelming the network. This process is repeatable, and can be automated to generate huge amounts of network congestion.

To protect your devices from this attack, you need to disable IP-directed broadcasts at the routers. This will prevent the ICMP echo broadcast request at the network devices. Another option would be to configure the end systems to keep them from responding to ICMP packets from broadcast addresses.

Ping of death attack

This type of attack uses IP packets to 'ping a target system with an IP size over the maximum of 65,535 bytes. IP packets of this size are not allowed, so attacker fragments the IP packet. Once the target system reassembles the packet, it can experience buffer overflows and other crashes.

Ping of death attacks can be blocked by using a firewall that will check fragmented IP packets for maximum size.

Botnets

Botnets are the millions of systems infected with malware under hacker control in order to carry out DDoS attacks. These bots or zombie systems are used to carry out attacks against the target systems, often overwhelming the target system's bandwidth and processing capabilities. These DDoS attacks are difficult to trace because botnets are located in differing geographic locations.

Botnets can be mitigated by:

RFC3704 filtering, which will deny traffic from spoofed addresses and help ensure that traffic is traceable to its correct source network. For example, RFC3704 filtering will drop packets from bogon list addresses.

Black hole filtering, which drops undesirable traffic before it enters a protected network. When a DDoS attack is detected, the BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) host should send routing updates to ISP routers so that they route all traffic heading to victim servers to a null0 interface at the next hop.

2. Man-in-the-middle (MitM) attack

A MitM attack occurs when a hacker inserts itself between the communications of a client and a server. Here are some common types of man-in-the-middle attacks:

Session hijacking

In this type of MitM attack, an attacker hijacks a session between a trusted client and network server. The attacking computer substitutes its IP address for the trusted client while the server continues the session, believing it is communicating with the client. For instance, the attack might unfold like this:

1. A client connects to a server.

2. The attacker's computer gains control of the client.

3. The attacker's computer disconnects the client from the server.

4. The attacker's computer replaces the client's IP address with its own IP address and
spoofs the client's sequence numbers.

5. The attacker's computer continues dialog with the server and the server believes it is still communicating with the client.

IP Spoofing

IP spoofing is used by an attacker to convince a system that it is communicating with a known, trusted entity and provide the attacker with access to the system. The attacker sends a packet with the IP source address of a known, trusted host instead of its own IP source address to a target host. The target host might accept the packet and act upon it.

Replay

A replay attack occurs when an attacker intercepts and saves old messages and then tries to send them later, impersonating one of the participants. This type can be easily countered with session timestamps or nonce (a random number or a string that changes with time).

Currently, there is no single technology or configuration to prevent all MitM attacks. Generally, encryption and digital certificates provide an effective safeguard against MitM attacks, assuring both the confidentiality and integrity of communications. But a man-in-the-middle attack can be injected into the middle of communications in such a way that encryption will not help - for example, attacker "A" intercepts public key of person "P" and substitute it with his own public key. Then, anyone wanting to send an encrypted message to P using P's public key is unknowingly using A's public key. Therefore, A can read the message intended for P and then send the message to P, encrypted in P's real public key, and P will never notice that the message was compromised. In addition, A could also modify the message before resending it to P. As you can see, P is using encryption and thinks that his information is protected but it is not, because of the MitM attack.

So, how can you make sure that P's public key belongs to P and not to A? Certificate authorities and hash functions were created to solve this problem. When person 2 (P2) wants to send a message to P, and P wants to be sure that A will not read or modify the message and that the message actually came from P2, the following method must be used:

1. P2 creates a symmetric key and encrypts it with P's public key.

2. P2 sends the encrypted symmetric key to P.

3. P2 computes a hash function of the message and digitally signs it.

4. P2 encrypts his message and the message's signed hash using the symmetric key and sends the entire thing to P.

5. P is able to receive the symmetric key from P2 because only he has the private key to decrypt the encryption.

6. P, and only P, can decrypt the symmetrically encrypted message and signed hash because he has the symmetric key.

7. He is able to verify that the message has not been altered because he can compute the hash of received message and compare it with digitally signed one.

8. P is also able to prove to himself that P2 was the sender because only P2 can sign the hash so that it is verified with P2 public key.

3. Phishing and spear phishing attacks

Phishing attack is the practice of sending emails that appear to be from trusted sources with the goal of gaining personal information or influencing users to do something. It combines social engineering and technical trickery. It could involve an attachment to an email that loads malware onto your computer. It could also be a link to an illegitimate website that can trick you into downloading malware or handing over your personal information.

