What Is a Cyber Attack? Here the Definition of Cyber Attack | Total Security

A cyber attack is a malicious and deliberate attempt by an individual or institution to penetrate the information system of another individual or organization. Usually, the attacker looks for some benefit in disrupting the victim's network.

Why do people launch a cyber attack?

Cybercrime is rising every year as people try to exploit security vulnerabilities in business systems. Attackers often look for ransom: 53 percent of cyberattacks have caused damage estimated at $ 500,000 or more.

Cyber ​​threats can also be launched with ulterior motives. Some attackers aim to erase systems and data as a form of "hacking".

What is a network bot?

A network bot is a network of devices infected with malware such as viruses. Attackers can control a network bot as a group without the owner's knowledge to increase the range of their attacks. A network bot is often used to overwhelm systems in the form of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.

Common types of cyber attacks

Malicious software

Malware is a term to describe malicious software, including spyware, ransomware, viruses, and worms. The malware attempts to penetrate the network by exploiting vulnerabilities. This is usually done when a user clicks on a dangerous link or email attachment that installs dangerous programs. Once on the system, malware can do the following:

Block access to major network components (ransomware)

Install malicious software or other harmful software

Obtaining information anonymously by transferring data from a hard drive (spyware)

Disable specific components and render the system inoperable

Tips for countering phishing 

Phishing information

Phishing is the process of sending fraudulent forms of communication that may appear to come from a trusted source, usually via email. Phishing is an increasingly common form of cyber threat.

What is phishing?

Mitigation attacks, also known as eavesdropping attacks, occur when attackers engage themselves in a two-way transaction. Once the attackers can intercept the traffic, they can then filter and steal the data.

Two common entry points for MitM attacks:

1. Attackers can sneak between the visitor's device and the network when connecting to an insecure public Wi-Fi network. The visitor passes all the information to the attacker without them realizing it.

2. Once malware infiltrates the device, an attacker can install programs to process all of the victim's information.

Denial of Service Attack

A denial of service attack floods systems, servers, or networks with a torrent of data traffic, consuming resources and bandwidth. 

SQL injection

SQL injection occurs when an attacker inserts malicious code into a server that uses SQL and forces the server to reveal information that it would not normally display. An attacker could perform SQL injection simply by sending malicious code into a web search box that contains vulnerabilities.

Learn how to respond to SQL injection attacks.

Attack without waiting

The attack occurs without waiting after a network vulnerability is discovered but before a patch or solution has been implemented. Attackers target security vulnerabilities that have been revealed during this small period of time. It requires discovering the security holes that facilitate an attack without waiting for permanent awareness.

Tunneling via DNS

DNS tunneling uses the DNS protocol to deliver non-DNS traffic through port 53. It sends HTTP traffic and other protocols over DNS. There are many legitimate reasons for using DNS tunneling. However, there are also perverse reasons for using DNS tunneling-based VPN services. It can be used to camouflage outgoing traffic in the form of DNS, which serves to mask data that is usually shared through your Internet connection. As for malicious use, DNS requests to transfer data from the compromised system to the attacker's infrastructure are tampered with. It can also be used to pass commands to calls that are sent by the attacker's infrastructure to and control a compromised system.

Total Security guards your pc and laptop.