Common Forms Of Cyber Security Attacks

Introduction

The term cyber security is the body of processes and technologies that is mainly intended to secure and protect data or devices from criminals. It is a part of information technology security that provides a way where consumers can protect their private details from unauthentic access. The determination of this investigation is to identify the cyber security attacks and analyze their impacts on sensitive data (Bendovschi, 2015). It is identified that security attacks occur in the information technology impacts on the computing devices, networks, and data of companies and hackers attack on the servers used by the consumers. There are several kinds of cyber security attacks that will be discussed in this paper including, malware, DDOS attack, phishing and many more. At the end of this research, a recommendation section will be included for addressing cyber security attacks and improving the security of the data and devices.

Cybersecurity attacks

Cybersecurity is an approach that helps consumers for protecting their computing devices, systems, and data from hackers and unauthorized access. In this generation, the use of computing devices and information technologies are growing rapidly which also increases the rate of cyber-crimes and hacking because IT systems connect personal devices and data which help criminals for obtaining their data files (Abomhara, 2015). This section analyzes the highlight common forms of cyber security attacks and also identifies the key factors which increase such kinds of issues in the companies.

Common forms of cyber security attacks

It is identified that there are various kinds of cyber security attacks that occurred in the information technologies and computing devices which are described below:

• DOS and DDOS attacks
• MITM
• Phishing attack
• Drive-by attack
• Password attack
• Malware attack

DOS and DDOS attack

It is defined as the denial of service attack that reduces the performance of computing networks and the security of private data. The DDOS is a part of this attack which is mainly used by hackers for large numbers of host machines that are related to the user’s networks. Such kinds of cyber security attacks are very common and many companies like Amazon, Uber, and Facebook suffered from these issues in the last few years (Conteh, and Schmick, 2016). In DOS, attack hackers use the concept of malicious tools and botnet to produce unauthentic access and traffic signals. The developed unwanted signals are transferred to the IT systems by the hackers and block the communication channels linked with the computing devices.

With the help of a DOS attack, criminals can hack the personal details of consumers without taking their permission. A recent study argued that DDOS is a simple form of cyber attack that has the potential to block the security of a computing device and hack all private details of companies. Mirai is the best example of this attack that was produced by the hackers in the year 2017 and hacked the data of thousands of users that connected their networks with the IoT-enabled devices. It is observed that there are several kinds of DOS and DDOS attacks that occurred in cyber security, for example, TCP SYN, Smurf attack, Teardrop and so on.

Main in the middle attack

MITM is a simple form of a cyber-attack that occurs because of the unauthentic access of networks and hackers use third-party servers for obtaining the user’s data along with the user names and passwords. Babate, (2015) identified that such kind of cyber security attack happens when the criminals insert it between the computer servers and communication networks. There are major two common factors due to which the rate of MITM cyber-attack increased such as lack of privacy and use of unauthentic servers by the consumers. There are major three types of MITM attacks faced by the consumers while using information technology such as session hijacking, IP spoofing, and replay attacks. In which most of hackers use IP spoofing because it can provide a platform where they can access the private accounts of users. In which the hackers transfer a packet with the IP address and block the servers linked with the system (Von Solms, and Van Niekerk, 2013).

Phishing attack

It is the practice of transferring unwanted emails which appear to be from secured networks to obtain the sensitive information of users. It is a serious cyber-attack that is faced by many companies and government communities. It is very important for consumers to use only authentic networks because hackers mainly attack on computer networks using wanted signals and unauthentic networks. Phishing is a part of this process but hackers send spam emails or links to the users which are developed using malicious software.

Moreover, users click on these mails and lose the account-related information along with the personal data like user name, profile, address and important mails. As stated by Cabaj, et al., (2018) phishing attack involves an attachment of fraud mails and links which leads malware activities onto computer systems used by the users. Such kind of cyber-attack may spread from one computer another due to which it is very danger attack rather than other. However, criminals take the time for conducting research and performing phishing-related activities in computing systems.

Mainly, hackers use the concept of scams for targeting the personal data of consumers in which they include malware software for developing fraud mails. For example, in the year 2016, Whatsapp was suffered from a phishing attack where the hackers send fraud links to the main server and also transfer spam mails that accessed by the consumers in their system. At that time, around 450 million consumers were lost their personal information and more than 55% of companies were suffered from data breach issues (AlDairi, 2017).

Drive-by attack

It is a common technique of spreading malware signals and networks from one device to another where the criminals use high-level programming codes and enter into the main server. Criminals look for less secure networks and servers used by the companies and transfer the fraud signals into HTTP code that helps for enter into the main system and collect all reliable information.

Such kind of cyber-attack may occur when visiting a web server and sending the fraud signals developed via botnet process. As compared with the other kinds of cybercrimes drive-by an attack does not rely on a consumer to do any kind of activity due to which hackers can easily produce this attack in the system (Li, et al., 2012). This cyber-attack takes benefits of the operating systems, web servers and mobile applications which include privacy flaws that help the criminals for entering into the main system and obtain the effective information of users.

Password attack

Password is a common process used by consumers for protecting their data files from hackers but it is not much secure due to which users may suffer from hacking-related problems. Such type of cyber security attack may be performed by using the sniffing process that reduces the security of the system and decrypts the passwords of the user’s computing devices.