Spear phishing is a very targeted type of phishing activity. Attackers take the time to conduct research into targets and create messages that are personal and relevant. Because of this, spear phishing can be very hard to identify and even harder to defend against. One of the simplest ways that a hacker can conduct a spear phishing attack is email spoofing, which is when the information in the "From" section of the email is falsified, making it appear as if it is coming from someone you know, such as your management or your partner company. Another technique that scammers use to add credibility to their story is website cloning - they copy legitimate websites to fool you into entering personally identifiable information (PII) or login credentials.

To reduce the risk of being phished, you can use these techniques:

Critical thinking - Do not accept that an email is the real deal just because you're busy or stressed or you have 150 other unread messages in your inbox. Stop for a minute and analyze the email.

Hovering over the links - Move your mouse over the link, but do not click it! Just let your mouse cursor h over over the link and see where would actually take you. Apply critical thinking to decipher the URL.

Analyzing email headers - Email headers define how an email got to your address. The "Reply-to" and "Return-Path" parameters should lead to the same domain as is stated in the email.

Sandboxing - You can test email content in a sandbox environment, logging activity from opening the attachment or clicking the links inside the email.

4. Drive-by attack

Drive-by download attacks are a common method of spreading malware. Hackers look for insecure websites and plant a malicious script into HTTP or PHP code on one of the pages. This script might install malware directly onto the computer of someone who visits the site, or it might re-direct the victim to a site controlled by the hackers. Drive-by downloads can happen when visiting a website or viewing an email message or a pop-up window. Unlike many other types of cyber security attacks, a drive-by doesn't rely on a user to do anything to actively enable the attack - you don't have to click a download button or open a malicious email attachment to become infected. A drive-by download can take advantage of an app, operating system or web browser that contains security flaws due to unsuccessful updates or lack of updates.

To protect yourself from drive-by attacks, you need to keep your browsers and operating systems up to date and avoid websites that might contain malicious code. Stick to the sites you normally use - although keep in mind that even these sites can be hacked. Don't keep too many unnecessary programs and apps on your device. The more plug-ins you have, the more vulnerabilities there are that can be exploited by drive-by attacks.

5. Password attack

Because passwords are the most commonly used mechanism to authenticate users to an information system, obtaining passwords is a common and effective attack approach. Access to a person's password can be obtained by looking around the person's desk, ''sniffing'' the connection to the network to acquire unencrypted passwords, using social engineering, gaining access to a password database or outright guessing. The last approach can be done in either a random or systematic manner:

Brute-force password guessing means using a random approach by trying different passwords and hoping that one work Some logic can be applied by trying passwords related to the person's name, job title, hobbies or similar items.

In a dictionary attack, a dictionary of common passwords is used to attempt to gain access to a user's computer and network. One approach is to copy an encrypted file that contains the passwords, apply the same encryption to a dictionary of commonly used passwords, and compare the results.

In order to protect yourself from dictionary or brute-force attacks, you need to implement an account lockout policy that will lock the account after a few invalid password attempts. You can follow these account lockout best practices in order to set it up correctly.

6. SQL injection attack

SQL injection has become a common issue with database-driven websites. It occurs when a malefactor executes a SQL query to the database via the input data from the client to server. SQL commands are inserted into data-plane input (for example, instead of the login or password) in order to run predefined SQL commands. A successful SQL injection exploit can read sensitive data from the database, modify (insert, update or delete) database data, execute administration operations (such as shutdown) on the database, recover the content of a given file, and, in some cases, issue commands to the operating system.

For example, a web form on a website might request a user's account name and then send it to the database in order to pull up the associated account information using dynamic SQL like this:

"SELECT * FROM users WHERE account = '" + userProvidedAccountNumber +"';"

While this works for users who are properly entering their account number, it leaves a hole for attackers. For example, if someone decided to provide an account number of "' or '1' = '1'", that would result in a query string of:

"SELECT * FROM users WHERE account = '' or '1' = '1';"

Because '1' = '1' always evaluates to TRUE, the database will return the data for all users instead of just a single user.

The vulnerability to this type of cyber security attack depends on the fact that SQL makes no real distinction between the control and data planes. Therefore, SQL injections work mostly if a website uses dynamic SQL. Additionally, SQL injection is very common with PHP and ASP applications due to the prevalence of older functional interfaces. J2EE and ASP.NET applications are less likely to have easily exploited SQL injections because of the nature of the programmatic interfaces available.

