Network Security
In today’s world, security is a main concern, especially since we are connected globally. One security concern is called a ping flood. A Ping flood, or ICMP flood, is a common Denial of Service (DoS) attack in which an attacker takes down a computer by overwhelming it with pings. There are several ping commands that can be used to facilitate an attack.
The n command represents
the number of times a request is sent.
The l command represents
the amount of data sent with each packet.
The t command,
used to continue pinging until the host times out.
For a ping flood
to be successful, the attacking computer must have access to more bandwidth
than the potential victim. The attack involves flooding the victim’s
network with request packets, knowing that the network will respond with an
equal number of reply packets. The exhausted server is then unavailable to
process legitimate requests.
According to (Larsen, 2020), There are 35 types of
DDOS attacks and three different categories, Volumetric, protocol and
application attacks. DDoS attacks can target a specific application or a badly
coded website to exploit its weaknesses. Databases can also be targeted with
SQL injections. SQL code is used for backend database manipulation to access
hidden data. A ping flood attack occurs when millions of computers
attempt to ping a website in a short period of time (Ping
Flood Attacks, 2022). A ping of death is another DOS attack where
pings are sent with malformed or oversized packets when using the ping command
(What is a DDoS Attack? 2016). Ping of death attacks usually occurs when the
data packets in a ping exceed 65,536 bytes. Some reasons DOS attacks are used
are to disrupt a company, hassle an organization, or for political reasons
(Vahid, 2019). Poor security may make a website more susceptible to
hackers. You can restrict attacks by blocking ping request, but it may prevent
you from diagnosing server issues. There is network security available for
prevention. It is important to safeguard your network.
Unfortunately, there will always be people who will attempt
to carry out malicious activities. There are several computer
securities issues, such as security holes,
viruses, email spam, phishing scams, password cracking, and social
engineering.
Individual users can be targeted in a multitude of ways.
Security breaches could attempt to scam the user out of money, acquire the
user’s personal information, or infect the user's computer with
viruses. Most frequently, Internet users are subject to email spam and phishing
scams.
Email spam is “unsolicited and unwanted junk email sent out
in bulk to an indiscriminate recipient list. Typically, spam is sent for
commercial purposes. It can be sent in massive volumes. (What
is Spam (2022).” Users can easily opt out by selecting an unsubscribe
link at the bottom of their email. Spam can also be used with the intent of
spreading computer viruses or botnets which could be used to cause a
denial-of-service (DOS) attack on a targeted website.
Many email users are also the target of phishing scams.
Phishing scams are typically trying to ascertain an users’ personal
information. One common money-making scam is the 419 scam or Nigerian scam
(Vahid, 2019). Remember the emails from the Nigerian prince asking for money so
that they can relocate their fortune and agree to pay you back later with a
greater return? These types of phishing scams are still successful today.
In 2021, 36% of data breaches involved phishing (Kerner,
2022). Other phishing scams are sent out to replicate an email with a link from
a person’s bank, shopping website, or utility company to get usernames and
passwords. Knowing how to verify a recipient’s email address is beneficial
in not falling for these types of scams. Another tip would be being
cognizant of bad grammar or misspelled words. This will also help you
avoid falling victim to one of these types of scams. Being able to identify
phishing scams and spam emails is vital in protecting your personal information
and the health of your computer.
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