ECCouncil 312-50v12 Certified Ethical Hacker Exam (CEHv12) Exam Practice Test

A powerful and often the most effective cryptanalysis method in which the attack is directed at the most vulnerable link in the cryptosystem - the person. In this attack, the cryptanalyst uses blackmail, threats, torture, extortion, bribery, etc. This method's main advantage is the decryption time's fundamental independence from the volume of secret information, the length of the key, and the cipher's mathematical strength.

The method can reduce the time to guess a password, for example, for AES, to an acceptable level; however, it requires special authorization from the relevant regulatory authorities. Therefore, it is outside the scope of this course and is not considered in its practical part.

Brute-force attack when an attacker uses a set of predefined values to attack a target and analyze the response until he succeeds. Success depends on the set of predefined values. It will take more time if it is larger, but there is a better probability of success. In a traditional brute-force attack, the passcode or password is incrementally increased by one letter/number each time until the right passcode/password is found.

Most likely have an issue with DNS.

DNS stands for “Domain Name System.” It’s a system that lets you connect to websites by matching human-readable domain names (like example.com) with the server's unique ID where a website is stored.

Think of the DNS system as the internet’s phonebook. It lists domain names with their corresponding identifiers called IP addresses, instead of listing people’s names with their phone numbers. When a user enters a domain name like wpbeginner.com on their device, it looks up the IP address and connects them to the physical location where that website is stored.

NOTE: Often DNS lookup information will be cached locally inside the querying computer or remotely in the DNS infrastructure. There are typically 8 steps in a DNS lookup. When DNS information is cached, steps are skipped from the DNS lookup process, making it quicker. The example below outlines all 8 steps when nothing is cached.

The 8 steps in a DNS lookup:

1. A user types ‘example.com’ into a web browser, and the query travels into the Internet and is received by a DNS recursive resolver;

2. The resolver then queries a DNS root nameserver;

3. The root server then responds to the resolver with the address of a Top-Level Domain (TLD) DNS server (such as .com or .net), which stores the information for its domains. When searching for example.com, our request is pointed toward the .com TLD;

4. The resolver then requests the .com TLD;

5. The TLD server then responds with the IP address of the domain’s nameserver, example.com;

6. Lastly, the recursive resolver sends a query to the domain’s nameserver;

7. The IP address for example.com is then returned to the resolver from the nameserver;

8. The DNS resolver then responds to the web browser with the IP address of the domain requested initially;

Once the 8 steps of the DNS lookup have returned the IP address for example.com, the browser can request the web page:

9. The browser makes an HTTP request to the IP address;

10. The server at that IP returns the webpage to be rendered in the browser.

NOTE 2: DNS primarily uses the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) on port number 53 to serve requests. And if this port is blocked, then a problem arises already in the first step. But the ninth step is performed without problems.

Dynamic ARP inspection (DAI) protects switching devices against Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) packet spoofing (also known as ARP poisoning or ARP cache poisoning).

DAI inspects ARPs on the LAN and uses the information in the DHCP snooping database on the switch to validate ARP packets and to protect against ARP spoofing. ARP requests and replies are compared against entries in the DHCP snooping database, and filtering decisions are made based on the results of those comparisons. When an attacker tries to use a forged ARP packet to spoof an address, the switch compares the address with entries in the database. If the media access control (MAC) address or IP address in the ARP packet does not match a valid entry in the DHCP snooping database, the packet is dropped.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meet-in-the-middle_attack

The meet-in-the-middle attack (MITM), a known plaintext attack, is a generic space–time tradeoff cryptographic attack against encryption schemes that rely on performing multiple encryption operations in sequence. The MITM attack is the primary reason why Double DES is not used and why a Triple DES key (168-bit) can be bruteforced by an attacker with 256 space and 2112 operations.

The intruder has to know some parts of plaintext and their ciphertexts. Using meet-in-the-middle attacks it is possible to break ciphers, which have two or more secret keys for multiple encryption using the same algorithm. For example, the 3DES cipher works in this way. Meet-in-the-middle attack was first presented by Diffie and Hellman for cryptanalysis of DES algorithm.

https://tools.kali.org/information-gathering/hping3

http://www.carnal0wnage.com/papers/LSO-Hping2-Basics.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sniffing_attack

To prevent networks from sniffing attacks, organizations and individual users should keep away from applications using insecure protocols, like basic HTTP authentication, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), and Telnet. Instead, secure protocols such as HTTPS, Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), and Secure Shell (SSH) should be preferred. In case there is a necessity for using any insecure protocol in any application, all the data transmission should be encrypted. If required, VPN (Virtual Private Networks) can be used to provide secure access to users.

NOTE: I want to note that the wording "best option" is valid only for the EC-Council's exam since the other options will not help against sniffing or will only help from some specific attack vectors.

The sniffing attack surface is huge. To protect against it, you will need to implement a complex of measures at all levels of abstraction and apply controls at the physical, administrative, and technical levels. However, encryption is indeed the best option of all, even if your data is intercepted - an attacker cannot understand it.

https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/pci_security/maintaining_payment_security

Build and Maintain a Secure Network

1. Install and maintain a firewall configuration to protect cardholder data.

2. Do not use vendor-supplied defaults for system passwords and other security parameters.

Protect Cardholder Data

3. Protect stored cardholder data.

4. Encrypt transmission of cardholder data across open, public networks.

Maintain a Vulnerability Management Program

5. Use and regularly update anti-virus software or programs.

6. Develop and maintain secure systems and applications.

Implement Strong Access Control Measures

7. Restrict access to cardholder data by business need-to-know.

8. Assign a unique ID to each person with computer access.

9. Restrict physical access to cardholder data.

Regularly Monitor and Test Networks

10. Track and monitor all access to network resources and cardholder data.

11. Regularly test security systems and processes.

Maintain an Information Security Policy

12. Maintain a policy that addresses information security for employees and contractors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat

Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is an application layer protocol that facilitates communication in text. The chat process works on a client/server networking model. IRC clients are computer programs that users can install on their system or web-based applications running either locally in the browser or on a third-party server. These clients communicate with chat servers to transfer messages to other clients.

IRC is a plaintext protocol that is officially assigned port 194, according to IANA. However, running the service on this port requires running it with root-level permissions, which is inadvisable. As a result, the well-known port for IRC is 6667, a high-number port that does not require elevated privileges. However, an IRC server can also be configured to run on other ports as well.

You can't tell if an IRC server is designed to be malicious solely based on port number. Still, if you see an IRC server running on port a WKP such as 80, 8080, 53, 443, it's almost always going to be malicious; the only real reason for IRCD to be running on port 80 is to try to evade firewalls.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_firewall

An application firewall is a form of firewall that controls input/output or system calls of an application or service. It operates by monitoring and blocking communications based on a configured policy, generally with predefined rule sets to choose from. The application firewall can control communications up to the OSI model's application layer, which is the highest operating layer, and where it gets its name. The two primary categories of application firewalls are network-based and host-based.

Application layer filtering operates at a higher level than traditional security appliances. This allows packet decisions to be made based on more than just source/destination IP Addresses or ports. It can also use information spanning across multiple connections for any given host.

Network-based application firewalls

Network-based application firewalls operate at the application layer of a TCP/IP stack. They can understand certain applications and protocols such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Domain Name System (DNS), or Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). This allows it to identify unwanted applications or services using a non-standard port or detect if an allowed protocol is being abused.

Host-based application firewalls

A host-based application firewall monitors application system calls or other general system communication. This gives more granularity and control but is limited to only protecting the host it is running on. Control is applied by filtering on a per-process basis. Generally, prompts are used to define rules for processes that have not yet received a connection. Further filtering can be done by examining the process ID of the owner of the data packets. Many host-based application firewalls are combined or used in conjunction with a packet filter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Time_Protocol

The Network Time Protocol (NTP) is a networking protocol for clock synchronization between computer systems over packet-switched, variable-latency data networks.

NTP is intended to synchronize all participating computers within a few milliseconds of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). It uses the intersection algorithm, a modified version of Marzullo's algorithm, to select accurate time servers and is designed to mitigate variable network latency effects. NTP can usually maintain time to within tens of milliseconds over the public Internet and achieve better than one millisecond accuracy in local area networks. Asymmetric routes and network congestion can cause errors of 100 ms or more.

The protocol is usually described in terms of a client-server model but can easily be used in peer-to-peer relationships where both peers consider the other to be a potential time source. Implementations send and receive timestamps using the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) on port number 123.

Social engineering is the term used for a broad range of malicious activities accomplished through human interactions. It uses psychological manipulation to trick users into making security mistakes or giving away sensitive information.

Social engineering attacks typically involve some form of psychological manipulation, fooling otherwise unsuspecting users or employees into handing over confidential or sensitive data. Commonly, social engineering involves email or other communication that invokes urgency, fear, or similar emotions in the victim, leading the victim to promptly reveal sensitive information, click a malicious link, or open a malicious file. Because social engineering involves a human element, preventing these attacks can be tricky for enterprises.

https://nmap.org/book/man-port-specification.html

NOTE: In my opinion, this is an absolutely wrong statement of the question. But you may come across a question with a similar wording on the exam. What does "fast" mean? If we want to increase the speed and intensity of the scan we can select the mode using the -T flag (0/1/2/3/4/5). At high -T values, we will sacrifice stealth and gain speed, but we will not limit functionality.

«nmap -T4 -F 10.10.0.0/24» This option is "correct" because of the -F flag.

-F (Fast (limited port) scan)

Specifies that you wish to scan fewer ports than the default. Normally Nmap scans the most common 1,000 ports for each scanned protocol. With -F, this is reduced to 100.

Technically, scanning will be faster, but just because we have reduced the number of ports by 10 times, we are just doing 10 times less work, not faster.

A macro virus is a virus that is written in a macro language: a programming language which is embedded inside a software application (e.g., word processors and spreadsheet applications). Some applications, such as Microsoft Office, allow macro programs to be embedded in documents such that the macros are run automatically when the document is opened, and this provides a distinct mechanism by which malicious computer instructions can spread. (Wikipedia)

NB: The virus Melissa is a well-known macro virus we could find attached to word documents.

Email spoofing is the fabrication of an email header in the hopes of duping the recipient into thinking the email originated from someone or somewhere other than the intended source. Because core email protocols do not have a built-in method of authentication, it is common for spam and phishing emails to use said spoofing to trick the recipient into trusting the origin of the message.

The ultimate goal of email spoofing is to get recipients to open, and possibly even respond to, a solicitation. Although the spoofed messages are usually just a nuisance requiring little action besides removal, the more malicious varieties can cause significant problems and sometimes pose a real security threat.