In order to protect yourself from a SQL injection attacks, apply least0privilege model of permissions in your databases. Stick to stored procedures (make sure that these procedures don't include any dynamic SQL) and prepared statements (parameterized queries). The code that is executed against the database must be strong enough to prevent injection attacks. In addition, validate input data against a white list at the application level.

7. Cross-site scripting (XSS) attack

XSS attacks use third-party web resources to run scripts in the victim's web browser or scriptable application. Specifically, the attacker injects a payload with malicious JavaScript into a website's database. When the victim requests a page from the website, the website transmits the page, with the attacker's payload as part of the HTML body, to the victim's browser, which executes the malicious script. For example, it might send the victim's cookie to the attacker's server, and the attacker can extract it and use it for session hijacking. The most dangerous consequences occur when XSS is used to exploit additional vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities can enable an attacker to not only steal cookies, but also log key strokes, capture screenshots, discover and collect network information, and remotely access and control the victim's machine.

While XSS can be taken advantage of within VBScript, ActiveX and Flash, the most widely abused is JavaScript - primarily because JavaScript is supported widely on the web.

To defend against XSS attacks, developers can sanitize data input by users in an HTTP request before reflecting it back. Make sure all data is validated, filtered or escaped before echoing anything back to the user, such as the values of query parameters during searches. Convert special characters such as ?, &, /, <, > and spaces to their respective HTML or URL encoded equivalents. Give users the option to disable client-side scripts.

8. Eavesdropping attack

Eavesdropping attacks occur through the interception of network traffic. By eavesdropping, an attacker can obtain passwords, credit card numbers and other confidential information that a user might be sending over the network. Eavesdropping can be passive or active:

Passive eavesdropping - A hacker detects the information by listening to the message transmission in the network.

Active eavesdropping - A hacker actively grabs the information by disguising himself as friendly unit and by sending queries to transmitters. This is called probing, scanning or tampering.

Detecting passive eavesdropping attacks is often more important than spotting active ones, since active attacks requires the attacker to gain knowledge of the friendly units by conducting passive eavesdropping before.

Data encryption is the best countermeasure for eavesdropping.

9. Birthday attack

Birthday attacks are made against hash algorithms that are used to verify the integrity of a message, software or digital signature. A message processed by a hash function produces a message digest (MD) of fixed length, independent of the length of the input message; this MD uniquely characterizes the message. The birthday attack refers to the probability of finding two random messages that generate the same MD when processed by a hash function. If an attacker calculates same MD for his message as the user has, he can safely replace the user's message with his, and the receiver will not be able to detect the replacement even if he compares MDs.

10. Malware attack

Malicious software can be described as unwanted software that is installed in your system without your consent. It can attach itself to legitimate code and propagate; it can lurk in useful applications or replicate itself across the Internet. Here are some of the most common types of malware:

Macro viruses - These viruses infect applications such as Microsoft Word or Excel. Macro viruses attach to an application's initialization sequence. When the application is opened, the virus executes instructions before transferring control to the application. The virus replicates itself and attaches to other code in the computer system.

File infectors - File infector viruses usually attach themselves to executable code, such as .exe files. The virus is installed when the code is loaded. Another version of a file infector associates itself with a file by creating a virus file with the same name, but an .exe extension. Therefore, when the file is opened, the virus code will execute.

System or boot-record infectors - A boot-record virus attaches to the master boot record on hard disks. When the system is started, it will look at the boot sector and load the virus into memory, where it can propagate to other disks and computers.

Polymorphic viruses - These viruses conceal themselves through varying cycles of encryption and decryption. The encrypted virus and an associated mutation engine are initially decrypted by a decryption program. The virus proceeds to infect an area of code. The mutation engine then develops a new decryption routine and the virus encrypts the mutation engine and a copy of the virus with an algorithm corresponding to the new decryption routine. The encrypted package of mutation engine and virus is attached to new code, and the process repeats. Such viruses are difficult to detect but have a high level of entropy because of the many modifications of their source code. Anti-virus software or free tools like Process Hacker can use this feature to detect them.

Stealth viruses - Stealth viruses take over system functions to conceal themselves. They do this by compromising malware detection software so that the software will report an infected area as being uninfected. These viruses conceal any increase in the size of an infected file or changes to the file's date and time of last modification.

Trojans - A Trojan or a Trojan horse is a program that hides in a useful program and usually has a malicious function. A major difference between viruses and Trojans is that Trojans do not self-replicate. In addition to launching attacks on a system, a Trojan can establish a back door that can be exploited by attackers. For example, a Trojan can be programmed to open a high-numbered port so the hacker can use it to listen and then perform an attack.

