0976-5697
Volume 8, No.8, September-October 2017
International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science
RESEARCH PAPER
Available Online at www.ijarcs.info
NETWORK THREATS, ATTACKS AND SECURITY MEASURES: A REVIEW
Ruzaina Khan Mohammad Hasan
M.Tech (CSE) Research Scholar
Department of Computer Science and Engineering Department of Agricultural Economics and Business
Jamia Hamdard Management, AMU
Delhi, India Aligarh, India
Abstract: Network security has become vital for securing sensitive and confidential information of organizations which is being
shared and transferred across global networks. Various studies have explored different aspects of network security and have listed
common threats and attacks that have been damaging the networks globally. The methodology adopted in this paper is a review of
papers with keywords network security, network attacks and threats and network security measures. The aim of this paper is to
critically review the studies on networking security, categorizing various attacks and threats and measures that need to be
implemented for protection. The paper also describes various concepts related to security including network security,
cryptography and encryption.
Keywords: Network security, Information security, Cryptography, Network threats and attacks, Network security measures
Standard) come under the category of modern symmetric VII. TYPES OF THREATS
key ciphers[3], [5], [7].
Network security is highly threatened by the presence of
VI. ENCRYPTION various threats and attacks that can lead to disclosure of
sensitive and confidential information. The basic difference
There are two types of encryptions: symmetric and between a threat and an attack is that while threat is a
asymmetric in nature. Symmetric encryptions use single key presence of a constant danger to the integrity of information,
for encrypting as well as decrypting the code while an attack is an actual act of breaching the security of the
Asymmetric encryptions work with two keys, public and network.
private for encrypting and decrypting respectively [7].
Below are the top 10 threats which have affected Small and
Medium Enterprises Data security. The following table
summarizes the details of important threats.
Table 1: Network Threats
Source: [11]–[14]
Various attacks have been listed by [1] in their paper which IX. SECURITY MEASURES
includes e-mail containing virus, network virus, web-based
virus, attack on the server , service rejection attacks and A. Firewalls
network user attacks. They have mentioned that the major
problem faced by the IT infrastructure is the vulnerability of A firewall can be defined as a device which may be a
computer networks and such problems arise mainly due to computer or router acting between the internet and the
faulty implementation and design of information system organization network. Firewall lets only those packets to be
including security procedures and controls. Another kind of transmitted through it into an organization’s internal
security threat named insider attack which is being networkwhich fulfils its perimeters configured by the
mentioned by [8], [9], is capable of causing irreparable firewall administrator to be a safe data packet and filters the
damage to the activities and reputation of the organization. other packets. Firewall acts at network, transport and
application layers. Packet –filter firewall acts at network and
There are other kinds of networks attacks which pose transport layer and proxy firewall acts on the application
serious threat to the confidentiality of the organization. layer.Firewall checks the traffic according to the specific
Some these attacks are listed below: rules it has been configured for but there may be chances
when the attacker can portray the harmful data to have
A. Phishing attacks perimeters which firewall finds safe to be transmitted
through it.
These kinds of attackers pretend to be as trustworthy
persons with an intention to capture sensitive information
through fraud email and messages [15]. They often create a B. Antivirus Systems
fake website such as SBI bank or PayPal and try to trick the
users by getting them click on a link and later on record their These systems are used to detect and eradicate malware
personal information including username and password [6], from our systems. The antivirus system should be kept
[10]. Such kind of attacks take as much as 9 to 10 days to updated with the latest updates so that it would be easy for it
resolve [16]. to scan the latest virus signatures. Sometimes an antivirus
system is not able to detect the infected file if it is encrypted
B. Close in attacks/Social Engineering or zipped.
Known as bugs in the human hardware [12], these attacks C. Intrusion detection systems
involve physical interaction with the network, systems and
components for getting unauthorized access to the It is a network monitoring device or software application
information. The attackers establish social interaction with which keeps track of any malicious actions and policy
the victims through e-mail, messages or phone and tricking desecrations and if found it immediately reports about the
the latter to reveal personal information regarding the intrusion to the administrator.They are a set of programs
security of the system [6], [10]. The attackers try to exploit which help detect intrusions and save the system from
the emotional response of the victim who falls for their trust getting affected. There are two kinds of intrusion detection
revealing to them their username, passwords and email systems, namely Anomaly Intrusion Detection and Misuse
address [15]. These kind of attacks also take around 9 to 10 Detection or Signature Based IDS. The Anomaly Intrusion
days for getting resolved [16]. Detection system includes neutral networks and prediction
pattern generation, while the Misuse Detection or Signature
C. Viruses Worms and Trojans Based IDS includes state transition tables, pattern matching,
genetic algorithms, fuzzy logic, immune systems, and
Virus are programs that are written in order to alter the Bayesian method and decision tree[17]. These systems may
working of the victim’s computer without its permission and be Host –based IDS or Network –based IDS.The system
authorization [15]. There are three ways in which a virus can matches the traffic with the attack pattern and if match is
enter an organization’s system. Firstly, E-mail containing detected it gives the alarm to the administrator. However,
viruses which can infect system’s email and spread the attacker may be clever enough to change the signature of
throughout the organization. Secondly, Network viruses the malicious traffic which the IDS fail to detect.
which breach the system through unprotected ports and can
affect the entire network. Thirdly, Web based viruses that X. CONCLUSION
infect the system which visit their web page and also affects
other internal network systems[1]. Globally expanding information networks have become
vulnerable to emerging threats and attacks from malicious
D. Hijack sources and pose a serious challenge for business and create
research gaps for scholars. Researching and developing
This is a kind of an attack in which the hacker intercepts or counter measures is a dire need for the organizations to
takes over session between the user and another system and protect their sensitive data from getting infected from
finally disconnects the later from the communication. The unauthorized sources. Network security has now become an
user remains under the impression that system is still integral part of organization’s confidentiality as it prevents
connected and may send sensitive and confidential unauthorized users from accessing the network systems,
information to the hacker by accident [6], [10]. ensures safe transferring of sensitive data and provides a
robust system of warning against alarm and fixing issues in
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