Many network and system administrators don't pay enough attention to system clock accuracy and time synchronization. Computer clocks can run faster or slower over time, batteries and power sources die, or daylight-saving time changes are forgotten. Sure, there are many more pressing security issues to deal with, but not ensuring that the time on network devices is synchronized can cause problems. And these problems often only come to light after a security incident.

If you suspect a hacker is accessing your network, for example, you will want to analyze your log files to look for any suspicious activity. If your network's security devices do not have synchronized times, the timestamps' inaccuracy makes it impossible to correlate log files from different sources. Not only will you have difficulty in tracking events, but you will also find it difficult to use such evidence in court; you won't be able to illustrate a smooth progression of events as they occurred throughout your network.

Vulnerability scanning solutions perform vulnerability penetration tests on the organizational network in three steps:

1. Locating nodes: The first step in vulnerability scanning is to locate live hosts in the target network using various scanning techniques.

2. Performing service and OS discovery on them: After detecting the live hosts in the target network, the next step is to enumerate the open ports and services and the operating system on the target systems.

3. Testing those services and OS for known vulnerabilities: Finally, after identifying the open services and the operating system running on the target nodes, they are tested for known vulnerabilities.

In a Windows network, nongovernmental organization (New Technology) local area network Manager (NTLM) could be a suite of Microsoft security protocols supposed to produce authentication, integrity, and confidentiality to users.NTLM is that the successor to the authentication protocol in Microsoft local area network Manager (LANMAN), Associate in Nursing older Microsoft product. The NTLM protocol suite is enforced in an exceedingly Security Support supplier, which mixes the local area network Manager authentication protocol, NTLMv1, NTLMv2 and NTLM2 Session protocols in an exceedingly single package. whether or not these protocols area unit used or will be used on a system is ruled by cluster Policy settings, that totally different|completely different} versions of Windows have different default settings. NTLM passwords area unit thought-about weak as a result of they will be brute-forced very simply with fashionable hardware.

NTLM could be a challenge-response authentication protocol that uses 3 messages to authenticate a consumer in an exceedingly affiliation orientating setting (connectionless is similar), and a fourth extra message if integrity is desired.

• First, the consumer establishes a network path to the server and sends a NEGOTIATE_MESSAGE advertising its capabilities.
• Next, the server responds with CHALLENGE_MESSAGE that is employed to determine the identity of the consumer.
• Finally, the consumer responds to the challenge with Associate in Nursing AUTHENTICATE_MESSAGE.

The NTLM protocol uses one or each of 2 hashed word values, each of that are keep on the server (or domain controller), and that through a scarcity of seasoning area unit word equivalent, that means that if you grab the hash price from the server, you’ll evidence while not knowing the particular word. the 2 area unit the lm Hash (a DES-based operate applied to the primary fourteen chars of the word born-again to the standard eight bit laptop charset for the language), and also the nt Hash (MD4 of the insufficient endian UTF-16 Unicode password). each hash values area unit sixteen bytes (128 bits) every.

The NTLM protocol additionally uses one among 2 a method functions, looking on the NTLM version. National Trust LanMan and NTLM version one use the DES primarily based LanMan a method operate (LMOWF), whereas National TrustLMv2 uses the NT MD4 primarily based a method operate (NTOWF).

The php.ini file may be a special file for PHP. it’s where you declare changes to your PHP settings. The server is already configured with standard settings for PHP, which your site will use by default. Unless you would like to vary one or more settings, there’s no got to create or modify a php.ini file. If you’d wish to make any changes to settings, please do so through the MultiPHP INI Editor.

https://nmap.org/nsedoc/scripts/enip-info.html

Example Usage enip-info:

- nmap --script enip-info -sU -p 44818 <host>

This NSE script is used to send a EtherNet/IP packet to a remote device that has TCP 44818 open. The script will send a Request Identity Packet and once a response is received, it validates that it was a proper response to the command that was sent, and then will parse out the data. Information that is parsed includes Device Type, Vendor ID, Product name, Serial Number, Product code, Revision Number, status, state, as well as the Device IP.

This script was written based of information collected by using the the Wireshark dissector for CIP, and EtherNet/IP, The original information was collected by running a modified version of the ethernetip.py script (https://github.com/paperwork/pyenip )

An evil twin may be a fraudulent Wi-Fi access point that appears to be legitimate but is about up to pay attention to wireless communications.[1] The evil twin is that the wireless LAN equivalent of the phishing scam.This type of attack could also be wont to steal the passwords of unsuspecting users, either by monitoring their connections or by phishing, which involves fixing a fraudulent internet site and luring people there.The attacker snoops on Internet traffic employing a bogus wireless access point. Unwitting web users could also be invited to log into the attacker’s server, prompting them to enter sensitive information like usernames and passwords. Often, users are unaware they need been duped until well after the incident has occurred.When users log into unsecured (non-HTTPS) bank or e-mail accounts, the attacker intercepts the transaction, since it’s sent through their equipment. The attacker is additionally ready to hook up with other networks related to the users’ credentials.Fake access points are found out by configuring a wireless card to act as an access point (known as HostAP). they’re hard to trace since they will be shut off instantly. The counterfeit access point could also be given an equivalent SSID and BSSID as a close-by Wi-Fi network. The evil twin are often configured to pass Internet traffic through to the legitimate access point while monitoring the victim’s connection, or it can simply say the system is temporarily unavailable after obtaining a username and password.

STP prevents bridging loops in a redundant switched network environment. By avoiding loops, you can ensure that broadcast traffic does not become a traffic storm.

STP is a hierarchical tree-like topology with a “root” switch at the top. A switch is elected as root based on the lowest configured priority of any switch (0 through 65,535). When a switch boots up, it begins a process of identifying other switches and determining the root bridge. After a root bridge is elected, the topology is established from its perspective of the connectivity. The switches determine the path to the root bridge, and all redundant paths are blocked. STP sends configuration and topology change notifications and acknowledgments (TCN/TCA) using bridge protocol data units (BPDU).

An STP attack involves an attacker spoofing the root bridge in the topology. The attacker broadcasts out an STP configuration/topology change BPDU in an attempt to force an STP recalculation. The BPDU sent out announces that the attacker’s system has a lower bridge priority. The attacker can then see a variety of frames forwarded from other switches to it. STP recalculation may also cause a denial-of-service (DoS) condition on the network by causing an interruption of 30 to 45 seconds each time the root bridge changes. An attacker using STP network topology changes to force its host to be elected as the root bridge.

switch

When a user encrypts plaintext with PGP, PGP first compresses the plaintext. The session key works with a very secure, fast conventional encryption algorithm to encrypt the plaintext; the result is ciphertext. Once the data is encrypted, the session key is then encrypted to the recipient's public key

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy

Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) is an encryption program that provides cryptographic privacy and authentication for data communication. PGP is used for signing, encrypting, and decrypting texts, e-mails, files, directories, and whole disk partitions and to increase the security of e-mail communications.

PGP encryption uses a serial combination of hashing, data compression, symmetric-key cryptography, and finally public-key cryptography; each step uses one of several supported algorithms. Each public key is bound to a username or an e-mail address.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-key_cryptography

Public key encryption uses two different keys. One key is used to encrypt the information and the other is used to decrypt the information. Sometimes this is referred to as asymmetric encryption because two keys are required to make the system and/or process work securely. One key is known as the public key and should be shared by the owner with anyone who will be securely communicating with the key owner. However, the owner’s secret key is not to be shared and considered a private key. If the private key is shared with unauthorized recipients, the encryption mechanisms protecting the information must be considered compromised.

Twofish is an encryption algorithm designed by Bruce Schneier. It’s a symmetric key block cipher with a block size of 128 bits, with keys up to 256 bits. it’s associated with AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) and an earlier block cipher called Blowfish. Twofish was actually a finalist to become the industry standard for encryption, but was ultimately beaten out by the present AES.Twofish has some distinctive features that set it aside from most other cryptographic protocols. For one, it uses pre-computed, key-dependent S-boxes. An S-box (substitution-box) may be a basic component of any symmetric key algorithm which performs substitution. within the context of Twofish’s block cipher, the S-box works to obscure the connection of the key to the ciphertext. Twofish uses a pre-computed, key-dependent S-box which suggests that the S-box is already provided, but depends on the cipher key to decrypt the knowledge .

How Secure is Twofish?Twofish is seen as a really secure option as far as encryption protocols go. one among the explanations that it wasn’t selected because the advanced encryption standard is thanks to its slower speed. Any encryption standard that uses a 128-bit or higher key, is theoretically safe from brute force attacks. Twofish is during this category.Because Twofish uses “pre-computed key-dependent S-boxes”, it are often susceptible to side channel attacks. this is often thanks to the tables being pre-computed. However, making these tables key-dependent helps mitigate that risk. There are a couple of attacks on Twofish, but consistent with its creator, Bruce Schneier, it didn’t constitute a real cryptanalysis. These attacks didn’t constitue a practical break within the cipher.

Products That Use TwofishGnuPG: GnuPG may be a complete and free implementation of the OpenPGP standard as defined by RFC4880 (also referred to as PGP). GnuPG allows you to encrypt and sign your data and communications; it features a flexible key management system, along side access modules for all types of public key directories.KeePass: KeePass may be a password management tool that generates passwords with top-notch security. It’s a free, open source, lightweight and easy-to-use password manager with many extensions and plugins.Password Safe: Password Safe uses one master password to stay all of your passwords protected, almost like the functionality of most of the password managers on this list. It allows you to store all of your passwords during a single password database, or multiple databases for various purposes. Creating a database is straightforward , just create the database, set your master password.PGP (Pretty Good Privacy): PGP is employed mostly for email encryption, it encrypts the content of the e-mail . However, Pretty Good Privacy doesn’t encrypt the topic and sender of the e-mail , so make certain to never put sensitive information in these fields when using PGP.TrueCrypt: TrueCrypt may be a software program that encrypts and protects files on your devices. With TrueCrypt the encryption is transparent to the user and is completed locally at the user’s computer. this suggests you’ll store a TrueCrypt file on a server and TrueCrypt will encrypt that file before it’s sent over the network.

Windows TTL 128, Linux TTL 64, OpenBSD 255 ... https://subinsb.com/default-device-ttl-values/

Time to Live (TTL) represents to number of 'hops' a packet can take before it is considered invalid. For Windows/Windows Phone, this value is 128. This value is 64 for Linux/Android.

A proxy server acts as a gateway between you and therefore the internet. It’s an intermediary server separating end users from the websites they browse. Proxy servers provide varying levels of functionality, security, and privacy counting on your use case, needs, or company policy.If you’re employing a proxy server, internet traffic flows through the proxy server on its thanks to the address you requested. A proxy server is essentially a computer on the web with its own IP address that your computer knows. once you send an internet request, your request goes to the proxy server first. The proxy server then makes your web request on your behalf, collects the response from the online server, and forwards you the online page data so you’ll see the page in your browser.

