A computer connected to the Internet not only gains access to information located on the servers of the global network, but also becomes vulnerable to external network attacks prepared by cybercriminals.
Types of network attacks
There are many different configurations of computers, operating systems and network equipment, however, this does not become an obstacle to access to the global network. This situation has become possible thanks to the universal network protocol TCP / IP, which establishes certain standards and rules for transmitting data over the Internet. Unfortunately, this versatility has led to the fact that computers using this protocol have become vulnerable to external influences, and since the TCP / IP protocol is used on all computers connected to the Internet, attackers do not need to develop individual means of access to other people's machines.
A network attack is an attempt to attack a remote computer using programmatic methods. Typically, the goal of a network attack is to violate data confidentiality, that is, to steal information. In addition, network attacks are carried out to gain access to someone else's computer and then modify the files located on it.
There are several types of classifications for network attacks. One of them is based on the principle of influence. Passive network attacks are aimed at obtaining confidential information from a remote computer. These attacks include, for example, reading incoming and outgoing email messages. As for active network attacks, their task is not only to access certain information, but also to modify it. One of the most significant differences between these types of attacks is that it is almost impossible to detect passive interference, while the consequences of an active attack are usually noticeable.
In addition, attacks are classified according to what objectives they pursue. Among the main tasks, as a rule, they highlight the disruption of the computer, unauthorized access to information and the hidden modification of the data stored on the computer. For example, hacking a school server in order to change the scores in the magazines is an active network attack of the third type.
Protection technologies
Methods of protection against network attacks are constantly being developed and improved, but none of them gives a complete guarantee. The fact is that any static defense has weak points, since it is impossible to defend against everything at once. As for dynamic methods of protection, such as statistical, expert, fuzzy logic protection and neural networks, they also have their weak points, since they are mainly based on the analysis of suspicious actions and their comparison with known methods of network attacks. Consequently, most defenses fail before unknown types of attacks, starting too late to repel an intrusion. Nevertheless, modern security systems make it so difficult for an attacker to access data that it is more rational to look for another victim.
