Your brand deals with confidential data that requires constant protection and security. Due to this, cybercriminals can attack you anytime, which can damage your information, ruin your relationship with your customers, and even place them in legal jeopardy.
This act is called a cyberattack, an offensive action that uses different methods to alter, steal, or destroy data or information systems. One of the steps to promote effective cyberattack prevention is to familiarise yourself with the common types of cyberattacks. Here are some that you should watch out for:
Man-in-the-middle (MitM) attack
A MitM attack is one of the oldest forms of cyberattack wherein the attacker intercepts communications between two parties to eavesdrop secretly. They can also alter traffic traveling between them. It can be used to spy on the victim, corrupt data, sabotage communications, or steal personal information. Here are some common types of MitM attacks:
Session hijacking
Session hijacking involves taking over a session between a trusted client and network server. In this type of attack, the attacking computer replaces the client’s IP address with a decoy IP address. The server continues the session and believes it is still communicating with the client.
IP spoofing
In IP spoofing, the attacker gains access to a system by convincing it that it communicates with a trusted entity. This works by sending the target host with a packet containing a known host’s IP source address.
Replay
A replay attack is used to save old messages and then send them later to impersonate one of the participants. It can easily be encountered with session timestamps or nonce.
Denial-of-service (DoS) and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks
Denial-of-service (DoS) and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks target the victim’s system’s resources to prevent them from responding to service requests. They are launched from a large number of host machines controlled by the attacker.
What makes these attacks different from others is they usually don’t provide direct benefits for attackers. Some may already be satisfied that the victim suffers from service denial. However, they can be beneficial if the attacker targets their business competitor. In addition, these attacks can be used to take a system offline. Here are some types of DoS and DDoS attacks:
Ping of death attack
Ping of death attacks use IP packets to cause the target system to suffer from buffer overflows and other crashes. Fortunately, this can be blocked with a firewall that can check fragmented IP packets for maximum size.
Teardrop attack
Teardrop attack aims for the target system to get confused and crash as it attempts to reconstruct overlapped sequential Internet Protocol (IP) packets. If the attacked host doesn’t have patches against this type of attack, they can block ports 139 and 445 and disable SMBv2 or seek cybersecurity solutions.
Keeping your computer systems and electronic data safe from cyber threats should be one of your top priorities when running a business. Remember all the information about MitM, DoS, and DDoS attacks and take proactive steps to stay protected from them. If you fell victim to them, contact cybersecurity threat intelligence experts right away.
Protect your brand from malware, phishing, and other threats with FraudWatch International. We also offer mobile apps and social media monitoring, malware protection, and more. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you!