Types of cyberattacks

Introduction

In today's digital landscape, technology has become an integral part of our lives, the way we communicate, work and interact. However, as we embrace this digital revolution, and the dark side comes it-cyber attacks.

Types of Cyber Attacks

A cyber-attack is an exploitation of computer systems and networks. It uses malicious code to alter computer code, logic, or data and dlead to cybercrimes, such as information and identity theft.

Cyber-attacks can be classified into the following categories:

1. Web-based attacks
2. System-based attacks

Web-based attacks

These are the attacks that occur on a website or web application. Some of the essential web-based attacks are as follows

1. Injection attacks

It is an attack in which some data will be injected into a web application to manipulate the application and fetch required information.

Example. SQL Injection, Code Injection, log Injection, XML Injection, etc.

2. DNS Spoofing

DNS Spoofing is a type of computer security hacking. Whereby data is introduced into a DNS resolver's cache, causing the name server to return an incorrect IP address, diverting traffic to the attacker's.

Computer or any other computer. The DNS spoofing attacks can go on for a long period of time without being detected and can cause serious security issues.

3. Session Hijacking

It is a security attack on a user session over a protected network. Web applications create cookies to store the state and user sessions. By stealing the cookies, an attacker can have access to all of the user data.

4. Phishing

Phishing is a type of attack that attempts to steal sensitive information like user login credentials and credit card numbers; It occurs when an attacker is masquerading as a trustworthy entity in electronic communication.

5. Brute force

It is a type of attack that uses a trial-and-error method. this attack generates a large number of guesses and validates them to obtain actual data like user passwords and personal identification numbers. This attack may be used by criminals to crack encrypted data or by security analysts to test an organization's network security.

6. Denial of service

It is an attack meant to make a server or network resource unavailable to the users. It accomplishes this by flooding the target with traffic or sending it information that triggers a crash. It uses a single system and a single internet connection to attack a server. It can be classified into the following-

• Volume-based attacks: Its goal is to saturate the bandwidth or the attacked site, measured in bits per second.
• Protocol attacks: It consumes actual server resources and is measured in a packet.
• Application layer attacks: Its goal is to crash the web server and is measured in requests per second.

7. Dictionary attacks

This type of attack stored the list of commonly used passwords and validates them to get the original password.

8. URL Interpretation

It is a type of attack where we can change certain parts of a URL, and one can make a web server to deliver web pages for which he is not authorized to browse.

9. File Inclusion attacks

This attack allows an attacker to access unauthorized or essential files which is available on the web server or to execute malicious files on the web server by making use of the included functionality.

10. Man-in-the-middle attacks

it is a type of attack that allows an attacker to intercept the connection between the client and server and acts as a bridge between them. Due to this, an attacker will be able to read, insert and modify the data intercepted connection.

System-based attacks

These are the attacks that are intended to compromise a computer or computer network. Some of the important system-based attacks are as  follows-

1. Virus

It is a type of malicious software program that spread throughout the computer files without the knowledge of a user. It is a self-replicating malicious computer program that replicates by inserting copies of itself into other computer programs when executed. It can also execute instructions that cause harm to the system.

2. Worm

It is a type of malware whose primary function is to replicate itself to spread to uninfected computers. It works the same as a computer virus. Worms often originate from email attachments that appear to be from trusted senders.

3. Trojan horse

It is a malicious program that occurs unexpected changes to computer settings and unusual activity, even when the computer should be idle. It misleads the user of its true intent. It appears to be a normal application, but when opened/executed, some malicious code will run in the background.

4. Backdoors

It is a method that bypasses the normal authentication process. A developer may create a backdoor to access an application or operating system for troubleshooting or other purposes.

5. Bots

A bot (short for "robot") is an automated process that interacts with other network services. Some bots program run automatically, while others only execute commands when they receive specific input. Common examples of bots programs are the crawler, chatroom bots, and malicious bots.

Conclusion

As technology continues to advance, cyber attacks will undoubtedly evolve, presenting new challenges for cybersecurity professionals. therefore, it is critical that we remain adaptable, agile, and committed to staying one step ahead of cybercriminals.