The host-based vulnerability assessment (VA) resolution arose from the auditors’ got to periodically review systems. Arising before the net becoming common, these tools typically take an “administrator’s eye” read of the setting by evaluating all of the knowledge that an administrator has at his or her disposal.

UsesHost VA tools verify system configuration, user directories, file systems, registry settings, and all forms of other info on a number to gain information about it. Then, it evaluates the chance of compromise. it should also live compliance to a predefined company policy so as to satisfy an annual audit. With administrator access, the scans area unit less possible to disrupt traditional operations since the computer code has the access it has to see into the complete configuration of the system.

What it Measures Host

VA tools will examine the native configuration tables and registries to spot not solely apparent vulnerabilities, however additionally “dormant” vulnerabilities – those weak or misconfigured systems and settings which will be exploited when an initial entry into the setting. Host VA solutions will assess the safety settings of a user account table; the access management lists related to sensitive files or data; and specific levels of trust applied to other systems. The host VA resolution will a lot of accurately verify the extent of the danger by determinant however way any specific exploit could also be ready to get.

Types of Vulnerability Assessment Host-based assessments are a type of security check that involve conducting a configuration-level check to identify system configurations, user directories, file systems, registry settings, and other parameters to evaluate the possibility of compromise. 
Host-based scanners assess systems to identify vulnerabilities such as native configuration tables, incorrect registry or file permissions, and software configuration errors. (P.528/512)

DNS uses Ports 53 which is almost always open on systems, firewalls, and clients to transmit DNS queries. instead of the more familiar Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) these queries use User Datagram Protocol (UDP) due to its low-latency, bandwidth and resource usage compared TCP-equivalent queries. UDP has no error or flow-control capabilities, nor does it have any integrity checking to make sure the info arrived intact.How is internet use (browsing, apps, chat etc) so reliable then? If the UDP DNS query fails (it’s a best-effort protocol after all) within the first instance, most systems will retry variety of times and only after multiple failures, potentially switch to TCP before trying again; TCP is additionally used if the DNS query exceeds the restrictions of the UDP datagram size – typically 512 bytes for DNS but can depend upon system settings.Figure 1 below illustrates the essential process of how DNS operates: the client sends a question string (for example, mail.google[.]com during this case) with a particular type – typically A for a number address. I’ve skipped the part whereby intermediate DNS systems may need to establish where ‘.com’ exists, before checking out where ‘google[.]com’ are often found, and so on.

Many worms and scanners are created to seek out and exploit systems running telnet. Given these facts, it’s really no surprise that telnet is usually seen on the highest Ten Target Ports list. Several of the vulnerabilities of telnet are fixed. They require only an upgrade to the foremost current version of the telnet Daemon or OS upgrade. As is usually the case, this upgrade has not been performed on variety of devices. this might flow from to the very fact that a lot of systems administrators and users don’t fully understand the risks involved using telnet. Unfortunately, the sole solution for a few of telnets vulnerabilities is to completely discontinue its use. the well-liked method of mitigating all of telnets vulnerabilities is replacing it with alternate protocols like ssh. Ssh is capable of providing many of an equivalent functions as telnet and a number of other additional services typical handled by other protocols like FTP and Xwindows. Ssh does still have several drawbacks to beat before it can completely replace telnet. it’s typically only supported on newer equipment. It requires processor and memory resources to perform the info encryption and decryption. It also requires greater bandwidth than telnet thanks to the encryption of the info . This paper was written to assist clarify how dangerous the utilization of telnet are often and to supply solutions to alleviate the main known threats so as to enhance the general security of the web

Once a reputation is resolved to an IP caching also helps: the resolved name-to-IP is usually cached on the local system (and possibly on intermediate DNS servers) for a period of your time . Subsequent queries for an equivalent name from an equivalent client then don’t leave the local system until said cache expires. Of course, once the IP address of the remote service is understood , applications can use that information to enable other TCP-based protocols, like HTTP, to try to to their actual work, for instance ensuring internet cat GIFs are often reliably shared together with your colleagues.So, beat all, a couple of dozen extra UDP DNS queries from an organization’s network would be fairly inconspicuous and will leave a malicious payload to beacon bent an adversary; commands could even be received to the requesting application for processing with little difficulty.

Non-repudiation is the assurance that someone cannot deny the validity of something. Non-repudiation is a legal concept that is widely used in information security and refers to a service, which provides proof of the origin of data and the integrity of the data. In other words, non-repudiation makes it very difficult to successfully deny who/where a message came from as well as the authenticity and integrity of that message.

A mirror site may be a website or set of files on a computer server that has been copied to a different computer server in order that the location or files are available from quite one place. A mirror site has its own URL, but is otherwise just like the principal site. Load-balancing devices allow high-volume sites to scale easily, dividing the work between multiple mirror sites.A mirror site is typically updated frequently to make sure it reflects the contents of the first site. In some cases, the first site may arrange for a mirror site at a bigger location with a better speed connection and, perhaps, a better proximity to an outsized audience.If the first site generates an excessive amount of traffic, a mirror site can ensure better availability of the web site or files. For websites that provide copies or updates of widely used software, a mirror site allows the location to handle larger demands and enables the downloaded files to arrive more quickly. Microsoft, Sun Microsystems and other companies have mirror sites from which their browser software are often downloaded.Mirror sites are wont to make site access faster when the first site could also be geographically distant from those accessing it. A mirrored web server is usually located on a special continent from the principal site, allowing users on the brink of the mirror site to urge faster and more reliable access.Mirroring an internet site also can be done to make sure that information are often made available to places where access could also be unreliable or censored. In 2013, when Chinese authorities blocked access to foreign media outlets just like the Wall Street Journal and Reuters, site mirroring was wont to restore access and circumvent government censorship.

Operation Cloud Hopper was an in depth attack and theft of data in 2017 directed at MSP within the uk (U.K.), us (U.S.), Japan, Canada, Brazil, France, Switzerland, Norway, Finland, Sweden, South Africa , India, Thailand, South Korea and Australia. The group used MSP as intermediaries to accumulate assets and trade secrets from MSP client engineering, MSP industrial manufacturing, retail, energy, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, and government agencies.Operation Cloud Hopper used over 70 variants of backdoors, malware and trojans. These were delivered through spear-phishing emails. The attacks scheduled tasks or leveraged services/utilities to continue Microsoft Windows systems albeit the pc system was rebooted. It installed malware and hacking tools to access systems and steal data.

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) may be a security protocol, laid out in the IEEE wireless local area network (Wi-Fi) standard, 802.11b, that’s designed to supply a wireless local area network (WLAN) with A level of security and privacy like what’s usually expected of a wired LAN. A wired local area network (LAN) is usually protected by physical security mechanisms (controlled access to a building, for example) that are effective for a controlled physical environment, but could also be ineffective for WLANs because radio waves aren’t necessarily bound by the walls containing the network. WEP seeks to determine similar protection thereto offered by the wired network’s physical security measures by encrypting data transmitted over the WLAN. encoding protects the vulnerable wireless link between clients and access points; once this measure has been taken, other typical LAN security mechanisms like password protection, end-to-end encryption, virtual private networks (VPNs), and authentication are often put in situ to make sure privacy.A research group from the University of California at Berkeley recently published a report citing “major security flaws” in WEP that left WLANs using the protocol susceptible to attacks (called wireless equivalent privacy attacks). within the course of the group’s examination of the technology, they were ready to intercept and modify transmissions and gain access to restricted networks. The Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA) claims that WEP – which is included in many networking products – was never intended to be the only security mechanism for a WLAN, and that, in conjunction with traditional security practices, it’s very effective.

One may append the comment “–” operator along with the String for the username and whole avoid executing the password segment of the SQL query. Everything when the — operator would be considered as comment and not dead.

To launch such an attack, the value passed for name could be ’OR ‘1’=‘1’ ; —Statement = “SELECT * FROM ‘CustomerDB’ WHERE ‘name’ = ‘ ”+ userName + “ ‘ AND ‘password’ = ‘ ” + passwd + “ ‘ ; ”

Statement = “SELECT * FROM ‘CustomerDB’ WHERE ‘name’ = ‘ ’ OR ‘1’=‘1‘;– + “ ‘ AND ‘password’ = ‘ ” + passwd + “ ‘ ; ”

All the records from the customer database would be listed.

Yet, another variation of the SQL Injection Attack can be conducted in dbms systems that allow multiple SQL injection statements. Here, we will also create use of the vulnerability in sure dbms whereby a user provided field isn’t strongly used in or isn’t checked for sort constraints.

This could take place once a numeric field is to be employed in a SQL statement; but, the programmer makes no checks to validate that the user supplied input is numeric.

Variation is an evasion technique whereby the attacker can easily evade any comparison statement. The attacker does this by placing characters such as “' or '1'='1'” in any basic injection statement such as “or 1=1” or with other accepted SQL comments.

Evasion Technique: Variation Variation is an evasion technique whereby the attacker can easily evade any comparison statement. The attacker does this by placing characters such as “' or '1'='1'” in any basic injection statement such as “or 1=1” or with other accepted SQL comments. The SQL interprets this as a comparison between two strings or characters instead of two numeric values. As the evaluation of two strings yields a true statement, similarly, the evaluation of two numeric values yields a true statement, thus rendering the evaluation of the complete query unaffected. It is also possible to write many other signatures; thus, there are infinite possibilities of variation as well. The main aim of the attacker is to have a WHERE statement that is always evaluated as “true” so that any mathematical or string comparison can be used, where the SQL can perform the same.

Enterprise, governments, and financial institutions have greater security with WPA3-Enterprise. WPA3-Enterprise builds upon WPA2 and ensures the consistent application of security protocol across the network.WPA3-Enterprise also offers an optional mode using 192-bit minimum-strength security protocols and cryptographic tools to raised protect sensitive data:• Authenticated encryption: 256-bit Galois/Counter Mode Protocol (GCMP-256)• Key derivation and confirmation: 384-bit Hashed Message Authentication Mode (HMAC) with Secure Hash Algorithm (HMAC-SHA384)• Key establishment and authentication: Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH) exchange and Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) employing a 384-bit elliptic curve• Robust management frame protection: 256-bit Broadcast/Multicast Integrity Protocol Galois Message Authentication Code (BIP-GMAC-256)The 192-bit security mode offered by WPA3-Enterprise ensures the proper combination of cryptographic tools are used and sets a uniform baseline of security within a WPA3 network.

