The 15 most common types of Cyber Attacks
Any form of malicious or destructive attempt dedicated to steal, harm, or even destroy computer networks or information system is referred to as a Cyber Attack. With the rise of Information Technology and digitization of the modern world, the threats to personal data, identity, and information systems have increased significantly.
As internet and web presence is a necessity for most of us now in cybersecurity for business, getting exposed to prevalent cyber-attacks is common. Therefore, getting know-how of some of the most frequently occurring web attacks is essential as it can protect you in critical situations.
In this article, we have covered major cyber-attacks affecting internetworking around the globe. Read on as we break down 15 major threats to your computing devices below.
1. DOS/DDOS Attack
An attack that consumes complete system resources and network bandwidth in a way that the site or host becomes unresponsive to service requests is referred to as a Denial of Service (DOS) attack. Similar to DOS, the Distributed DOS attack eats up system resources from multiple host locations controlled by the attacker. MSP Blueshift has summarized these forms of cyber-attacks in a brief way. As the site or host is following up to loads of attacker’s requests that occupied all the system resources, it becomes unresponsive to service requests from end-users.
2. Malware Attack
Malware attack encapsulates a combination of viruses, file infectors, worms, logic bombs, adware, etc. to destroy or get access to a host system. Some of these attacks are common and occur due to illegal downloads, pirated software use, data transfer from corrupted flash drives, and more. To prevent from such attacks, there are many Spyware removal services guaranteeing an optimized solution.
3. Trojan Horse
Trojan horses are malicious programs that conceal themselves to legitimate software to steal insightful information or to perform any other operation for which they are designed. Typically, this web attack happens when unauthorized software is downloaded from unauthentic sites. Acting as a backdoor for unauthorized users and harmful software, Trojan can steal your valuable data, passwords, and permission without your knowledge. There are many kinds of Trojans such as Remote system access Trojan, Proxy Trojan, FTP Trojan, etc.
4. Rootkits
Rootkits are software programs designed to get root/admin access to the end-user’s machine. Once gained the root access, the exploiter can do anything from stealing private files to confidential data.
5. Cross-site Scripting (XXS) Attack
The running of malicious JavaScript code in the end-user’s web browser, re-scriptable software, or any other web resource is called cross-site scripting (XXS) attack. As the website’s frontend HTML can be accessed from the browser, the attacker inserts his/her harmful programming code snippet into it in the form of an HTML tag. Depending upon the JavaScript code, the attacker can steal the cookie files, keyboard stroke, or network information. Moreover, the browser can also be accessed remotely to control the end-user’s machine.
6. Phishing/Spoofing
Many times, we have come across web pages and emails that appear authentic but are not secure. This social engineering technique for a hacker can be regarded as phishing or spoofing in which fraudulent communication activity is generated in an attempt to grab sensitive information from end-users.
7. DNS Tunnelling
DNS tunnelling is a way to create a separate network channel with the server to spread malware. As a firewall is not able to detect DNS tunnelling, attackers create a separate sophisticated channel to access servers. Once the attackers get in, they can spread malicious activity to anyone on the network, hence the entire communication network gets compromised.
8. Zero-Day Exploit Attack
Almost all the software, programs, and networks are updated and enhanced from time to time. The period during which their development is carried out is regarded as Zero-day. During this small window of time, the entire network is exposed to vulnerabilities. Hence, the hackers tend to attack it during this period. Zero-day attacks are emerging online on a regular basis as explained by ABC in their blog; however, its prevention techniques are still not effectively in place.
9. Drive-by Attack
Commonly taking place in outdated website and apps, Drive-by attacks insert malware in insecure and exposed websites. This type of attack mostly occurs on HTTP or PHP sites that have not been updated and scanned frequently. Random ad pop-ups and spam emails are also a source of drive-by attacks.
10. URL Interpretation
Fabrication of website or web app URL addresses to gain access to specific web pages is called URL interpretation. Also known as URL poisoning, this attack tends to capture specific information from the site. For such attacks, the understanding of code file directory is required. The attacker interprets and guesses the page names to eventually get access to the already developed page.
11. SQL Injection Attack
All the widespread information on the web is stored in databases that operate on Structured Query Language (SQL). It is used to add, delete, or update the data present in the database depending upon requirements. To manipulate, delete, or fetch the hidden data, attackers use SQL injections which is a technique to interact with the database using SQL from websites’ input options such as a search bar, comment feed, etc. Sensitive information on websites such as passwords, personal details, etc. can be extracted by effective SQL Injection attacks.
12. Brute Force Attack
As the name suggests, a brute force attack is a way to try all means to access specific information on the website or portal. Generally, it is used to guess passwords by robotically trying a sequence of auto-generated passwords. As out of thousands of combination, there is a possibility of one authenticating, sensitive information can be accessed.
13. Spyware
Spyware is a cyber-attack through which end-user’s activity over the internet can be monitored. Using Spyware, attackers collect hidden information of specified hosts to reveal it to the third party. Generally transmitted to a computer using Trojan, it silently records information such as keys logged, timestamps, web history, and more.
14. Ransomware Attack
The category of cyber-attack that makes the host system inaccessible until a certain condition is met is referred to as a ransomware attack. If a system is exposed to ransomware, all of its files, data, and privileges get lock until a certain ransom is not sent to the attacker. Usually, demanded ransom is digital currency i.e. Bitcoin, Ethereum, EOS, etc.
15. Sniffing/Eavesdropping
Popularly known as Man in the Middle (MITM) attack, eavesdropping is the interference in the network traffic to access confidential information. Depending upon the attack, it can be passive or active, implying that the attacker can grab the traffic on the network silently or by actively communicating as a friendly unit. Public Wi-Fi is the most common cause of eavesdrop attack. To prevent network traffic from this attack, data encryption/decryption techniques are used.
While there are many ways for attackers to hack into your system, you can follow the internet security protocols, can take precautionary measures, and can understand the actual offence for prevention. With that being said, keep your anti-virus software updated, frequently scan to identify threats, use strong passwords, and keep the firewall settings updated.
Check the comment section for additional information, or share what you know or ask a question about this article, by clicking the 'View or Write Comment' button below.
Note: Some of the information in samples on this website may have been impersonated or spoofed.