Logic bombs - A logic bomb is a type of malicious software that is appended to an application and is triggered by a specific occurrence, such as a logical condition or a specific date and time.

Worms - Worms differ from viruses in that they do not attach to a host file, but are self-contained programs that propagate across networks and computers. Worms are commonly spread through email attachments; opening the attachment activates the worm program. A typical worm exploit involves the worm sending a copy of itself to every contact in an infected computer's email address In addition to conducting malicious activities, a worm spreading across the internet and overloading email servers can result in denial-of-service attacks against nodes on the network.

Droppers - A dropper is a program used to install viruses on computers. In many instances, the dropper is not infected with malicious code and, therefore might not be detected by virus-scanning software. A dropper can also connect to the internet and download updates to virus software that is resident on a compromised system.

Ransomware - Ransomware is a type of malware that blocks access to the victim's data and threatens to publish or delete it unless a ransom is paid. While some simple computer ransomware can lock the system in a way that is not difficult for a knowledgeable person to reverse, more advanced malware uses a technique called cryptoviral extortion, which encrypts the victim's files in a way that makes them nearly impossible to recover without the decryption key.

Adware - Adware is a software application used by companies for marketing purposes; advertising banners are displayed while any program is running. Adware can be automatically downloaded to your system while browsing any website and can be viewed through pop-up windows or through a bar that appears on the computer screen automatically.

Spyware - Spyware is a type of program that is installed to collect information about users, their computers or their browsing habits. It tracks everything you do without your knowledge and sends the data to a remote user. It also can download and install other malicious programs from the internet. Spyware works like adware but is usually a separate program that is installed unknowingly when you install another freeware application.

Conclusion

Mounting a good defense requires understanding the offense. This article has reviewed the 10 most common cyber-security attacks that hackers use to disrupt and compromise information systems. As you can see, attackers have many options, such as DDoS assaults, malware infection, man-in-the-middle interception, and brute-force password guessing, to trying to gain unauthorized access to critical infrastructures and sensitive data.

Measures to mitigate these threats vary, but security basics stay the same: Keep your systems and anti-virus databases up to date, train your employees, configure your firewall to whitelist only the specific ports and hosts you need, keep your passwords strong, use a least-privilege model in your IT environment, make regular backups, and continuously audit your IT systems for suspicious activity.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Top 10 Most Common Types of Cyber Attacks

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A cyber attack is any type of offensive action that targets computer information systems, infrastructures, computer networks or personal computer devices, using various methods to steal, alter or destroy data or information systems. Today I'll describe the 10 most common cyber attack types: Denial-of-service (DoS) and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks Man-in-the-middle (MitM) attack Phishing and spear phishing attacks Drive-by attack Password attack SQL injection attack Cross-site scripting (XSS) attack Eavesdropping attack Birthday attack Malware attack A denial-of-service attack overwhelms a system's resources so that it cannot respond to service requests.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
MAP | Kaspersky Cyberthreat real-time map

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
MAP | Kaspersky Cyberthreat real-time map

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
MAP | Find out if you are under cyber-attack here

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Running an SQL Injection Attack - Computerphile

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The OSI model is used as an understanding of how computer networks operate and communicate. Using this ISO standard, organisations can understand where vulnerabilities may exist within their infrastructure and apply controls appropriately. Understanding of the OSI model is imperative for any computer/network professional. Through understanding the model, computer professionals can gain a deeper level understanding of how packets move throughout a network and how attacks and can disrupt can occur at any level.

Initially, it is worth discussing the OSA model and its basic principles. This article will not go into detail of the OSI model as it is primarily focused on network vulnerabilities and how they map to the high level principles, or layers, of the OSA model. For in depth detail, please refer to the OSI model on the ISO website.

The OSA model consists of 7 layers and describes the communication path for networks. The layers consist of:

Layer 7. Application Layer
Layer 6. Presentation Layer
Layer 5. Session Layer
Layer 4. Transport Layer
Layer 3. Network Layer
Layer 2. Data Link Layer
Layer 1. Physical Layer

The layers describe each part of the network and are stepped through consecutively when data is sent on a network. The best way to understand this model is to envisage packets moving on a network. Data in an application, for example an email in Outlook, resides at Layer 7. When the user wants to send an email, they press the send button and the data works its way down the OSI layers and across the network.