It protects sensitive data using many cryptographic algorithms It provides authenticated encryption using GCMP-256 It uses HMAC-SHA-384 to generate cryptographic keys It uses ECDSA-384 for exchanging keys

After the attacker completes preparations, subsequent step is an effort to realize an edge within the target’s environment. a particularly common entry tactic is that the use of spearphishing emails containing an internet link or attachment. Email links usually cause sites where the target’s browser and related software are subjected to varied exploit techniques or where the APT actors plan to social engineer information from the victim which will be used later. If a successful exploit takes place, it installs an initial malware payload on the victim’s computer. Figure 2 illustrates an example of a spearphishing email that contains an attachment. Attachments are usually executable malware, a zipper or other archive containing malware, or a malicious Office or Adobe PDF (Portable Document Format) document that exploits vulnerabilities within the victim’s applications to ultimately execute malware on the victim’s computer. Once the user has opened a malicious file using vulnerable software, malware is executing on the target system. These phishing emails are often very convincing and difficult to differentiate from legitimate email messages. Tactics to extend their believability include modifying legitimate documents from or associated with the organization. Documents are sometimes stolen from the organization or their collaborators during previous exploitation operations. Actors modify the documents by adding exploits and malicious code then send them to the victims. Phishing emails are commonly sent through previously compromised email servers, email accounts at organizations associated with the target or public email services. Emails also can be sent through mail relays with modified email headers to form the messages appear to possess originated from legitimate sources. Exploitation of vulnerabilities on public-facing servers is another favorite technique of some APT groups. Though this will be accomplished using exploits for known vulnerabilities, 0-days are often developed or purchased to be used in intrusions as required .

Gaining an edge within the target environment is that the primary goal of the initial intrusion. Once a system is exploited, the attacker usually places malware on the compromised system and uses it as a jump point or proxy for further actions. Malware placed during the initial intrusion phase is usually an easy downloader, basic Remote Access Trojan or an easy shell. Figure 3 illustrates a newly infected system initiating an outbound connection to notify the APT actor that the initial intrusion attempt was successful which it’s able to accept commands.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing

Phishing is a type of social engineering attack often used to steal user data, including login credentials and credit card numbers. It occurs when an attacker, masquerading as a trusted entity, dupes a victim into opening an email, instant message, or text message. The recipient is then tricked into clicking a malicious link, which can lead to the installation of malware, the freezing of the system as part of a ransomware attack, or the revealing of sensitive information.

An attack can have devastating results. For individuals, this includes unauthorized purchases, the stealing of funds, or identify theft.

Moreover, phishing is often used to gain a foothold in corporate or governmental networks as a part of a larger attack, such as an advanced persistent threat (APT) event. In this latter scenario, employees are compromised in order to bypass security perimeters, distribute malware inside a closed environment, or gain privileged access to secured data.

An organization succumbing to such an attack typically sustains severe financial losses in addition to declining market share, reputation, and consumer trust. Depending on the scope, a phishing attempt might escalate into a security incident from which a business will have a difficult time recovering.

Agent-based scanners reside on a single machine but can scan several machines on the same network.

Network-based scanner

A network-based vulnerability scanner, in simplistic terms, is the process of identifying loopholes on a computer’s network or IT assets, which hackers and threat actors can exploit. By implementing this process, one can successfully identify their organization’s current risk(s). This is not where the buck stops; one can also verify the effectiveness of your system's security measures while improving internal and external defenses. Through this review, an organization is well equipped to take an extensive inventory of all systems, including operating systems, installed software, security patches, hardware, firewalls, anti-virus software, and much more.

Agent-based scanner

Agent-based scanners make use of software scanners on each and every device; the results of the scans are reported back to the central server. Such scanners are well equipped to find and report out on a range of vulnerabilities.

NOTE: This option is not suitable for us, since for it to work, you need to install a special agent on each computer before you start collecting data from them.

A white hat (or a white hat hacker) is an ethical computer hacker, or a computer security expert, who focuses on penetration testing and in other testing methodologies that ensures the safety of an organization’s information systems. Ethical hacking may be a term meant to imply a broader category than simply penetration testing. Contrasted with black hat, a malicious hacker, the name comes from Western films, where heroic and antagonistic cowboys might traditionally wear a white and a black hat respectively. While a white hat hacker hacks under good intentions with permission, and a black hat hacker, most frequently unauthorized, has malicious intent, there’s a 3rd kind referred to as a gray hat hacker who hacks with good intentions but sometimes without permission.White hat hackers can also add teams called “sneakers and/or hacker clubs”,red teams, or tiger teams.While penetration testing concentrates on attacking software and computer systems from the beginning – scanning ports, examining known defects in protocols and applications running on the system and patch installations, as an example – ethical hacking may include other things. A full-blown ethical hack might include emailing staff to invite password details, searching through executive’s dustbins and typically breaking and entering, without the knowledge and consent of the targets. Only the owners, CEOs and Board Members (stake holders) who asked for such a censoring of this magnitude are aware. to undertake to duplicate a number of the destructive techniques a true attack might employ, ethical hackers may arrange for cloned test systems, or organize a hack late in the dark while systems are less critical. In most up-to-date cases these hacks perpetuate for the long-term con (days, if not weeks, of long-term human infiltration into an organization). Some examples include leaving USB/flash key drives with hidden auto-start software during a public area as if someone lost the tiny drive and an unsuspecting employee found it and took it.Some other methods of completing these include:• DoS attacks• Social engineering tactics• Reverse engineering• Network security• Disk and memory forensics• Vulnerability research• Security scanners such as:– W3af– Nessus– Burp suite• Frameworks such as:– Metasploit• Training PlatformsThese methods identify and exploit known security vulnerabilities and plan to evade security to realize entry into secured areas. they’re ready to do that by hiding software and system ‘back-doors’ which will be used as a link to information or access that a non-ethical hacker, also referred to as ‘black-hat’ or ‘grey-hat’, might want to succeed in .

Web Server Attacks - DNS Server Hijacking Attacker compromises the DNS server and changes the DNS settings so that all the requests coming towards the target web server are redirected to his/her own malicious server. (P.1623/1607)

Footprinting techniques are used to collect basic information about the target IoT and OT platforms to exploit them. Information collected through footprinting techniques ncludes IP address, hostname, ISP, device location, banner of the target IoT device, FCC ID information, certification granted to the device, etc. pg. 5052 ECHv11 manual

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FCC_mark

An FCC ID is a unique identifier assigned to a device registered with the United States Federal Communications Commission. For legal sale of wireless deices in the US, manufacturers must:

· Have the device evaluated by an independent lab to ensure it conforms to FCC standards

· Provide documentation to the FCC of the lab results

· Provide User Manuals, Documentation, and Photos relating to the device

· Digitally or physically label the device with the unique identifier provided by the FCC (upon approved application)

The FCC gets its authourity from Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations (47 CFR). FCC IDs are required for all wireless emitting devices sold in the USA. By searching an FCC ID, you can find details on the wireless operating frequency (including strength), photos of the device, user manuals for the device, and SAR reports on the wireless emissions

DROWN is a serious vulnerability that affects HTTPS and other services that deem SSL and TLS, some of the essential cryptographic protocols for net security. These protocols allow everyone on the net to browse the net, use email, look on-line, and send instant messages while not third-parties being able to browse the communication.

DROWN allows attackers to break the encryption and read or steal sensitive communications, as well as passwords, credit card numbers, trade secrets, or financial data. At the time of public disclosure on March 2016, our measurements indicated thirty third of all HTTPS servers were vulnerable to the attack. fortuitously, the vulnerability is much less prevalent currently. As of 2019, SSL Labs estimates that one.2% of HTTPS servers are vulnerable.

What will the attackers gain?Any communication between users and the server. This typically includes, however isn’t limited to, usernames and passwords, credit card numbers, emails, instant messages, and sensitive documents. under some common scenarios, an attacker can also impersonate a secure web site and intercept or change the content the user sees.

Who is vulnerable?Websites, mail servers, and other TLS-dependent services are in danger for the DROWN attack. At the time of public disclosure, many popular sites were affected. we used Internet-wide scanning to live how many sites are vulnerable:

SSLv2

Operators of vulnerable servers got to take action. there’s nothing practical that browsers or end-users will do on their own to protect against this attack.

Is my site vulnerable?Modern servers and shoppers use the TLS encryption protocol. However, because of misconfigurations, several servers also still support SSLv2, a 1990s-era precursor to TLS. This support did not matter in practice, since no up-to-date clients really use SSLv2. Therefore, despite the fact that SSLv2 is thought to be badly insecure, until now, simply supporting SSLv2 wasn’t thought of a security problem, is a clients never used it.

DROWN shows that merely supporting SSLv2 may be a threat to fashionable servers and clients. It modern associate degree attacker to modern fashionable TLS connections between up-to-date clients and servers by sending probes to a server that supports SSLv2 and uses the same private key.

SSLv2

• It allows SSLv2 connections. This is surprisingly common, due to misconfiguration and inappropriate default settings.
• Its private key is used on any other serverthat allows SSLv2 connections, even for another protocol. Many companies reuse the same certificate and key on their web and email servers, for instance. In this case, if the email server supports SSLv2 and the web server does not, an attacker can take advantage of the email server to break TLS connections to the web server.

A server is vulnerable to DROWN if:SSLv2

How do I protect my server?To protect against DROWN, server operators need to ensure that their private keys software used anyplace with server computer code that enables SSLv2 connections. This includes net servers, SMTP servers, IMAP and POP servers, and the other software that supports SSL/TLS.

Disabling SSLv2 is difficult and depends on the particular server software. we offer instructions here for many common products:

OpenSSL: OpenSSL may be a science library employed in several server merchandise. For users of OpenSSL, the simplest and recommended solution is to upgrade to a recent OpenSSL version. OpenSSL 1.0.2 users ought to upgrade to 1.0.2g. OpenSSL 1.0.1 users ought to upgrade to one.0.1s. Users of older OpenSSL versions ought to upgrade to either one in every of these versions. (Updated March thirteenth, 16:00 UTC) Microsoft IIS (Windows Server): Support for SSLv2 on the server aspect is enabled by default only on the OS versions that correspond to IIS 7.0 and IIS seven.5, particularly Windows scene, Windows Server 2008, Windows seven and Windows Server 2008R2. This support is disabled within the appropriate SSLv2 subkey for ‘Server’, as outlined in KB245030. albeit users haven’t taken the steps to disable SSLv2, the export-grade and 56-bit ciphers that build DROWN possible don’t seem to be supported by default.

Network Security Services (NSS): NSS may be a common science library designed into several server merchandise. NSS versions three.13 (released back in 2012) and higher than ought to have SSLv2 disabled by default. (A little variety of users might have enabled SSLv2 manually and can got to take steps to disable it.) Users of older versions ought to upgrade to a more moderen version. we tend to still advocate checking whether or not your non-public secret is exposed elsewhere

Other affected software and in operation systems:

Instructions and data for: Apache, Postfix, Nginx, Debian, Red Hat

Browsers and other consumers: practical nothing practical that net browsers or different client computer code will do to stop DROWN. only server operators ar ready to take action to guard against the attack.

