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Category: Security Page 67 of 75

Man-In-The-Middle-Attack

May 30, 2015

A man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack occurs when an unauthorized user attempts to actively monitor, capture and control the information transmitted between the source and destination computer. The attack may be carried out to simply gain access to the encrypted/unencrypted information or empower the hacker to modify the message before passing it further.

How Does A Man-In-The-Middle Attack Works?

The man-in-the-middle attack is performed when the attacker gains complete control over the networking router along a normal flow of traffic. The cybercriminal, in most cases, is in the same broadcast domain as the victim. For example, a TCP connection exists between the server and client in an HTTP session. The MITM splits the link into two – one between the server and attacker and other between the victim and attacker. By interrupting the TCP connection, the attacker decodes, alters and inserts fake data into the communication. A man-in-the-middle attack aims to exploit the weaknesses in the communication protocol, convincing the source network to divert traffic through the attacker’s router.

Tips To Prevent Man-In-The-Middle Attacks

  • Pay Attention To Certificate Warnings: A security certificate warning appearing for a website might indicate a serious problem. If the certificate doesn’t match with the server, you might be communicating with a malicious server carrying out a man-in-the-middle attack. Thus, you must not visit such websites, specifically if it involves entering important information like user names, passwords, bank account details etc.
  • Check for HTTPS Encryption: When connecting to sites that process financial transactions such as online shopping or banking, make sure that the session has an HTTPS encryption. When communicating over HTTPS, your web browser checks identity certificates to confirm the credibility of the servers you are connecting to, thus, reducing the possibility of a phishing server.
  • Be Careful While Using Wi-Fi Networks: Avoid doing any online transaction or sharing sensitive information if you are using a public Wi-Fi network. Be more alert if you see certificate warnings and websites without HTTPS encryption on such networks. Always try to use a private virtual private network (VPN) to create a secure connection to a trusted server.
  • Install Anti-Virus Software: Installing and regularly updating anti-virus software can help you defend against man-in-the-middle attacks that involve infecting your computer with a malware.

We, at Centex Technologies provide the most advanced cyber security solutions for businesses. For more information, you can call us at (855) 375 – 9654.

Cyber Insurance – Needs And Benefits

May 26, 2015

Cyber insurance is designed to provide coverage from the losses incurred by an organization due to various cybercrimes such as network damage, data breaches, denial of service attacks, identity theft etc. Generally, a cyber-insurance policy protects against two types of risks – first party and third party. The former covers the losses of the policy holder whereas the latter one recompenses for the company’s liabilities towards clients, business partners and shareholders. Coverage options in a cyber-insurance policy may include crisis management, computer forensics investigation, data reconstruction, security liability, protection from cyber ransom etc.

Why Is Cyber Insurance Needed?

Every business, be it large or small, is likely to rely on information technology to some extent. In spite of using sophisticated firewalls and anti-virus software, it is nearly impossible to achieve complete security from cybercrimes. This is where the need for cyber insurance arises. It is particularly important for companies that hold confidential customer data, rely heavily on computer network to carry out business activities and deal in financial transaction processing.

Some of the reasons why companies need cyber insurance are:

  • Safeguarding the data of clients is one of the most important reasons to purchase cyber insurance.
  • Disclosure agreements and commercial contracts stored on the network may contain clauses regarding the confidentiality of the information. These can lead to expensive claims in the event of a breach.
  • Most entrepreneurs believe that their business is sufficiently covered by other insurance policies. However, having a cyber-insurance policy will make sure that all the network security risks are comprehensively covered.

Benefits Of Cyber Insurance

  • Mitigates Risk: Cyber insurance helps mitigate the risk of network attacks by increasing security measures. Insurers need to attain a certain level of cyber security in their organization as a prerequisite for coverage. This helps companies to identify the flaws in their IT system and make improvements in security practices.
  • Reimburses Losses And Penalties: Cyber insurance is immensely beneficial in the event of a large scale network attack. It provides coverage for the losses incurred, costs of notifying the affected individuals, hiring an attorney, legal fees and liabilities to other people.
  • Business Interruption Expenses: Some insurance policies also offer coverage for the income lost by a company as a result of the network or equipment failure due to the cyber-attack.

What is a Sniffer Attack?

May 18, 2015

A sniffer attack involves capturing, inspecting, decoding and interpreting the network packets and information exchanges on a TCP/IP network. It aims at stealing unencrypted information, such as user IDs, passwords, email text, transferred files, credit card numbers, network details etc. It is also referred as a passive cyber-threat as the attacker is usually invisible and difficult to detect on the network.

Types Of Sniffer Attacks

  • LAN Sniffing: In this, the sniffer software is installed on the internal LAN to scan the entire network exhaustively. This helps to provide further information such as server inventory, live hosts, open ports etc. Once all the details are gathered, the hacker may launch a port-specific attack.
  • Protocol Sniffing: This method involves creating separate sniffers to carry out attacks on different network protocols. For instance, if a hacker sees UDP packets in a network, a separate sniffer is started to capture information.
  • ARP Sniffing: The hackers steal all the important information related to the IP addresses and its associated MAC addresses. This data is further used to initiate packet spoofing attacks, ARP poisoning attacks or exploit vulnerabilities in the network router.
  • TCP Session Sniffing: This is a basic sniffer attack in which the hackers get hold of the traffic between the source and destination IP address. They target details like service types, port numbers and TCP sequence numbers to create and control a fabricated TCP session.
  • Web Password Sniffing: In these sniffer attacks, the hackers penetrate the HTTP sessions that do not use secure encryption. Following this, the user IDs and passwords can be stolen and used for malicious purposes.

