Threats, Vulnerabilities & Attacks Flashcards
ARP spoofing
A hacker sends fake ARP packets that link an attacker’s MAC address with an IP of a computer already on the LAN.
Common source of MitM attacks
brute force attack
A type of password attack where an attacker uses an application to exhaustively try every possible alphanumeric combination to crack encrypted passwords.
fraggle attack
A DoS attack where the attacker sends spoofed UDP traffic to a router’s broadcast address intending for a large amount of UDP traffic to be returned to the target computer
wireless disassociation attack
Attack where an attacker spoofs the MAC address of a wireless access point to force a target device to try and re associate with the WAP.
replay attack
- Attacker replays data that was already part of an earlier communication session.
- Third party captures data from a session between 2 parties with the intent of using it to impersonate one of the parties.
- Attackers typically modifies the data before replaying it
- Timestamps or sequence numbers thwart replay attacks
web application attack
An application attack that focuses on those applications that run in web browsers
Trojan horse
A type of malware that hides itself on an infected system and can cause damage to a system or give an attacker a platform for monitoring and/or controlling a system
IM
Instant Messaging
A type of communication service which involves a private dialogue between two persons via instant text-based messages over the Internet
armored virus
A virus that can conceal its location or otherwise render itself harder to detect by anti-malware programs.
session hijacking
A type of hijacking attack where the attacker exploits a legitimate computer session to obtain unauthorized access to an organization’s network or services
evil twin
A wireless access point that deceives users into believing that it is a legitimate network access point
pass the hash attack
A network-based attack where the attacker steals hashed user credentials and uses them as is to try to authenticate to the same network the hashed credentials originated on
attack surface
The portion of a system or application that is exposed and available to attackers.
rootkit
Type of malware that has system-level access to a computer
Often able to hide themselves from users and AV software
amplification attack
A network-based attack where the attacker dramatically increases the bandwidth sent to a victim.
Used during a DDoS attack by implementing an amplification factor.
NTFS
New Technology File System
A proprietary journaling file system developed by Microsoft. Windows operating systems use NTFS for storing organizing and finding files on a hard disk efficiently.
DDoS
Distributed Denial of Service
A network-based attack where an attacker hijacks or manipulates multiple computers (through the use of zombies or drones) on disparate networks.
IV
Initialization Vector; A technique used in cryptography to generate random numbers to be used along with a secret key to provide data encryption.
SQL
Structured Query Language
A programming and query language common to many large scale database systems.
race condition
A software vulnerability that can occur when the outcome from execution processes is directly dependent on the order and timing of certain events and those events fail to execute in the order and timing intended by the developer
side-channel attack
An attack in which an attacker gleans information from the physical implementation of a cryptographic technique and uses that information to analyze and potentially break the implementation
zero day vulnerability
A software vulnerability that a malicious user is able to exploit before the vulnerability is publicly known or known to the developers and before those developers have a chance to issue a fix
adaptive chosen ciphertext attack
A cryptographic attack where the attacker repeatedly encrypts a selected cipher text message and tries to find the matching plain text.
Each subsequent attack is based on the results of the previous attack.
PTZ
Pan-Tilt-Zoom
A type of internet camera where the user can control the movement and position of the lens from a remote location using controls on an Internet browser or software application. Panning refers to horizontal movement of the lens where tilting describes vertical movement.
IDF
Intermediate Distribution Frame
- A distribution frame in a central office or customer premises which cross connects the user cable media to individual user line circuits.
- May serve as a distribution point for multipair cables from the main distribution frame (MDF) or combined distribution frame (CDF) to individual cables connected to equipment in areas remote from these frames.
chosen ciphertext attack
A cryptographic attack where the attacker analyzes a selected cipher text message and tries to find the matching plain text.
dictionary attack
A type of password attack that compares encrypted passwords against a predetermined list of possible password values
IR
Infrared Radiation
Electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light and is therefore invisible to the human eye.
POTS
Plain Old Telephone Service
A voice-grade telephone service employing analog signal transmission over copper loops.
It was the standard service offered until 1988 when it was replaced by ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network).
social engineering
Any activity where the goal is to use deception and trickery to convince unsuspecting users to provide sensitive data or to violate security guidelines
NFC
Near Field Communications
A mobile device communication standard that operates at very short range often through physical contact
RFID
Radio Frequency Identifier
- Technology that uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags or chips
- These are attached to objects and store information about those objects
GPU
Graphics Processing Unit
A specialized processor originally designed to accelerate graphics rendering.
GPUs can process many pieces of data simultaneously, making them useful for machine learning, video editing, and gaming applications.
OS
Operating System
System software that manages computer hardware and software resources and provides common services for computer programs.
malicious actor
Sn entity that is partially or wholly responsible for an incident that affects or has the potential to affect an organization’s security
XSS
Cross-Site Scripting
A web application attack where the attacker takes advantage of scripting and input validation vulnerabilities in an interactive website to attack legitimate users.