A dictionary Attack as an attack vector utilized by the attacker to break in a very system, that is password protected, by golf shot technically each word in a very dictionary as a variety of password for that system. This attack vector could be a variety of Brute Force Attack.

The lexicon will contain words from an English dictionary and conjointly some leaked list of commonly used passwords and once combined with common character substitution with numbers, will generally be terribly effective and quick.

How is it done?

Basically, it’s attempting each single word that’s already ready. it’s done victimization machine-controlled tools that strive all the possible words within the dictionary.

Some password Cracking Software:

• John the ripper

• L0phtCrack

• Aircrack-ng

https://us-cert.cisa.gov/ncas/alerts/TA18-201A

Currently, Emotet uses five known spreader modules: NetPass.exe, WebBrowserPassView, Mail PassView, Outlook scraper, and a credential enumerator. Credential enumerator is a self-extracting RAR file containing two components: a bypass component and a service component. The bypass component is used for the enumeration of network resources and either finds writable share drives using Server Message Block (SMB) or tries to brute force user accounts, including the administrator account. Once an available system is found, Emotet writes the service component on the system, which writes Emotet onto the disk. Emotet’s access to SMB can result in the infection of entire domains (servers and clients).

https://owasp.org/www-community/attacks/csrf

Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) is an attack that forces an end user to execute unwanted actions on a web application in which they’re currently authenticated. With a little help of social engineering (such as sending a link via email or chat), an attacker may trick the users of a web application into executing actions of the attacker’s choosing. If the victim is a normal user, a successful CSRF attack can force the user to perform state changing requests like transferring funds, changing their email address, and so forth. If the victim is an administrative account, CSRF can compromise the entire web application.

CSRF is an attack that tricks the victim into submitting a malicious request. It inherits the identity and privileges of the victim to perform an undesired function on the victim’s behalf. For most sites, browser requests automatically include any credentials associated with the site, such as the user’s session cookie, IP address, Windows domain credentials, and so forth. Therefore, if the user is currently authenticated to the site, the site will have no way to distinguish between the forged request sent by the victim and a legitimate request sent by the victim.

CSRF attacks target functionality that causes a state change on the server, such as changing the victim’s email address or password, or purchasing something. Forcing the victim to retrieve data doesn’t benefit an attacker because the attacker doesn’t receive the response, the victim does. As such, CSRF attacks target state-changing requests.

It’s sometimes possible to store the CSRF attack on the vulnerable site itself. Such vulnerabilities are called “stored CSRF flaws”. This can be accomplished by simply storing an IMG or IFRAME tag in a field that accepts HTML, or by a more complex cross-site scripting attack. If the attack can store a CSRF attack in the site, the severity of the attack is amplified. In particular, the likelihood is increased because the victim is more likely to view the page containing the attack than some random page on the Internet. The likelihood is also increased because the victim is sure to be authenticated to the site already.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/ip/access-lists/26448-ACLsamples.html

Since the first line prohibits any TCP traffic (access-list 102 deny tcp any any), the lines below will simply be ignored by the router. Below you will find the example from CISCO documentation.

This figure shows that FTP (TCP, port 21) and FTP data (port 20) traffic sourced from NetB destined to NetA is denied, while all other IP traffic is permitted.

Diagram Description automatically generated

FTP uses port 21 and port 20. TCP traffic destined to port 21 and port 20 is denied and everything else is explicitly permitted.

• access-list 102 deny tcp any any eq ftp

• access-list 102 deny tcp any any eq ftp-data

• access-list 102 permit ip any any

Web Application Threats - Watering Hole Attack In a watering hole attack, the attacker identifies the kinds of websites a target company/individual frequently surfs and tests those particular websites to identify any possible vulnerabilities. Attacker injects malicious script/code into the web application that can redirect the webpage and download malware onto the victim machine. (P.1797/1781)

Implementing regular firmware updates for all IoT devices is the primary recommendation to prevent DDoS attacks on the smart city project. Firmware updates can fix security vulnerabilities, patch bugs, and improve performance of the IoT devices, making them less susceptible to malware infections and botnet recruitment12. Firmware updates can also enable new security features, such as encryption, authentication, and firewall, that can protect the IoT devices from unauthorized access and data theft3. Firmware updates should be done automatically or remotely, without requiring user intervention, to ensure timely and consistent security across the IoT network4.

The other options are not as effective or feasible as firmware updates for the following reasons:

• B. Deploying network intrusion detection systems (IDS) across the IoT network can help detect and alert DDoS attacks, but not prevent them. IDS can monitor network traffic and identify malicious patterns, such as high volume, spoofed IP addresses, or unusual protocols, that indicate a DDoS attack5. However, IDS cannot block or mitigate the attack, and may even be overwhelmed by the flood of traffic, resulting in false positives or missed alerts. Moreover, deploying IDS across a vast network of IoT devices can be costly, complex, and resource-intensive, as it requires dedicated hardware, software, and personnel.
• C. Establishing strong, unique passwords for each IoT device can prevent unauthorized access and brute-force attacks, but not DDoS attacks. Passwords can protect the IoT devices from being compromised by hackers who try to guess or crack the default or weak credentials. However, passwords cannot prevent DDoS attacks that exploit known or unknown vulnerabilities in the IoT devices, such as buffer overflows, command injections, or protocol flaws. Moreover, establishing and managing strong, unique passwords for each IoT device can be challenging and impractical, as it requires user awareness, memory, and effort.
• D. Implementing IP address whitelisting for all IoT devices can restrict network access and communication to trusted sources, but not DDoS attacks. IP address whitelisting can filter out unwanted or malicious traffic by allowing only the predefined IP addresses to connect to the IoT devices. However, IP address whitelisting cannot prevent DDoS attacks that use spoofed or legitimate IP addresses, such as reflection or amplification attacks, that bypass the whitelisting rules. Moreover, implementing IP address whitelisting for all IoT devices can be difficult and risky, as it requires constant updating, testing, and monitoring of the whitelist, and may block legitimate or emergency traffic by mistake.

References:

• 1: How to proactively protect IoT devices from DDoS attacks - Synopsys
• 2: IoT and DDoS: Cyberattacks on the Rise | A10 Networks
• 3: Detection and Prevention of DDoS Attacks on the IoT - MDPI
• 4: How to Secure IoT Devices: 5 Best Practices | IoT For All
• 5: Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) Part 1 - Network Security | Coursera
• : DDoS Attacks: Detection and Mitigation - Cisco
• : The Challenges of IoT Security - Infosec Resources
• : IoT Security: How to Protect Connected Devices and the IoT Ecosystem | Kaspersky
• : IoT Security: Common Vulnerabilities and Attacks | IoT For All
• : The Password Problem: How to Use Passwords Effectively in 2021 | Dashlane Blog
• : What is IP Whitelisting? | Cloudflare
• : DDoS Attacks: Types, Techniques, and Protection | Cloudflare
• : IP Whitelisting: Pros and Cons | Imperva

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subnetwork

As we can see, we have an IP address of 10.1.4.0 with a subnet mask of /23. According to the question, we need to determine which IP address will be included in the range of the last 100 IP addresses.

The available addresses for hosts start with 10.1.4.1 and end with 10.1.5.254. Now you can clearly see that the last 100 addresses include the address 10.1.5.200.

Developed by Robert “RSnake” Hansen, Slowloris is DDoS attack software that permits one computer to require down an internet server. Due the straightforward yet elegant nature of this attack, it requires minimal bandwidth to implement and affects the target server’s web server only, with almost no side effects on other services and ports.Slowloris has proven highly-effective against many popular sorts of web server software, including Apache 1.x and 2.x.Over the years, Slowloris has been credited with variety of high-profile server takedowns. Notably, it had been used extensively by Iranian ‘hackivists’ following the 2009 Iranian presidential election to attack Iranian government internet sites .Slowloris works by opening multiple connections to the targeted web server and keeping them open as long as possible. It does this by continuously sending partial HTTP requests, none of which are ever completed. The attacked servers open more and connections open, expecting each of the attack requests to be completed.Periodically, the Slowloris sends subsequent HTTP headers for every request, but never actually completes the request. Ultimately, the targeted server’s maximum concurrent connection pool is filled, and extra (legitimate) connection attempts are denied.By sending partial, as against malformed, packets, Slowloris can easily elapse traditional Intrusion Detection systems.Named after a kind of slow-moving Asian primate, Slowloris really does win the race by moving slowly and steadily. A Slowloris attack must await sockets to be released by legitimate requests before consuming them one by one.For a high-volume internet site , this will take a while . the method are often further slowed if legitimate sessions are reinitiated. But within the end, if the attack is unmitigated, Slowloris—like the tortoise—wins the race.If undetected or unmitigated, Slowloris attacks also can last for long periods of your time . When attacked sockets outing , Slowloris simply reinitiates the connections, continuing to reach the online server until mitigated.Designed for stealth also as efficacy, Slowloris are often modified to send different host headers within the event that a virtual host is targeted, and logs are stored separately for every virtual host.More importantly, within the course of an attack, Slowloris are often set to suppress log file creation. this suggests the attack can catch unmonitored servers off-guard, with none red flags appearing in log file entries.Methods of mitigationImperva’s security services are enabled by reverse proxy technology, used for inspection of all incoming requests on their thanks to the clients’ servers.Imperva’s secured proxy won’t forward any partial connection requests—rendering all Slowloris DDoS attack attempts completely and utterly useless.

Mar 1, 2016, 7:33:28 AM 10.240.250.23 - 54373 10.249.253.15 - 22 tcp_ip

Let's just disassemble this entry.

Mar 1, 2016, 7:33:28 AM - time of the request

10.240.250.23 - 54373 - client's IP and port

10.249.253.15 - server IP

- 22 - SSH port

The command usage that would best serve your objective to find where the NTP server obtains the time from and to trace the list of NTP servers connected to the network is ntptrace -n -m 5 192.168.1.1. This command usage works as follows:

• ntptrace is a tool that determines where a given NTP server gets its time from, and follows the chain of NTP servers back to their master time source. For example, a stratum 0 server, which is a device that directly obtains the time from a physical source, such as an atomic clock or a GPS receiver1.
• -n is a flag that outputs host IP addresses instead of host names. This can be useful if the host names are not resolvable or if the IP addresses are more informative1.
• -m 5 is a flag that specifies the maximum number of hosts to be traced. This can be useful to limit the output and avoid tracing irrelevant or unreachable hosts1.
• 192.168.1.1 is the IP address of the NTP server in the demilitarized zone, which is the starting point of the trace. This can be useful to find out the source and the path of the time synchronization for the network system1.