Tips To Protect Against Sniffer Attacks

  • Enable a WPA or WPA2 encryption for your router. Also, make sure you change its default password to limit access to your network. Use a long and secure password consisting of numbers, uppercase letters, lowercase letters and symbols.
  • Use MAC filtering on your network. You must allow only trusted MAC addresses to access your private VPN, thus, reducing the chances of a sniffer spying on the network.
  • Ensure that the important sites you use, particularly those that involve making financial transactions, have SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption. If a site is SSL enabled, it will have a URL beginning with HTTPS instead of HTTP.

We, at Centex Technologies, can assess and implement advanced cybersecurity measures in your organization. For more information, you can call us at (855) 375 – 9654.

What Are Web App Attacks?

April 29, 2015

Web app attacks are among the most common types of data breaches posing serious threat to a business’ cyber security. These attacks can jeopardize the functioning of your website, inhibit its performance and in most cases, crash the website completely. As most web applications run in the browser, any potential security flaw can permit hackers to exploit the vulnerabilities in the apps and damage the business website.

Common Web App Attacks:

  • Cross-Site Scripting (XSS): These attacks use a vulnerable web application to send malicious client side code to be executed by the end user. Once this is done, the hacker can have access to browser’s session tokens, cookies and other sensitive data.
  • SQL Injections: This type of attack manipulates the vulnerabilities in the web apps in order to gain access to the databases and other information that they hold. These may include things such as email addresses, names, telephone numbers, postal addresses, bank account information, credit card details etc.
  • Cookie Poisoning/Hijacking: A number of web applications use cookies to save and retrieve user information like login id, password and email address. Cookie poisoning allows the hacker to access unauthorized information about the user to create new accounts or penetrate the existing account.
  • Directory Traversal: It is a form of HTTP attack in which the cybercriminal installs malicious software on the web server. If the attempt is successful, the hacker can have access to the restricted directories and execute commands that are outside of the server’s root directory.
  • Remote Command Execution: This allows the hacker to execute remote and random commands on the host computer through a vulnerable web application. These attacks are largely possible due to insufficient input validation.

Counter Measures Against Web App Attacks

  • Set Safe Permissions: Most often, the web apps are attacked due to the preventable vulnerabilities present in them. Make sure you set safe permissions for your files so that they can be written or executed only by the web server.
  • Scan For Vulnerabilities: This is extremely important to identify the potential vulnerabilities in your application that may make it open to cyber-attacks.
  • Use Application Firewall: Installing and regularly updating firewall can also provide an added layer of defense against web app attacks.
  • Restrict Unauthorized Users: Make sure that the write access to your files should be given to a limited number of users. This is applicable both for the server side and web app backend.

We, at Centex Technologies can help you evaluate and implement web app security measures in your organization. For more information, you can call us at (855) 375 – 9654.

What Is Network Traveling Worm Attack?

April 18, 2015

Network traveling worms are specifically encoded programs that are able to transfer from a computer to other through various ways. These worms are automated hackers that transfer important information to impair the entire network once they gain access into it. Worms are quite similar to viruses except that they spread in a slightly different way. When a worm infects a computer, it searches for another system connected through the same local area network (LAN). Once it is found, the worm facsimiles itself to the new computer and continues with its search for more machines to replicate further. Due to its nature of traveling through the network, a worm is able to consume most of the bandwidth, causing the servers to stop responding.

Different types of network traveling worms are:

  • Email Worms: These worms travel by way of attachments in email messages or links to a corrupted website.
  • Instant Messaging Worms: These spread by sending spam links to the contacts in an instant messaging application.
  • Internet Worms: These types of worms scan the internet and other available network resources to search for vulnerable computers. If any such system is found, the worm attempts to connect and infect it.
  • IRC Worms: These worms spread through Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channels and transmit infected links or files to the contacts list.
  • File Sharing Network Worms: These worms replicate itself into a shared folder and spread by way of a peer-to-peer (P2P) network.

How Network Traveling Worm Attack Affects?

  • Exploit Vulnerabilities: The worm begins launching attacks from one computer in your network to other systems that do not have an updated firewall/ patch installed. Using this, the worm implements ‘shellcode’ on the target machine to make it download and set up a similar type of worm.
  • Weak Passwords: The worm tries to initiate a dictionary attack on other computers in the network. Through this, it aims at accessing the credentials required to execute commands on the target system.
  • Insecure Vulnerabilities: The worm can simply recreate itself through openly shared folders on other computers connected through the same LAN.
  • Email: The worm inspects the contacts list and sends well-written emails to make people click on a spam link, install software or download an attachment to their computers.

Tips To Counter Network Traveling Worms Attack

  • Block auto-execution of attachments in email
  • Keep your computer’s firewall and patches  updated
  • Filter traffic on your router and Wi-Fi network
  • Disable auto run capabilities on the computer
  • Use strong passwords

Following these tips can help you protect yourself against network traveling worms attack to a great extent.

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