In this article, I'll discuss frequent cyber attacks and how to avoid them. Because that appears to be a trend in our newsfeed these days.
Russian cyberattacks, pipeline cyberattack, Colonial cyber attack, JBS cyber attack, North Korean cyberattacks, and other stories are common these days. North Korean hackers even targeted our Bangladesh bank. Hackers gained access to 90 million dollars and more. It's a different era when it comes to wars. It will not be a war fought solely with weapons. Technology is also a factor. You, too, can be a victim. As a result, in today's environment, you'll need to be weaponized in a unique way. First and foremost, I'll discuss the most common cyberattacks today. You'll need a basic understanding of these and related ideas.
When cybercriminals discover new techniques to investigate and infiltrate website weaknesses, even old attacks might become fresh again. Everyone, from seasoned IT professionals to casual computer users, must be aware of where cybersecurity threats originate and take steps to prevent data breaches.
5 Common Cyber attacks:
- Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)
- Malware
- SQL injection
- Phishing and spear-phishing
- Cross-site scripting (XSS)
Understanding DDoS
DDoS means Distributed Denial of Service. It's simple to initiate a DDoS attack. They're usually used to prevent others from accessing the system that's being attacked. DDoS attacks function by flooding a network with requests until it crashes. Like they can attack a bank website and slow down their transaction or crash that server.
DDoS attacks are classified into the following categories:
- TCP SYN Flood attack: Floods the target system with connection requests, then fails to react when they're answered, causing the queue to overflow and crash.
- Smurf attack: saturates target networks with traffic using IP spoofing and the ICMP protocol until they become overwhelmed and crash.
- Teardrop attack: IP packets overlap, causing the receiving machine to fail while attempting to rebuild them.
- Botnet attack: To launch large-scale DDoS attacks, it deploys millions of malware-infected bots.
Defending Against DDoS Attacks
The nature, mode, and extent of the attack will determine how you manage this. To protect against a teardrop attack, users can apply security patches, disable SMBv2, and block ports 139 and 445.
Smurf attacks can be avoided by blocking IP-directed broadcasts from the router, which will prevent ICMP echos, or simply reconfiguring the system to ignore such broadcasts. The Ping of Death can be avoided by using a firewall that checks the file size of IP packets, and botnets can be thwarted by using Black Hole or RFC3704 filters.
Battling Malware: Protecting Your Systems
Malicious software is unwelcome software that is installed on your computer without your permission. It can spread by attaching itself to legitimate code, hiding in beneficial apps, or replicating itself throughout the Internet.
There are so many kinds of malware. It reminds me of our Bangladesh bank hacking. A North Korean hacker sent malware as a pdf extension. He wrote that he wants to apply for a job pretending to be a Bangladeshi. And there is his CV. And when a bank employee opened his CV. The system is gone. I mean they started to control it. And They were successfully stolen 90million+ $.
Malware types:
- Macro viruses
- Ransomware
- Trojans
- System or boot-record infectors
- File infectors
- Worms
- Spyware
- Adware
- Polymorphic viruses
Anti-malware software should be installed and used. Downloading anti-malware software is one of the greatest ways to protect oneself against malware.
When you download something, anti-malware software adds an extra layer of protection. You may set up the software to scan files as they are downloaded and execute it automatically. You can also set up your anti-malware software to scan your computer on a regular basis.
Downloads should be avoided. Where does malware originate? Downloads.
That is why it is critical to exercise caution when downloading files from the internet. Stopping dangerous software at the source ensures your safety and that of your machine. To download programs, updates, and customizations, go to official app stores, and be cautious when opening attachments or clicking on links in dubious emails.
Recognize the indicators of malware on your PC. The easiest method to avoid getting malware on your computer or device is to prevent it from getting there in the first place. However, it's possible that your device is infected. The next stage in safeguarding oneself is to recognize the indicators of malware. It's not always easy to spot the warning signs. Malware can operate invisibly in the background. However, there are clear indicators in some circumstances, such as apps crashing without suddenly, your computer freezing, and overall poor performance.
Disconnect your device from your Wi-Fi network if you suspect it has been compromised with malware. To see if your device is infected with malware, run an anti-malware scan. If your work owns the device, you should notify your IT staff as soon as feasible. Contact a reliable IT service provider if your personal device has been infected with malware.
Decoding SQL Attacks
Today, SQL injections are perhaps the most common type of cyberattack. Instead of using standard input like a password, harmful SQL queries are injected into existing scripts.
This produces command line changes, allowing data to be read or modified in some way. The hacker can give commands to the operating system and potentially shut down the entire system using this method.
Anti-SQL injection protection:
Updating from earlier functional interfaces used by PHP and ASP applications is an excellent place to start. When you use J2EE and ASP.NET apps, you're more likely to run into susceptible interfaces that can be exploited by SQL injections. Protect your system by using least privilege permission models and validating input against a whitelist at the application level.
Unveiling Phishing Tactics
The cybercriminal sends an email posing as a trustworthy source in order to get personal information or persuade the receiver to behave in a way that benefits the sender, usually financially. This is an example of Phishing.
Foiling Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) Attacks
Cross-site scripting is another prevalent attack method. There has been a new rash of them involving Google clients and adware. A cross-site scripting (XSS) attack impacts systems from the user's perspective. Instead of redirecting a visitor to the correct website or account, the XSS script adds alternative JavaScript code that redirects them to the hacker's website or account.
The website owner may not realize their script has been hijacked until they notice a lack of commission deposits as a result of lower click-through rates; similarly, the user may never realize they've been rerouted from their typical browsing and purchasing experience.
It's possible to steal more than money from ad clicks with this type of attack. XSS attacks can also be used to record keystrokes, get passwords, gather personal information, or take control of the user's machine.
Prevent XSS attacks:
To protect against XSS attacks, there are numerous steps that can be done. Google takes care of it by eliminating all affiliate advertisers who are affected. Clients, advertisers, affiliates, and the general public will be made aware of the problem if they are educated about their existence.