Cyber Attacks! Know Thy Enemy

By Author: Alice Merry
Total Articles: 5
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Sun Tzu, a Chinese General and Military Strategist from 6th Century BC once said ‘Know Thy Self, Know Thy Enemy’. This saying is still as relevant as it was then, especially in the context of Cyber attacks.
Cyber attacks can prove deadly for your online presence. It can destroy it in minutes and seize your online operations to your frustration. It’s imperative that you know what dangers are lurking in the cyber world that can harm your existence. Here we outline some of them so that you can take safety precautions and avoid becoming a victim to them.
Cross-Site Scripting: Victim’s web browser or scriptable application is contaminated using a script utilizing third party web resources. This often happens when the user visits malicious websites or links. Once the user arrives on these mentioned websites they are basically literally walking in to a trap. It can potentially steal your sensitive information or steal cookies hence exploiting the user.
Denial-of-Service: In this method of attack the user is denied access to its own networks, systems or applications. This kind of attack is normally carried ...
... out by using up valid resources.
Distributed Denial-of-Service: It’s pretty much the same as Denial-of-Service but more intense in nature, as the attackers use numerous hosts to perform their attack. It’s imperative that safety precautionary measures are taken in order to repel DDoS attacks and DDoS protection is strongly suggested. DDoS mitigation brings down the risk of these attacks and prevents the occurrence.
Logic Bombs: In a logic bomb attack, certain programming codes are intentionally inserted into a software system. When a few certain conditions are met, the harm process starts to happen and maligns the system.
Phishing: Fraudulent emails are sent to the victim that look genuine but are actually fake. These emails usually contain a link and when the user follows it, it steals user’s information.
Passive Wiretapping: The attackers tap user’s data such password or any other sensitive information. This is normally done in a clandestine manner that goes unnoticed without affecting the actual data.
Structured Query Language Injection: In a web based application, alterations are made in database search, which can be later utilized to gain unauthorized access to classified information within that database.
Trojan Horse: A Trojan Horse looks like an innocent program or software, but when installed, it carries out malicious functions that are normally missed by security programs.
Virus: Everybody’s heard of this term, Virus! It’s one of the most common threats that replicates itself and infects the user’s computer without their knowledge. It can cause corruption to the data on to the system, send e-mails to spread the virus or even erase the entire data on a computer.
War Driving: The more sophisticated the technology gets the more sophisticated the harmful methods get. War Driving is actually driving around to find unsecured wireless networks to gain access with a malicious intention.
Worm: Worm is different in nature from a Virus as it doesn’t need to be activated by the user. It’s a self replicating, self-propagating, self-contained program that uses network mechanisms to spread.
All in all these attacks are getting more sophisticated by the day. It has become a necessity for individuals and organizations alike to shield themselves from these threats. DDoS Protection has become a must have weapon in the arsenal against these attacks. Taking up DDoS Mitigation to fight these attacks off is a wise decision, that should be taken sooner than later!

Alice Merry is a Sr technical writer at ddos protection company, blockdos.net. He writes and shares his technical experience about the virus, trojan, dos, ddos and all about cyber attacks.