By using this command usage, the output will show the IP addresses, the stratum, the offset, the sync distance, and the reference ID of each NTP server in the chain, up to five hosts. This can provide valuable information about the accuracy, the reliability, and the security of the time service for the network system1.

The other options are not as suitable as option D for the following reasons:

• A. ntptrace -m 5 192.168.1.1: This option is similar to option D, but it does not use the -n flag, which means that it will output host names instead of IP addresses. This can be less useful if the host names are not resolvable or if the IP addresses are more informative1.
• B. tptrace 192.1681.: This option is incorrect because it uses a wrong tool name and a wrong IP address. tptrace is not a valid tool name, and 192.1681. is not a valid IP address. The correct tool name is ntptrace, and the correct IP address is 192.168.1.11.
• C. ntptrace -n localhost: This option is not effective because it uses localhost as the starting point of the trace, which means that it will only show the local host’s time source. This can be useful to check the local host’s time configuration, but it does not help to find out the time source and the trace of the NTP server in the demilitarized zone, which is the objective of this scenario1.

References:

• 1: ntptrace - trace a chain of NTP servers back to the primary source

Gathering Information using Reverse Image Search Reverse image search helps an attacker in tracking the original source and details of images, such as photographs, profile pictures, and memes Attackers can use online tools such as Google Image Search, TinEye Reverse Image Search, and Yahoo Image Search to perform reverse

A Ping of Death attack is a type of DoS attack that exploits a vulnerability in the IP protocol that allows packets to be fragmented and reassembled at the destination. The attacker sends a malformed packet that exceeds the maximum size of 65,535 bytes, which causes the target system to crash or become unstable when it tries to reassemble the packet. This attack can affect various operating systems and devices, such as routers, switches, and firewalls. A Ping of Death attack can be detected by monitoring the network traffic for unusually large packets or ICMP messages. References:

• Ping of Death (PoD) Attack
• Denial-of-Service Attacks: History, Techniques & Prevention
• What is a denial-of-service (DoS) attack?

WEP encryption is an outdated and insecure method of protecting wireless networks from unauthorized access and eavesdropping. WEP uses a static key that can be easily cracked by various tools and techniques, such as capturing the initialization vectors, brute-forcing the key, or exploiting the weak key scheduling algorithm1. Therefore, you should recommend a more secure encryption method to enhance the security of the company’s wireless network.

One of the most suitable replacements for WEP encryption is WPA2-PSK with AES encryption. WPA2 stands for Wi-Fi Protected Access 2, which is a security standard that improves upon the previous WPA standard. WPA2 uses a robust encryption algorithm called AES, which stands for Advanced Encryption Standard. AES is a block cipher that uses a 128-bit key and is considered to be very secure and resistant to attacks2.

WPA2-PSK stands for WPA2 Pre-Shared Key, which is a mode of WPA2 that uses a passphrase or a password to generate the encryption key. The passphrase or password must be entered by the users who want to connect to the wireless network. The key is then derived from the passphrase or password using a function called PBKDF2, which stands for Password-Based Key Derivation Function 2. PBKDF2 adds a salt and a number of iterations to the passphrase or password to make it harder to crack3.

WPA2-PSK with AES encryption offers several advantages over WEP encryption, such as:

• It uses a dynamic key that changes with each session, instead of a static key that remains the same.
• It uses a stronger encryption algorithm that is more difficult to break, instead of a weaker encryption algorithm that is more vulnerable to attacks.
• It uses a longer key that provides more security, instead of a shorter key that provides less security.
• It uses a more secure key derivation function that adds complexity and randomness, instead of a simple key generation function that is predictable and flawed.

Therefore, you should recommend WPA2-PSK with AES encryption as a suitable replacement to enhance the security of the company’s wireless network.

References:

• Wireless Security - Encryption - Online Tutorials Library
• WiFi Security: WEP, WPA, WPA2, WPA3 And Their Differences - NetSpot
• WPA2-PSK (Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 Pre-Shared Key)

Gathering Wordlist from the Target Website An attacker uses the CeWL tool to gather a list of words from the target website and perform a brute-force attack on the email addresses gathered earlier. # Cewl www.certifiedhacker.com (P.200/184)

A Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) is a security policy enforcement point, either on-premises or in the cloud, that administers an organization’s enterprise security policies when users attempt to access its cloud-based resources. A CASB can provide unified security management across multiple cloud platforms, as it can monitor cloud activity, enforce security policies, identify and respond to threats, and maintain visibility of all cloud resources. A CASB can also integrate with other security tools, such as data loss prevention (DLP), encryption, malware detection, and identity and access management (IAM), to enhance the security posture of the organization.

The other options are not as effective or feasible as using a CASB. Using a hardware-based firewall to secure all cloud resources may not be compatible with the dynamic and scalable nature of the cloud, as it may introduce latency, complexity, and cost. Implementing separate security management tools for each cloud platform may create inconsistency, inefficiency, and confusion, as each tool may have different features, interfaces, and configurations. Relying on the built-in security features of each cloud platform may not be sufficient or comprehensive, as each platform may have different levels of security, compliance, and functionality. References:

• What Is a Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB)? | Microsoft
• What Is a CASB? - Cloud Access Security Broker - Cisco
• What is a Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB)?

The action that would best protect your web server from potential misconfiguration-based attacks is performing regular server configuration audits. A server configuration audit is a process of reviewing and verifying the security settings and parameters of the server, such as user accounts, permissions, services, ports, protocols, files, directories, logs, and patches. A server configuration audit can help you to identify and fix any security misconfigurations that may expose your server to attacks, such as using default credentials, enabling unnecessary services, leaving open ports, or missing security updates. A server configuration audit can also help you to comply with the security standards and best practices for your server, such as the CIS Benchmarks or the OWASP Secure Configuration Guide12.

The other options are not as effective as option A for the following reasons:

• B. Enabling multi-factor authentication for users: This option is not relevant because it does not address the server misconfiguration issue, but the user authentication issue. Multi-factor authentication is a method of verifying the identity of the users by requiring them to provide two or more pieces of evidence, such as a password, a code, or a biometric factor. Multi-factor authentication can enhance the security of the user accounts and prevent unauthorized access, but it does not prevent the server from being attacked due to misconfigured settings or parameters3.
• C. Implementing a firewall to filter traffic: This option is not sufficient because it does not prevent the server from being misconfigured, but only limits the exposure of the server to the network. A firewall is a device or software that monitors and controls the incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predefined rules. A firewall can protect the server from external attacks by blocking or allowing certain ports, protocols, or IP addresses. However, a firewall cannot protect the server from internal attacks or from attacks that exploit the allowed traffic. Moreover, a firewall itself can be misconfigured and cause security issues4.
• D. Regularly backing up server data: This option is not preventive but reactive, as it does not protect the server from being attacked, but only helps to recover the data in case of an attack. Backing up server data is a process of creating and storing copies of the data on the server, such as files, databases, or configurations. Backing up server data can help you to restore the data in case of data loss, corruption, or deletion due to an attack. However, backing up server data does not prevent the server from being attacked in the first place, and it does not fix the security misconfigurations that may have caused the attack5.

References:

• 1: Server Configuration Audit - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics
• 2: Secure Configuration Guide - OWASP Foundation
• 3: Multi-factor authentication - Wikipedia
• 4: Firewall (computing) - Wikipedia
• 5: Backup - Wikipedia

Encrypting all sensitive data stored on the device is the best measure to ensure the security of this data, because it protects the data from unauthorized access or disclosure, even if the device is lost, stolen, or compromised. Encryption is a process of transforming data into an unreadable format using a secret key or algorithm. Only authorized parties who have the correct key or algorithm can decrypt and access the data. Encryption can be applied to data at rest, such as files or databases, or data in transit, such as network traffic or messages. Encryption can prevent attackers from stealing or tampering with the customer data stored on the device, such as credit card details and PINs, which can cause financial or identity fraud.

The other options are not as effective or sufficient as encryption for securing the customer data stored on the device. Implementing biometric authentication for app access may provide an additional layer of security, but it does not protect the data from being accessed by other means, such as malware, physical access, or backup extraction. Enabling GPS tracking for all devices using the app may help locate the device in case of loss or theft, but it does not prevent the data from being accessed by unauthorized parties, and it may also pose privacy risks. Regularly updating the app to the latest version may help fix bugs or vulnerabilities, but it does not guarantee the security of the data, especially if the app does not use encryption or other security features. References:

• Securely Storing Data | Security.org
• Data Storage Security: 5 Best Practices to Secure Your Data
• M9: Insecure Data Storage | OWASP Foundation

Whaling is an advanced social engineering technique that targets high-profile individuals, such as executives, managers, or celebrities, by impersonating them or someone they trust, such as a colleague, partner, or vendor. The attacker creates a fake Linkedin profile, pretending to be a high-ranking official from a well-established company, and uses it to connect with other employees within the organization. The attacker then leverages the trust and authority of the fake profile to gain access to exclusive corporate events and proprietary project details shared within the network. This way, the attacker can launch targeted attacks against the organization, such as stealing sensitive data, compromising systems, or extorting money.

The most likely immediate threat to the organization is the loss of confidential information and intellectual property, which can damage the organization’s reputation, competitiveness, and profitability. The attacker can also use the information to launch further attacks, such as ransomware, malware, or sabotage, against the organization or its partners and customers.

The other options are not as accurate as whaling for describing this scenario. Pretexting is a social engineering technique that involves creating a false scenario or identity to obtain information or access from a victim. However, pretexting usually involves direct communication with the victim, such as a phone call or an email, rather than creating a fake Linkedin profile and connecting with the victim’s network. Spear phishing is a social engineering technique that involves sending a personalized and targeted email to a specific individual or group, usually containing a malicious link or attachment. However, spear phishing does not involve creating a fake Linkedin profile and connecting with the victim’s network. Baiting and involuntary data leakage are not social engineering techniques, but rather possible outcomes of social engineering attacks. Baiting is a technique that involves offering something enticing to the victim, such as a free download, a gift card, or a job opportunity, in exchange for information or access. Involuntary data leakage is a situation where the victim unintentionally or unknowingly exposes sensitive information to the attacker, such as by clicking on a malicious link, opening an infected attachment, or using an unsecured network. References:

• Whaling: What is a whaling attack?
• Advanced Social Engineering Attack Techniques
• Top 8 Social Engineering Techniques and How to Prevent Them

Source: https://www.flowmon.com

Flowmon empowers manufacturers and utility companies to ensure the reliability of

their industrial networks confidently to avoid downtime and disruption of service

continuity. This can be achieved by continuous monitoring and anomaly detection so

that malfunctioning devices or security incidents, such as cyber espionage, zero-days, or

malware, can be reported and remedied as quickly as possible.