Malware attack

It is defined as a cyber security attack that provides a way where criminals can generate a large amount of traffic and unwanted signals. In which the criminals use malicious software and reduce the privacy of computing devices and enter into the main server used by the companies. Facebook is one of the best examples of malware attacks that were lost the data of million of users and hackers affected the entire IT infrastructure of the company. At that time, the criminals transfer the unwanted signals to the networks used by the company and hacked the accounts of users without their permission. A macro virus is a common type of malware attack occurred in information technologies (Kwon, Liu, and Hwang, 2013).

Recommendation

It is recommended that organizations and users should use only authentic servers and web browsers while accessing their accounts because most of the cyber-attacks are performed using unauthentic access. Companies should develop and implement security plans and provide training programs for their employees. However, the users can use backup plans and avoid utilization of third-party applications developed by the criminals (Amin, et al., 2012). Moreover, there are several techniques and infrastructures which can be adopted for reducing cyber-attacks for example, firewalls, antiviruses, cloud-based servers, secured networks, two-step verification, following proper configuration process and developing encryption techniques in the system.

Conclusion

It is concluded that cyber security attacks occurred due to lack of privacy, insecure networks, and utilization of unauthentic networks. This research highlighted numerous forms of cyber security attacks and their impacts on personal information. It is identified that DOS, malware and phishing are very common forms of cyber security attacks. Therefore, it is recommended that users must ensure that they avoid the utilization of insecure networks and third-party applications. Moreover, companies can design and implement secured IT infrastructure along with the encryption technique in the IT system. The employees can install firewall and antivirus-related software which can help for reducing unwanted and traffic signals from the computing devices.

Annotated bibliography

Bendovschi, A., (2015) Cyber-attacks–trends, patterns, and security countermeasures. Procedia Economics and Finance, 28(2), pp.24-31.

This paper was written by Andreea in the year 2015 which is based on cyber security attacks and privacy concerns. The aim of this paper is to explore various cyber security attacks faced by users while using information technologies. The author argued that increasing the use of information technologies reduced the security of private data and enhances the rate of cyber-attacks. Cyber security attacks allow hackers for obtaining the personal information of consumers and damage the computing servers and networks used by the companies. In this paper, the author included a qualitative research design along with the second type of data collection technique. There are numerous benefits of the selected paper, for example, providing reliable information, highlighting the most dangerous cyber-attacks, evaluating results of other articles and so on. In terms of drawbacks, the author did not provide any information about prevention techniques and did not conduct any survey.

Abomhara, M., (2015) Cyber security and the internet of things: vulnerabilities, threats, intruders and attacks. Journal of Cyber Security and Mobility, 4(1), pp.65-88.

The title of the selected paper is cyber Security and the Internet of Things: Vulnerabilities, Threats, Intruders and Attacks that was provided by Mohamed Abomhara and Geir in the year 2015. This paper discussed the numerous forms of cyber security attacks and also evaluated security vulnerabilities linked with IoT networks. The purpose of this investigation is to identify the security threats and cyber-attacks related to information technology. It is identified that the utilization of unauthentic networks is a major concern that increases cyber security attacks and threats in IoT-enabled devices. The findings of this paper show that DOS is a very common attack that impacts on the sensitive data of consumers. There are few advantages of this article, for example, included reliable sources, provided effective information, obtained better outcomes and reduced gaps that occurred in the recent papers. There are several disadvantages of this paper, for example, did not compare the cyber-attacks with each other and highlighted less information about the risk factors and so on.

Conteh, N.Y. and Schmick, P.J., (2016) Cybersecurity: risks, vulnerabilities, and countermeasures to prevent social engineering attacks, International Journal of Advanced Computer Research, 6(23), p.31.

This paper was written by Nabil and paul in the year 2016 and the aim of this article is to demonstrate cyber security attacks and risks linked with computing devices. In this paper, the researchers discussed the importance and significance of social engineering in cyber-security attacks and also highlighted different forms of cybercrimes. The author involved major four research techniques while completing the investigation such as qualitative research, content analysis, secondary data gathering, and inductive research approach. Therefore, it has been found that cyber security attacks are able to collect the personal information of consumers. The benefits of this paper include several factors, for example, maintaining the gap between the facts and research, involved viewpoints of other authors and so on. The major limitation of this paper is that the researchers did not conduct any literature review.

Babate, A.L., (2015) State of Cyber Security: Emerging Threats Landscape. IJARCST, 3(1), p. 4.

The selected journal paper was provided by Alhaji and other researchers in the year 2015 from the perspective of research and identified that security-related issues and attacks faced by companies. The key purpose of this article is to determine the cyber security attacks and threats associated with information technologies. The authors examine that cybersecurity attacks are growing rapidly because a number of users use third-party servers and unauthentic networks which are mainly developed by criminals. In this paper, the authors critically reviewed each and every form of cyber-attack by which the students can enhance their skills and also included several examples for better understanding the cyber issues. The major problem of this paper is that the writers did not provide recommendations for addressing cyber security attacks which may produce a gap in the research.

Cabaj, K., Kotulski, Z., Ksiezopolski, B., and Mazurczyk, W., (2018) Cybersecurity: trends, issues, and challenges. EURASIP Journal on Information Security, 12(6), pp. 6-8.

This research paper was written by Krzysztof and other writers in 2018 that purpose is to enhance skills in the area of cyber-attacks and evaluate different forms of cyber security attacks related to the IT systems. In which the authors provided complete information and highlighted cyber security issues faced by companies. The researchers included different research methods, for