Initially, the data will work down through presentation and session into the transport layer. The email will be sent by SMTP (or a similar protocol) that resides in Layer 4 - Transport Layer. The data will then move down across the network layer and into the data link. Finally, the packets will reach the physical layer, which is where the physical wiring will send the data across to the receipent network.

Once the data reaches the recipient network, it will work its way back up the OSA model before reaching the end user at the presentation/application layer.

And, in a very, very brief nutshell - this is how networks communicate. So, what does this mean in terms of risk to your business? How do vulnerabilities fit into this model? And, most importantly, how can this be used to understand the threats to your network and business?

Well, each attack can essentially be mapped onto the OSI model. For example, physical layer attacks occur when the physical infrastructure is compromised or disrupted - this can include cutting wires or running signals that disrupt wireless ranges. This would prevent packets being sent across the network, causing a denial of service (DoS) attack.

So, lets look at each layer of the OSI model, the typical attacks you might find at each layer and some general remediation's. Obviously the mitigations you put in place will be dependent on a full and thorough risk assessment, but this can be used as a guide to understand the types of attacks that may occur:
OSI model Layer 1 attacks
Layer 1 refers to the physical aspect of networking - in other words, the cabling and infrastructure used for networks to communicate. Layer 1 attacks focus on disrupting this service in any manner possible, primarily resulting in Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. This disruption could be caused by physically cutting cable right through to disrupting wireless signals.
OSI model Layer 2 attacks
Layer 2 of the OSI model is the data link layer and focuses on the methods for delivering data blocks. Normally, this consists of switches utilising protocols such as the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) and the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), which is used throughout networking for dynamic IP assignment.

Attacks at this layer can focus on the insecurity of the protocols used or the lack of hardening on the routing devices themselves. As switches focus is on providing LAN connectivity, the majority of threats come from inside the organisation itself. Layer 2 attacks may also include MAC flooding or ARP poisoning.

In order to mitigate these risks, it is imperative network switches are hardened. Additional controls may include ARP inspection, disabling unused ports and enforcing effective security on VLAN's to prevent VLAN hopping.
OSI model Layer 3 attacks
Layer 3 is the network layer and utilises multiple common protocols to perform routing on the network. Protocols consist of the Internet Protocol (IP), packet sniffing and DoS attacks such as Ping floods and ICMP attacks. Because of their layer 3 nature, these types of attacks can be performed remotely over the Internet while layer 2 attacks primarily come from the internal LAN.

To reduce the risk of these types of attacks, routers should be hardened, packet filtering controls should be used and routing information should be controlled.
OSI model Layer 4 attacks
Layer 4 is the transport layer and utilises common transport protocols to enable network communications. This may include the Transport Control Protocol (TCP) and Universal Data Protocol (UDP).

Port scanning, a method by which to identify vulnerable or open network ports, operates at layer 4 of the OSI model. Implementing effective firewalls and locking down ports only to those required can mitigate risks at this level.
OSI model layer 5-7

Above layer 4, we are looking primarily at application level attacks which result from poor coding practices. Vulnerabilities in applications can be exploited through attacks such as SQL injection, where the developer has failed to ensure that user input is validated against a defined schema.

The attacker would then input code to extract data from the database (e.g. SELECT * from USERS). As the application fails to validate this input, the command is run and data extracted. To reduce this risk, developers must ensure that best practice development guides are adhered to.
Conclusion
This article has briefly looked at the OSI model, including the protocols and attacks that are utilised/occur at each layer. The OSI model is fundamental in understanding how networks communicate from the wire through to the application. Further understanding is imperative in order to secure both the network and end user devices.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Network Vulnerabilities and the OSI Model

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The OSI model is used as an understanding of how computer networks operate and communicate. Using this ISO standard, organisations can understand where vulnerabilities may exist within their infrastructure and apply controls appropriately. Understanding of the OSI model is imperative for any computer/network professional.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What would a cyber attack look like in the real world?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Vulnerabilities are related to which of the OSI layers?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Answer (1 of 3): Vulnerabilitiy is known as the weakness of the system. Hence it can be found in any of the layers. Physical Layer Vulnerabilities: 1. Loss of Power 2. Loss of Environmental Control 3. Physical Theft of Data and Hardware 4. Physical Damage or Destruction of Data And Hardware 5.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Refine web searches - Google Search Help

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
You can use symbols or words in your search to make your search results more precise. Google Search usually ignores punctuation that isn't part of a search operator. Don't put spaces between