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/5567385

An anomaly-based intrusion detection system is an intrusion detection system for detecting both network and computer intrusions and misuse by monitoring system activity and classifying it as either normal or anomalous. The classification is based on heuristics or rules, rather than patterns or signatures, and attempts to detect any type of misuse that falls out of normal system operation. This is as opposed to signature-based systems, which can only detect attacks for which a signature has previously been created.

In order to positively identify attack traffic, the system must be taught to recognize normal system activity. The two phases of a majority of anomaly detection systems consist of the training phase (where a profile of normal behaviors is built) and the testing phase (where current traffic is compared with the profile created in the training phase). Anomalies are detected in several ways, most often with artificial intelligence type techniques. Systems using artificial neural networks have been used to great effect. Another method is to define what normal usage of the system comprises using a strict mathematical model, and flag any deviation from this as an attack. This is known as strict anomaly detection.[3] Other techniques used to detect anomalies include data mining methods, grammar-based methods, and the Artificial Immune System.

Network-based anomalous intrusion detection systems often provide a second line of defense to detect anomalous traffic at the physical and network layers after it has passed through a firewall or other security appliance on the border of a network. Host-based anomalous intrusion detection systems are one of the last layers of defense and reside on computer endpoints. They allow for fine-tuned, granular protection of endpoints at the application level.

Anomaly-based Intrusion Detection at both the network and host levels have a few shortcomings; namely a high false-positive rate and the ability to be fooled by a correctly delivered attack. Attempts have been made to address these issues through techniques used by PAYL and MCPAD.

Syhunt Hybrid combines comprehensive static and dynamic security scans to detect vulnerabilities like XSS, File Inclusion, SQL Injection, Command Execution and many more, including inferential, in-band and out-of-band attacks through Hybrid-Augmented Analysis (HAST). With Syhunt's unique gray box/hybrid scanning capability the information acquired during source code scans is automatically used to create and enhance dynamic scans. All entry points are covered generating detailed information about the security level of your web applications. Available for on-premises deployment for businesses using Windows and Linux 64-bit.

Web Server Security Tools - Web Application Security Scanners The Syhunt Hybrid scanner automates web application security testing and guards the organization’s web infrastructure against web application security threats. Syhunt Dynamic crawls websites and detects XSS, directory transversal problems, fault injection, SQL injection, attempts to execute commands, and several other attacks. (P.1713/1697)

A sheep dip computer is a dedicated device that is used to test inbound files or physical media for viruses, malware, or other harmful content, before they are allowed to be used with other computers. The term sheep dip comes from a method of preventing the spread of parasites in a flock of sheep by dipping the new animals that farmers are adding to the flock in a trough of pesticide. A sheep dip computer is isolated from the organization’s network and has port monitors, file monitors, network monitors, and antivirus software installed. Before initiating the analysis of a potentially malicious program, the analyst should store the program on an external medium, such as a CD-ROM, and then insert it into the sheep dip computer. This way, the analyst can prevent the program from infecting other devices or spreading over the network, and can safely analyze its behavior and characteristics.

The other options are not correct steps to take before initiating the analysis. Running the potentially malicious program on the sheep dip computer may cause irreversible damage to the device or compromise its security. Connecting the sheep dip computer to the organization’s internal network may expose the network to the risk of infection or attack. Installing the potentially malicious program on the sheep dip computer may not be possible or advisable, as the program may require certain dependencies or permissions that the sheep dip computer does not have or allow. References:

• Sheep dip (computing)
• What Does ‘Sheep Dip’ Mean in Cyber Security?
• Malware Analysis
• What is a Sheepdip?

A Denial of Service (DoS) attack is a type of cyberattack that aims to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by flooding it with traffic or requests that consume its resources. A TCP SYN flood attack is a type of DoS attack that exploits the TCP handshake process by sending a large number of SYN requests to the target server, without completing the connection. A UDP flood attack is a type of DoS attack that sends a large number of UDP packets to random ports on the target server, forcing it to check for the application listening at that port and reply with an ICMP packet. An ICMP flood attack is a type of DoS attack that sends a large number of ICMP packets, such as ping requests, to the target server, overwhelming its ICMP processing capacity.

The attacker’s strategy involves a unique mixture of TCP SYN, UDP, and ICMP floods, using ‘r’ packets per second. The server can handle ‘h’ packets per second before it starts showing signs of strain. If ‘r’ surpasses ‘h’, it overwhelms the server, causing it to become unresponsive. The attacker selects ‘r’ as a composite number and ‘h’ as a prime number, making the attack detection more challenging. This is because prime numbers are less predictable and more difficult to factorize than composite numbers, which may hinder the analysis of the attack pattern.

Considering ‘r=2010’ and different values for ‘h’, the scenario that would potentially cause the server to falter is the one where ‘h=1987’ (prime). This is because ‘r’ is greater than ‘h’ by 23 packets per second, which means the server cannot handle the incoming traffic and will eventually run out of resources. The other scenarios would not cause the server to falter, as ‘h’ is either greater than or very close to ‘r’, which means the server can either manage or barely cope with the incoming traffic. References:

• What is a denial-of-service (DoS) attack? | Cloudflare
• Denial-of-Service (DoS) Attack: Examples and Common Targets - Investopedia
• DDoS Attack Types: Glossary of Terms
• What is a Denial of Service (DoS) Attack? | Webopedia

In order to circumvent network protection tools, cybercriminals may forge a TCP session more efficiently by submitting a bogus SYN packet, a series of ACK packets, and at least one RST (reset) or FIN (connection termination) packet. This tactic allows crooks to get around defenses that only keep tabs on incoming traffic rather than analyzing return traffic.

The hacker could have used the technique of manipulating white spaces in SQL queries to bypass signature detection. This technique involves inserting, removing, or replacing white spaces in SQL queries with other characters or symbols that are either ignored or interpreted as white spaces by the SQL engine, but not by the signature-based IDS. This way, the hacker can alter the appearance of the query and evade the pattern matching of the IDS, while preserving the functionality and logic of the query. For example, the hacker could replace the space character with a tab character, a newline character, a comment symbol, or a URL-encoded value, such as %2012.

The other options are not correct for the following reasons:

• A. Utilizing the char encoding function to convert hexadecimal and decimal values into characters that pass-through SQL engine parsing: This option is not feasible because the char encoding function is not supported by all SQL engines, and it may not be able to convert all hexadecimal and decimal values into valid characters. Moreover, the char encoding function may not be able to bypass the signature detection of the IDS, as it may still match the keywords or syntax of the SQL query3.
• B. Using the URL encoding method to replace characters with their ASCII codes in hexadecimal form: This option is not effective because the URL encoding method is not applicable to SQL queries, as it is designed for encoding special characters in URLs. The URL encoding method may not be able to replace all characters with their ASCII codes, and it may not be able to preserve the functionality and logic of the SQL query. Furthermore, the URL encoding method may not be able to evade the signature detection of the IDS, as it may still match the keywords or syntax of the SQL query4.
• C. Implementing sophisticated matches such as “OR ‘john’ = john" in place of classical matches like “OR 1-1”: This option is not advanced because it is a common and basic SQL injection technique that does not involve any evasion or obfuscation. This technique involves injecting a logical expression that is always true, such as “OR ‘john’ = john” or “OR 1-1”, to bypass the authentication or authorization checks of the SQL query. However, this technique may not be able to bypass the signature detection of the IDS, as it may easily match the keywords or syntax of the SQL query.

References:

• 1: SQL Injection Evasion Detection - F5
• 2: Mastering SQL Injection with SQLmap: A Comprehensive Evasion Techniques Cheatsheet
• 3: SQL Injection Prevention - OWASP Cheat Sheet Series
• 4: URL Encoding - W3Schools
• : SQL Injection - OWASP Foundation

The security strategy that you would likely suggest is to adopt a Continual/Adaptive Security Strategy involving ongoing prediction, prevention, detection, and response actions to ensure comprehensive computer network defense. This strategy is based on the concept of continuous monitoring and improvement of the security posture of an organization, using a feedback loop that integrates various security activities and technologies. A Continual/Adaptive Security Strategy aims to proactively identify and mitigate emerging threats, vulnerabilities, and risks, as well as to respond effectively and efficiently to security incidents and breaches. A Continual/Adaptive Security Strategy can help enhance the organization’s security stance by providing the following benefits12:

• It can reduce the attack surface and the exposure time of the organization’s network infrastructure, by applying timely patches, updates, and configurations, as well as by implementing security controls and policies.
• It can increase the visibility and awareness of the organization’s network activity and behavior, by collecting, analyzing, and correlating data from various sources, such as logs, sensors, alerts, and reports.
• It can improve the detection and prevention capabilities of the organization, by using advanced tools and techniques, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, threat intelligence, and behavioral analytics, to identify and block malicious or anomalous patterns and indicators.
• It can enhance the response and recovery processes of the organization, by using automated and orchestrated actions, such as isolation, quarantine, remediation, and restoration, to contain and resolve security incidents and breaches, as well as by conducting lessons learned and root cause analysis to prevent recurrence.

The other options are not as appropriate as option C for the following reasons:

• A. Develop an in-depth Risk Management process, involving identification, assessment, treatment, tracking, and review of risks to control the potential effects on the organization: This option is not sufficient because risk management is only one aspect of a comprehensive security strategy, and it does not address the dynamic and evolving nature of cyber threats and vulnerabilities. Risk management is a process of identifying, analyzing, evaluating, and treating the risks that may affect the organization’s objectives and operations, as well as monitoring and reviewing the effectiveness of the risk treatment measures3. Risk management can help the organization prioritize and allocate resources for security, but it cannot guarantee the prevention or detection of security incidents and breaches, nor the response and recovery from them.
• B. Establish a Defense-in-Depth strategy, incorporating multiple layers of security measures to increase the complexity and decrease the likelihood of a successful attack: This option is not optimal because defense-in-depth is a traditional and static approach to security, and it may not be able to cope with the sophisticated and persistent attacks that exploit unknown or zero-day vulnerabilities. Defense-in-depth is a strategy of implementing multiple and diverse security controls and mechanisms at different layers of the organization’s network infrastructure, such as perimeter, network, endpoint, application, and data, to provide redundancy and resilience against attacks4. Defense-in-depth can help the organization protect its assets and systems from unauthorized access or damage, but it cannot ensure the timely detection and response to security incidents and breaches, nor the continuous improvement of the security posture.
• D. Implement an Information Assurance (IA) policy focusing on ensuring the integrity, availability, confidentiality, and authenticity of information systems: This option is not comprehensive because information assurance is a subset of cybersecurity, and it does not cover all the aspects of a holistic security strategy. Information assurance is a discipline of managing the risks associated with the use, processing, storage, and transmission of information and data, and ensuring the protection of the information and data from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, modification, or destruction5. Information assurance can help the organization safeguard its information and data from compromise or loss, but it does not address the prevention, detection, and response to security incidents and breaches, nor the adaptation and innovation of the security technologies and processes.