DNS hijacking
A hijacking attack where an attacker sets up a rogue DNS server This rogue DNS server responds to legitimate requests with IP addresses for malicious or non-existent websites
clickjacking
A type of hijacking attack that forces a user to unintentionally click a link that is embedded in or hidden by other web page elements
black hat
A hacker who exposes vulnerabilities without organizational consent for financial gain or for some malicious purpose.
threat actor
An entity that is partially or wholly responsible for an incident that affects or has the potential to affec organization’s security
shoulder surfing
A human-based attack where the goal is to look over the shoulder of an individual as he or she enters password information or a PIN
IP address spoofing
An attack in which an attacker sends IP packets from a false (or spoofed) source address to communicate with targets
IEEE
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
A professional association of electrical and electronics engineers that develops industry standards for a variety of technologies.
DEP
Data Execution Prevention
A security feature that prevents code from executing in memory regions marked as nonexecutable.
It helps prevent damage from malware.
MFD
Multi-Function Device
An office machine which incorporates the functionality of multiple devices in one so as to have a smaller footprint.
logging
The act of recording data about activity on a computer
backdoor attack
Attack where hackers install malware to bypass normal network security requirements
Attack is designed to be subtle, and can be hidden within another type of software like a file converter, software update, or suggested download.
Once installed, it’s common for backdoor attackers to remain undetected for as long as possible to spread throughout the network. Once detected, it can be hard to know if you truly have patched all of the areas a backdoor may have reached.
SDK
Software Development Kit
Collection of software development tools in one installable package
hardware attack
An attack that targets a computer’s physical components and peripherals including its hard disk motherboard keyboard network cabling or smart card reader and is designed to destroy hardware or acquire sensitive information stored on the hardware
driver manipulation
A software attack where the attacker rewrites or replaces the legitimate device driver or application programming interface (API) to enable malicious activity to be performed
passive reconnaissance
The process of collecting information about an intended target of a malicious hack without the target knowing what is occurring. This can include:
- physical observation of an enterprise’s building
- sorting through discarded computer equipment in an attempt to find equipment that contains data
- dumpster diving for discarded paper with usernames and passwords
- eavesdropping on employee conversations
- researching the target through common Internet tools such as Whois
- impersonating an employee in an attempt to collect information
- packet sniffing
Compare with active reconaissance.
spyware
Surreptitiously installed malware that is intended to track and report the usage of a target system or collect other data the attacker wishes to obtain
smishing
A human-based attack where the attacker extracts personal information by using SMS text messages
wardriving
- Act of searching for Wi-Fi networks, usually from a moving vehicle, using a laptop or smartphone
- Software for wardriving is freely available on the internet
- Warbiking, warcycling, warwalking and similar use the same approach but with other modes of transportation
watering hole attack
Attack in which an attacker targets a specific group discovers which websites that group frequents then injects those sites with malware so that visitors to the sites will become infected
hacker
Someone who excels at programming or managing and configucing computer systems or has the skills to gain access to computer systems through unauthorized or unapproved means
SEH
Structured Exception Handler
- Extension built into code to handle any kind of errors that come up during the course of running the program
- SEHs are part of a chain of error handling in a program
- If exception gets through the chain without being handled, program typically crashes
- SEH exploit overwrites the SEH and causes a buffer overflow
USB
Universal Serial Bus
Industry standard that establishes specifications for cables and connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers.
backdoor
Type of malware that negates or bypasses normal authentication procedures to access a system.
Can grant remote access to resources within an application, such as databases and file servers, giving perpetrators the ability to remotely issue system commands and update malware.
APT
Advanced Persistent Threat
A stealthly threat actor that gains unauthorized access to a computer network and remains undetected for an extended period of time.
Typically uses multiple attack vectors.
man-in-the-middle attack
A form of eavesdropping where the attacker makes an independent connection between two victims and steals information to use fraudulently
buffer overflow attack
Attack that exploits fixed data buffer sizes in a target piece of software by sending data that is too large for the buffer.
online brute force attack
A Cryptographic attack where the attacker tries to enter a succession of passwords using the same interface as the target user application
MOTD
Message of the Day
A file on Unix-like systems that contains a message of the day used to send a common message to all users in a more efficient manner than sending them all an email message.
script kiddie
An inexperienced hacker with limited technical knowledge who relies on automated tools to hack
CSRF
Cross Site Request Forgery
A web application attack that takes advantage of the trust established between an authorized user of a website and the website itself.
AKA XSRF.
OSINT
Open Source Intelligence
A methodology for collecting analyzing and making decisions about data from public sources such as media, public records, social media, industry publications.
Threat actors often use OSINT to find a way in the door.
reconnaissance
A penetration testing technique where the tester tries to gather as much information as possible about the target(s)
