subject: Network Security Threats [print this page] The usage of the internet is increasing by the day. With the increasing amount of people connecting to internet, the security threats that cause massive harm are also increasing. Network security is a major part of a network that needs to be well maintained. The information passing between computers and networks are very vulnerable to attack.
Over the last few years, people that manage internet security have seen a massive increase in the number of hackers and criminals creating malicious threats that have been pumped into networks across the world.
The following are said to be the biggest network threats:
1. Viruses and Worms
A virus is a program or piece of code that is loaded onto your computer without your knowledge and runs against your wishes. It can cause a massive amount of damage to computers. An example of a virus would be if you opened an email and a malicious piece of code was downloaded onto your computer causing your computer to freeze.
A worm is similar to a virus but a worm can run itself whereas a virus needs a host program to run. The only solution is to install a security suite.
2. Trojan Horses
A Trojan horse is a program in which malicious or harmful code is contained inside apparently harmless programming or data in such a way that it can gain control and perform its chosen form of damage (such as ruining the file allocation table on your hard disk). In a network, if a Trojan horse is installed on a computer and tampers with the file allocation table, it could cause a horrible amount of damage to all computers of that network. Here also, the best suitable solution is to use a nice security suite which prevents you from downloading trojans.
3. SPAM
SPAM is flooding the Internet with many copies of the same message, in an attempt to force the message on people who would not otherwise choose to receive it. SPAM wouldnt be the biggest risk to a network because even though it may get annoying and plentiful,l it still doesnt destroy any physical elements of the network. By using SPAM filters we can prevent the attack of SPAM to a greater extent.
4. Phishing
Phishing is an e-mail fraud method in which the perpetrator sends out legitimate-looking emails in an attempt to gather personal and financial information from recipients. Phishing is one of the worst security threats over a network because a lot of people that use computers linked up to a network are amateurs and would be very vulnerable to giving out information that could cause situations such as theft of money or identity theft. Only solution is to use phishing filters to filter out unwanted mail and to prevent threat.
5. Packet Sniffers
A packet sniffer is a device or program that allows eavesdropping on traffic traveling between networked computers. The packet sniffer will capture data that is addressed to other machines, saving it for later analysis.
In a network, a packet sniffer can filter out personal information and this can lead to areas such as identity theft so this is a major security threat to a network. Strong encryption is the only way to avoid packet sniffers.
6. Password Attacks
Password attacks are attacks by hackers that are able to determine passwords or find passwords to different protected electronic areas.
Many systems on a network are password protected so it would be easy for a hacker to hack into the systems and steal data.
