The case for securing networks

How intrusions compromise your system

In this section of the course, you learned that every network has inherent vulnerabilities and could become the target of a network attack.

Attackers could have varying motivations for attacking your organization’s network. They may have financial, personal, or political motivations, or they may be a disgruntled employee or an activist who disagrees with the company's values and wants to harm an organization’s operations. Malicious actors can target any network. Security analysts must be constantly alert to potential vulnerabilities in their organization’s network and take quick action to mitigate them.

In this reading, you’ll learn about network interception attacks and backdoor attacks, and the possible impacts these attacks could have on an organization.

Network interception attacks 

Network interception attacks work by intercepting network traffic and stealing valuable information or interfering with the transmission in some way.

Malicious actors can use hardware or software tools to capture and inspect data in transit. This is referred to as packet sniffing. In addition to seeing information that they are not entitled to, malicious actors can also intercept network traffic and alter it. These attacks can cause damage to an organization’s network by inserting malicious code modifications or altering the message and interrupting network operations. For example, an attacker can intercept a bank transfer and change the account receiving the funds to one that the attacker controls.

Later in this course you will learn more about malicious packet sniffing, and other types of network interception attacks: on-path attacks and replay attacks.

Backdoor attacks

A backdoor attack is another type of attack you will need to be aware of as a security analyst. An organization may have a lot of security measures in place, including cameras, biometric scans and access codes to keep employees from entering and exiting without being seen. However, an employee might work around the security measures by finding a backdoor to the building that is not as heavily monitored, allowing them to sneak out for the afternoon without being seen. 

In cybersecurity, backdoors are weaknesses intentionally left by programmers or system and network administrators that bypass normal access control mechanisms. Backdoors are intended to help programmers conduct troubleshooting or administrative tasks. However, backdoors can also be installed by attackers after they’ve compromised an organization to ensure they have persistent access.

Once the hacker has entered an insecure network through a backdoor, they can cause extensive damage: installing malware, performing a denial of service (DoS) attack, stealing private information or changing other security settings that leaves the system vulnerable to other attacks. A DoS attack is an attack that targets a network or server and floods it with network traffic.

Possible impacts on an organization

As you’ve learned already, network attacks can have a significant negative impact on an organization. Let’s examine some potential consequences.

Key takeaways

Malicious actors are constantly looking for ways to exploit systems. They learn about new vulnerabilities as they arise and attempt to exploit every vulnerability in a system. Attackers leverage backdoor attack methods and network interception attacks to gain sensitive information they can use to exploit an organization or cause serious damage. These types of attacks can impact an organization financially, damage its reputation, and potentially put the public in danger.  It is important that security analysts stay educated in order to maintain network safety and reduce the likelihood and impact of these types of attacks. Securing networks has never been more important.