1.4 Network Security Flashcards
ways to spot a phishing email
- Poor spelling and grammar.
- The message asks for personal information.
- Generic greeting/impersonal
- You didn’t initiate any action to cause the email.
- sense of urgency in the information
what is malware
software written to infect computers and commit crimes like fraud and identity theft
what is phishing
designed to get you to give away personal information using emails purporting to be reputable companies
what is a brute force attack
a trial and error method to decode encrypted data such as passwords and keys carries carried out by programs
what is a denial of service attack
involves flooding a server with useless traffic causing it to overload and become unavailable
what is data interception and theft
an attacker monitors data streams to and from a target to gather sensitive information
what is an SQL injection
a code injection technique used to attack data driven applications
what does it mean when people are the weak point of a network
when system vulnerabilities are caused by people being careless
what is the purpose of a malware attack
- to delete, corrupt, or encrypt files
- computers can crash, spontaneously reboot or slow down
- keyboard inputs can be logged and sent to hackers
internet connections can become slow (due to worms) - malware can pass from the computer to the server it is connected to, to all the other clients also connected, and spread very quickly
what is the purpose of a phishing attack
- gain access to high value corporate information
- access a victim’s bank account ot withdraw money
- open new bank accounts and cards in victim’s name
- cash illegitimate cheques
- financial services can blacklist the company (damage to reputation)
what is the purpose of a brute force attack
- theft of data
- access to corporate systems
what is the purpose of a denial of service attack
- loss of access to a service for customers
- lost revenue
- lower productivity
- damaged reputation
- average cost of downtime = over £4000/min
what is the purpose of data interception and theft
- disclosure of corporate data
- theft of data
- usernames and passwords compromised allowing unauthorised access to systems
what is the purpose of an SQL injection
- data in the database can be amended or deleted
- contents of database output, revealing private data
- new rogue records can be added to the database
what are examples of when people can be a weak point of a system
- sharing passwords
- losing memory sticks/laptops
- not installing systems updates
- not logging off/locking computer
- not encrypting data
- not applying security to wireless networks
- not keeping anti-malware up to date
what are 7 common prevention methods
- penetration testing
- anti-malware software
- firewalls
- user access levels
- passwords
- encryption
- physical security
how do you limit threats posed from a malware attack
- strong security software (firewall, spam filter, anti-virus, anti-spyware)
- enabling operating system and security software updates
- training staff to recognise suspicious emails and links
- backup files regularly onto removable media
how do you limit threats posed from a phishing attack
- strong security software
Training staff to: - disable browser pop-ups
- not disclose personal or corporate information
- be aware of spotting fake emails and websites
what do we mean by strong security software
firewall, spam filter, anti-virus, anti-spyware
how do you limit the threats posed from a brute force attack
- use a network lockout policy (locks after 3 password attempts)
- use progressive delays (wait times to retry passowords)
- staff training: using effective passwords with symbols etc
- using challenge and response eg “i am not a robot or reCAPTCHA
how do you limit the threats posed by a denial of service attack
- strong firewall
- packet filters on routers
- configuring the web server
- auditing, logging and monitoring of systems
what is configuration of a web server
spotting when attacks are taking place and then preventing them from reaching the server
how do you limit the threats posed by data interception and theft
- encryption
- using virtual networks
- staff training: logging off and locking computers/offices & use of passwords and portable media
- investigating your own network vulnerabilities
how do you limit threats posed by SQL injection
- validation on input boxes (eg. looking for code that would not be relevant in that box)
- using parameter queries
- penetration testing
- setting database permissions (not all users can perform all actions on a database)