References:

• 1: Continual/Adaptive Security Strategy - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics
• 2: Continual Adaptive Security: A New Approach to Cybersecurity | SecurityWeek.Com
• 3: Risk Management - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics
• 4: Defense in Depth - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics
• 5: Information Assurance - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

https://www.infocyte.com/blog/2019/02/16/cybersecurity-101-what-you-need-to-know-about-false-positives-and-false-negatives/

False positives are mislabeled security alerts, indicating there is a threat when in actuality, there isn’t. These false/non-malicious alerts (SIEM events) increase noise for already over-worked security teams and can include software bugs, poorly written software, or unrecognized network traffic.

False negatives are uncaught cyber threats — overlooked by security tooling because they’re dormant, highly sophisticated (i.e. file-less or capable of lateral movement) or the security infrastructure in place lacks the technological ability to detect these attacks.

A service-based solution offered by an auditing firm would be the most appropriate type of vulnerability assessment solution for the large e-commerce organization, given their requirements. A service-based solution is a type of vulnerability assessment that is performed by external experts who have the skills, tools, and experience to conduct a thorough and comprehensive analysis of the target system or network. A service-based solution can imitate the outside view of attackers, as the experts are not familiar with the internal details or configurations of the organization. A service-based solution can also perform well-organized inference-based testing, which is a type of testing that uses logical reasoning and deduction to identify and exploit vulnerabilities based on the information gathered from the target. A service-based solution can scan automatically against continuously updated databases, as the experts have access to the latest security intelligence and threat feeds. A service-based solution can also support multiple networks, as the experts can use different techniques and tools to scan different types of networks, such as wired, wireless, cloud, or hybrid12.

The other options are not as appropriate as option B for the following reasons:

• A. Inference-based assessment solution: This option is not a type of vulnerability assessment solution, but a type of testing method that can be used by any solution. Inference-based testing is a testing method that uses logical reasoning and deduction to identify and exploit vulnerabilities based on the information gathered from the target. Inference-based testing can be performed by service-based, product-based, or tree-based solutions, depending on the scope, objectives, and resources of the assessment3.
• C. Tree-based assessment approach: This option is not a type of vulnerability assessment solution, but a type of testing method that can be used by any solution. Tree-based testing is a testing method that uses a hierarchical structure to organize and prioritize the vulnerabilities based on their severity, impact, and exploitability. Tree-based testing can be performed by service-based, product-based, or inference-based solutions, depending on the scope, objectives, and resources of the assessment4.
• D. Product-based solution installed on a private network: This option is a type of vulnerability assessment solution, but it may not meet all the requirements of the large e-commerce organization. A product-based solution is a type of vulnerability assessment that is performed by using software or hardware tools that are installed on the organization’s own network. A product-based solution can scan automatically against continuously updated databases, as the tools can be configured to download and apply the latest security updates and patches. However, a product-based solution may not imitate the outside view of attackers, as the tools may have limited access or visibility to the external network or the internet. A product-based solution may also not perform well-organized inference-based testing, as the tools may rely on predefined rules or signatures to detect and report vulnerabilities, rather than using logical reasoning and deduction. A product-based solution may also not support multiple networks, as the tools may be designed or optimized for a specific type of network, such as wired, wireless, cloud, or hybrid .

References:

• 1: Vulnerability Assessment Services | Rapid7
• 2: Vulnerability Assessment Services | IBM
• 3: Inference-Based Vulnerability Testing of Firewall Policies - IEEE Conference Publication
• 4: A Tree-Based Approach for Vulnerability Assessment - IEEE Conference Publication
• : Vulnerability Assessment Tools | OWASP Foundation
• : Vulnerability Assessment Solutions: Why You Need One and How to Choose | Defensible

Agent Smith Attack

Agent Smith attacks are carried out by luring victims into downloading and installing malicious

apps designed and published by attackers in the form of games, photo editors, or other

attractive tools from third-party app stores such as 9Apps. Once the user has installed the app,

the core malicious code inside the application infects or replaces the legitimate apps in the

victim's mobile device C&C commands. The deceptive application replaces legitimate apps such

as WhatsApp, SHAREit, and MX Player with similar infected versions. The application sometimes

also appears to be an authentic Google product such as Google Updater or Themes. The

attacker then produces a massive volume of irrelevant and fraudulent advertisements on the

victim's device through the infected app for financial gain. Attackers exploit these apps to steal

critical information such as personal information, credentials, and bank details, from the

victim's mobile device through C&C commands.

Patch management is that the method that helps acquire, test and install multiple patches (code changes) on existing applications and software tools on a pc, enabling systems to remain updated on existing patches and determining that patches are the suitable ones. Managing patches so becomes simple and simple.

Patch Management is usually done by software system firms as a part of their internal efforts to mend problems with the various versions of software system programs and also to assist analyze existing software system programs and discover any potential lack of security features or different upgrades.

Software patches help fix those problems that exist and are detected solely once the software’s initial unharness. Patches mostly concern security while there are some patches that concern the particular practicality of programs as well.

The most effective evasion technique to bypass the IDS signature detection while performing a SQL Injection attack is to leverage string concatenation to break identifiable keywords. This technique involves splitting SQL keywords or operators into smaller parts and joining them with string concatenation operators, such as ‘+’ or ‘||’. This way, the SQL query can still be executed by the database engine, but the IDS cannot recognize the keywords or operators as malicious, as they are hidden within strings. For example, the hacker could replace the keyword ‘OR’ with ‘O’||‘R’ or ‘O’+‘R’ in the SQL query, and the IDS would not be able to match the signature of a typical SQL injection pattern12.

The other options are not as effective as option D for the following reasons:

• A. Implement case variation by altering the case of SQL statements: This option is not effective because most SQL engines and IDS systems are case-insensitive, meaning that they treat SQL keywords and operators the same regardless of their case. Therefore, altering the case of SQL statements would not help evade the IDS signature detection, as the IDS would still be able to match the signature of a typical SQL injection pattern3.
• B. Employ IP fragmentation to obscure the attack payload: This option is not applicable because IP fragmentation is a network-level technique that splits IP packets into smaller fragments to fit the maximum transmission unit (MTU) of the network. IP fragmentation does not affect the content or structure of the SQL query, and it does not help evade the IDS signature detection, as the IDS would still be able to reassemble the fragments and match the signature of a typical SQL injection pattern4.
• C. Use Hex encoding to represent the SQL query string: This option is not feasible because Hex encoding is a method of representing binary data in hexadecimal format, such as ‘0x41’ for ‘A’. Hex encoding does not work for SQL queries, as the SQL engine would not be able to interpret the hexadecimal values as valid SQL syntax. Moreover, Hex encoding would not help evade the IDS signature detection, as the IDS would still be able to decode the hexadecimal values and match the signature of a typical SQL injection pattern.

References:

• 1: SQL Injection Evasion Detection - F5
• 2: Mastering SQL Injection with SQLmap: A Comprehensive Evasion Techniques Cheatsheet
• 3: SQL Injection Prevention - OWASP Cheat Sheet Series
• 4: IP Fragmentation - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics
• : Hex Encoding - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

DNS tunneling may be a method wont to send data over the DNS protocol, a protocol which has never been intended for data transfer. due to that, people tend to overlook it and it’s become a well-liked but effective tool in many attacks.Most popular use case for DNS tunneling is obtaining free internet through bypassing captive portals at airports, hotels, or if you are feeling patient the not-so-cheap on the wing Wi-Fi.On those shared internet hotspots HTTP traffic is blocked until a username/password is provided, however DNS traffic is usually still allowed within the background: we will encode our HTTP traffic over DNS and voilà, we’ve internet access.This sounds fun but reality is, browsing anything on DNS tunneling is slow. Like, back to 1998 slow.Another more dangerous use of DNS tunneling would be bypassing network security devices (Firewalls, DLP appliances…) to line up an immediate and unmonitored communications channel on an organisation’s network. Possibilities here are endless: Data exfiltration, fixing another penetration testing tool… you name it.To make it even more worrying, there’s an outsized amount of easy to use DNS tunneling tools out there.There’s even a minimum of one VPN over DNS protocol provider (warning: the planning of the web site is hideous, making me doubt on the legitimacy of it).As a pentester all this is often great, as a network admin not such a lot .

How does it work:For those that ignoramus about DNS protocol but still made it here, i feel you deserve a really brief explanation on what DNS does: DNS is sort of a phonebook for the web , it translates URLs (human-friendly language, the person’s name), into an IP address (machine-friendly language, the phone number). That helps us remember many websites, same as we will remember many people’s names.For those that know what DNS is i might suggest looking here for a fast refresh on DNS protocol, but briefly what you would like to understand is:• A Record: Maps a website name to an IP address.example.com ? 12.34.52.67• NS Record (a.k.a. Nameserver record): Maps a website name to an inventory of DNS servers, just in case our website is hosted in multiple servers.example.com ? server1.example.com, server2.example.comWho is involved in DNS tunneling?• Client. Will launch DNS requests with data in them to a website .• One Domain that we will configure. So DNS servers will redirect its requests to an outlined server of our own.• Server. this is often the defined nameserver which can ultimately receive the DNS requests.The 6 Steps in DNS tunneling (simplified):1. The client encodes data during a DNS request. The way it does this is often by prepending a bit of knowledge within the domain of the request. for instance : mypieceofdata.server1.example.com2. The DNS request goes bent a DNS server.3. The DNS server finds out the A register of your domain with the IP address of your server.4. The request for mypieceofdata.server1.example.com is forwarded to the server.5. The server processes regardless of the mypieceofdata was alleged to do. Let’s assume it had been an HTTP request.6. The server replies back over DNS and woop woop, we’ve got signal.

Bypassing Firewalls through the DNS Tunneling Method DNS operates using UDP, and it has a 255-byte limit on outbound queries. Moreover, it allows only alphanumeric characters and hyphens. Such small size constraints on external queries allow DNS to be used as an ideal choice to perform data exfiltration by various malicious entities. Since corrupt or malicious data can be secretly embedded into the DNS protocol packets, even DNSSEC cannot detect the abnormality in DNS tunneling. It is effectively used by malware to bypass the firewall to maintain communication between the victim machine and the C&C server. Tools such as NSTX (https://sourceforge.net), Heyoka (http://heyoka.sourceforge.netuse), and Iodine (https://code.kryo.se) use this technique of tunneling traffic across DNS port 53. CEH v11 Module 12 Page 994