Network Security

Hello Everyone, and Welcome back!!

In this post, I will expand on my research in Network Security.  I will explain why information and system security is essential for individuals and organizations.  I will give an example of how the ping command can be used as a system attack type.  Also, I will discuss in more detail phishing and social engineering.  To conclude, I will add recommendations for preventing these types of attacks.  This will demonstrate the importance of network and system security for individuals and organizations.

Network and system security are often not given the importance they should have.  As mentioned in the scholarly article named Internet of Things: Security and Solutions Survey, “Human life is involved in enormous applications such as intelligent transportation, intelligent healthcare, smart grid, smart city, etc.  A thriving surface is created that can affect society, the economy, the environment, politics, and health through diverse security threats” (Sadhu et al, 2022).  Bad actors have many ways to attack an individual or organization.  Bad actors can use very sophisticated to attack an individual or organization.  But they can also use simple tools such as ping commands.  Using the ping command, bad actors can bring a network to a halt.  Using a tool such as a ping command can create what is called a denial-of-service (DoS) attack.  The scholarly article Denial-of-service attack explains that “DoS attacks are typically carried out using automated programs that send repeated requests to the target site or network, thus causing the server to overload” (Crelin, 2020).   Sending specially formulated packets with the ping command, an attacker can crash or make a server or computer unstable and unable to communicate; this is called the Ping of Death (PoD).  One way to protect from a PoD attack is to disable the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP).  However, that may cause unintended issues; therefore, the best way to protect from a PoD attack is to use software or a security tool that detects malformed, oversized, or suspicious pings.

            A bad actor can attack an individual or organization in many different ways.  In my experience, most of the attacks I have seen come from phishing and social engineering.  However, security should be well-rounded to prevent all types of attacks.  “Phishing is the fraudulent attempt to obtain sensitive information by disguising oneself as a trustworthy entity in digital communication” (Desolada et al, 2022).  For a bad actor to be able to create a dangerous and effective phishing email, it will need to do some social engineering.  As Christopher Hadnagy said in his keynote speech at the HOPE conference, “hacking is playing with other people and getting them to do strange things” (2018).  A hacker with the right information at the right time can be dangerous.  For example, you work in an office, which you know is your co-worker’s birthday.  Suddenly you get an email from the Directory of your department asking you if you could purchase a $100 gift card for Freddy, not to tell anyone, and keep it secret since it will be a birthday surprise for Freddy.  He trusts you to be able to do this simple task.  Your co-worker’s name is Freddy, it is his birthday, and the email came from your director, or at least that’s how it looked.  The bad actor obviously did some research.  By finding out publicly available information, he was able to send a well-crafted email not only to you but to everyone in your department.  By telling everyone that it was a secret and he trusted them, most users will not want to break that trust.  Besides, reviews are coming soon, and you want to make sure you are on your boss’s boss good side.  Although this may sound far fetch, it has happened, and I have seen it. 

The good news is that there are ways to protect yourself and your organization against such attacks.  For phishing attacks, recommendations to protect you and your organization are as follows:

1.     Purchase security software

2.     Educate yourself and the users in the organization about phishing emails

The best way to protect from phishing emails is to question everyone and trust no one.  If in question, call the sender and validate the information.  Protection from social engineering is a bit more complicated.  Since the goal of an attacker is to gain your trust, it may be difficult to see the threat.  However, two recommendations to protect from such attacks are as follows:

1.     Purchase advanced security software

2.     Educate yourself and the users in an organization about social engineering

Similar to the first recommendation and very effective.  Now in days, as attackers are getting smarter, basic security software is not enough.   Security companies are turning to behavioral data science and artificial intelligence for solutions.  Security companies like TrendMicro, and Abnormal, use Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to learn the behavior of internal and external users and the relationship between them to secure and prevent sophisticated attacks missed by conventional spam blockers.  Having sophisticated software and educating your users can help prevent phishing and social engineering attacks.    

 

 

 

References:

Crelin, J. (2020).  Denial-of-service attack.  Salem Press Encyclopedia.

DESOLDA, G., FERRO, L. S., MARRELLA, A., CATARCI, T., & COSTABILE, M. F. (2022). Human Factors in Phishing Attacks: A Systematic Literature Review.  ACM Computing Surveys, 54(8), 1–35.  https://doi.org/10.1145/3469886

Hadnagy, C. (2018).  Social engineering : the science of human hacking (Second edition.).  Wiley.

Sadhu, P. K., Yanambaka, V. P., & Abdelgawad, A. (2022). Internet of Things: Security and Solutions Survey.  Sensors (14248220), 22(19), 7433.  https://doi.org/10.3390/s22197433

Security Abnormal.  (2022, December 22).  Why abnormal - email security for advanced attacks.  Abnormal Security.  https://abnormalsecurity.com/why-abnormal

Vahid, F., & Lysecky, S. (2019).  Computing technology for all.  zyBooks.

What is ping of death (pod): Ddos attack glossary: Imperva.  Learning Center.  (2020, September 30).  https://www.imperva.com/learn/ddos/ping-of-death/#:~:text=Ping%20of%20Death%20(a.k.a.%20PoD,using%20a%20simple%20ping%20command.