Cyber Attacks

Malsha Samarakoon
5 min readJun 24, 2021

Identify different types of cyber attacks

A cyber attack is an any kind of aggressive attack by a cybercriminal against one or more computers or a network to steal, modify or destroy data or information systems using one or more computers.

Malware Attack

An unwanted software (malicious software) installed in a computer without users consent that designed internationally to cause damage to a computer, server, client or network usually for financial gain. It is a more detailed attack use by Cybercriminals to access a computer’s personal information or to damage the device which can infect a computer by clicking on infected email attachments, malicious download as well as social engineering (Uses spam pishing through social media, email and instant messages etc.) or flash drives. It can attack any device or any operating systems such as Windows, ios, macOS and Android.

Types of malware

Computer virus: A malware that injects the virus code into the computer systems and multiplies itself by changing the system’s source code. It spreads uncontrollably, damaging the system’s co-functionality. A virus can clean, infect, delete and corrupt files. Virus can be displayed as an email attachment, software downloads or OS vulnerabilities. Multipartite virus, boot sector virus, direct action virus, overwrite virus, polymorphic virus are types of viruses.

Trojan: Trojan is malicious software used by cyber criminals to gain access to users’ computer systems under the guise of legitimate and appropriate. Usually they use some social engineering forms to attack and execute trojans on systems and they are able to create bug-doors in security systems to silently download other malware such as adware, ransomware, spyware etc. Backdoor Trojans, Banker Trojans, Exploit Trojans, Rootkit Trojans are some types of trojans that can attack computer systems.

Worms: Type of a standalone software that spreads its own copies from computer to computer using computer networks. worms are often used to launch DdoS attacks, steal sensitive data, or carry out ransomware attacks. Most of the worms are designed only to spread and they do not try to change the systems that they are going through.

Phishing

Type of a social engineering attack used for fraudulent activities such as stealing user credentials, obtaining confidential data, or attempting to impersonate. Here the phisher pretends to be trustworthy and prompts the user to open an email, instant message or text message, and then reveals sensitive information installed on the malware system or manipulate the system as extortion software. This can have devastating consequences for individuals as it can lead to crimes such as unauthorized purchases and theft of funds.

Man in the Middle Attack

This type of attacks take place in between two legitimately communicating hosts, so here, the attackers engage in continuous communication or data exchange, in the “middle” of the communication process in information systems. The attacker may be a active or passive intermediary in the information exchange of the system. As a covert participant in the system, they quietly commit unauthorized, destructive activities such as stealing information, confusing data, and altering the content of messages. Rogue access point attacks, DNS spoofing, mDNS spoofing, ARP (Address Resolution Protocol)spoofing are some types of MITM attacks. Packet injection, sniffing, session hijacking, SSL stripping are the techniques used to carry out a MITM attack. Users can prevent from MITM attacks by using encrypted password, checking the security of the connection frequently (HSTS/HTTPS) and investing a VPN.

Password Attacks

Password attacks are a common form of corporate and personal data theft. As hackers know that many passwords are poorly designed, passwords will continue to be hacked.

Types of password attacks

Brute Force Attack: Hacker attacks the user’s account using a combination of all possible passwords starting with passwords that are easy to guess.

Rainbow Table Attack: The “rainbow table” compiles a list of pre-calculated hashes, with mathematical answers for possible password combinations for the common hash algorithm. (Hashing is the process of mathematically converting caches into cryptographic, random-looking characters so that hackers can not read and misuse passwords.)

Credential Stuffing: Credential stuffing is often caused by the reuse of users’ passwords for multiple accounts. As hackers used to share or sell these stolen passwords on dark web sites, this information is more likely to spread among malicious operators. This method is often considered as an effective method for hackers as it uses known passwords.

Dictionary Attack: Often, Dictionary Attack is carried out using key factors in the psychology of the user. Unlike brute force attacks, here hackers attack using a program that circulates through common words, going through letter by letter.

Password Spraying: Here hackers try large amount of accounts with a few commonly used passwords.

To prevent from these password attacks enterprises should focus on multifactor authentication which provides different identity security layers on each account. Using alpha-numeric passwords or garbage words that does not make sense to others and updating passwords in regular intervals are also good ways to prevent from password attacks.

Drive by Download Attacks

This may occur and infect the vulnerable computers just by visiting a websites that expose devices to various threats and downloading malicious codes. So that hackers are able to inject trojans to devices and steal information without permission. By using firewalls, removing unnecessary software, updating software users are able to prevent drive by download attacks.

DDos Attacks

A DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack is an illegal attempt to disrupt normal traffic on a targeted server, service, or network. It arises through networks of internet connected devices. It violates the website’s support for its legitimate users, removes system security devices, and destroys target security.

Malvertising

Malvertising is used to distribute malware through online advertising. Demand for this specialty has grown significantly as a result of recent corporate scandals. Therefore, Malvertising can be considered as the easiest way to reach more users. So malvertising makes it easier to tempt the user to download malware or access a malicious server.

  • Analyze network traffic at the firewall level
  • Create firewall rules for monitoring redirects, iFrames and other malicious code
  • Get the help of online ad blockers
  • Using common sense :)

are some ways to prevent Malvertising.

Rogue Software

“Rogue security software” is a form of malicious software that pretends as an antivirus software. They mislead the user into believing that there is a virus on their computer and prompts the user to install a fake software that damage or disrupt the system, as a tool to remove the virus and charge for it using users credit card. This is usually presented as a fake Windows alert on the user’s computer system.

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