Week 2 CYB632 - Assignment Example

Computer sciences and information technology Assignment Types of network attacks: IP Spoofing There are many different types of attacks that can be used by attackers to analyze networks and obtain information about that network. Attackers may obtain sensitive information from the networks and may cause the network to be corrupted. One example of such attacks is IP spoofing. In this type of attack, the attacker replaces the original IP address with a different address from another machine (Liska, 2003).

The attacker can then masquerade as a trusted host thereby gaining access to a network. There are two types of this attack. First, there is the IP spoofing used in Denial of Service attacks. In this case, the attacker sends a packet to a host with a forged IP address. The host then sends an acknowledgement waiting for the response. However, this response is never given and hence the unanswered queries accumulate in the buffer of the device being targeted. When many spoofed queries are sent, these results in the overflow of the buffer and the network device may crash (Liska, 2003).

Secondly, IP spoofing can also be used in man in the middle attacks. In this case, the attacker is able to intercept the traffic that is heading between two given devices on a network. This helps the attacker monitor network traffic and may gain access to sensitive information such as passwords and usernames. Unfortunately, it is usually difficult for users to know the traffic is being intercepted by the attacker since each packet is eventually forwarded to the desired destination. The best countermeasure that can be used to address IP spoofing is ingress filtering performed by routers.

In this case, the routers check that all the incoming packets are from legitimate sources or machines. If the router determines that the IP address on the packet is not in the address block the interface is connected to, then the packets are dropped. Importance of a pentest report A penetration testing report gives the results of a vulnerability assessment and the penetration test of a given system in an organization (Lee, 2009). This report also offers recommendations on how the risks identified can be mitigated.

A penetration test report is important to any organization or business. First, this report helps the organization enhance the security of its systems. In the modern world, the damage that can be caused by hackers can be extensive, and this may significantly affect the operations and survival of the organization (Lee, 2009). Therefore, the pentest report helps identify vulnerable areas within systems and provides guidelines for addressing them. This helps the organization avoid future loss of critical information to attackers and also avoid the crippling of its systems through attacks.

Furthermore, the need to have pentest reports has been enhanced by the fact that many businesses are basing their systems online and there is a general trend towards e-commerce. Security testing is thus very important. Secondly, a pentest report is important for the internal audit within an organization. The findings of this report help the internal auditors identify the most vulnerable areas within the organization and thus develop policies to reduce the level of penetration. This then helps the organization maintain effective security in all its systems and processes.

Finally, a pentest report helps an organization comply with the relevant legal requirements and laws such as the Sarbanes-Oxley law of the United States (Lee, 2009). In many countries, there are different legal requirements relating to security which organizations have to comply with. The results of a pentest report can help the organization evaluate whether or not it meets the requirements, and thereby put mechanisms in place to ensure full compliance. ReferencesLee, R (2009). Penetration Testing and its Growing Importance for Modern Businesses.

Research Paper . pp. 1-33. Retrieved from http://uwcisa.uwaterloo.ca/Biblio2/Year/2009/Richard_Lee.pdfLiska, A(2003). Network Security: Understanding Types of Attacks. In The Practice of Network Security: Deployment Strategies for Production Environments. Prentice Hall.