Classification of Information Security Attacks in Today’s World

The use of information technology is increasing in every sector. Whether it is in hospitals, schools, or the industrial sector, the growing popularity of information technology has led to the deployment and development of new software. As the use of IT is increasing, the risks associated with it are also increasing day by day. One of the major risks associated with IT is information security.

Importance of Information Security

Information security is a set of guidelines to protect the data of an organization from illegal access, usage, leakage, disturbance, alteration, examination, copy, or obliteration of confidential data. The information security safeguards the technology that is used in the organization allows them to operate safely and implement new applications. A good organization, IT system, secures the data and safeguards the organization’s ability to function.

Introduction to Information Security Attacks

Information security attacks, also known as cyberattacks, are acts of unlawfully accessing and using the information of users or an enterprise. Cyberattacks harm the reputation of an organization and also highly affects the global economy. According to an article posted by Rob Sobers, companies are facing a real challenge to secure their systems. Some of the cyberattack statistics are mentioned below:

1. 62% of industries faced phishing and social engineering attacks in 2018.
2. Data leakage exposed to 4.1 billion in the first half of 2019.
3. 52% of breaches included hacking, 28% included malware and 32–33% involved phishing or social engineering, correspondingly
4. The total ransomware infections were decreased to 52%, whereas enterprise taints were up by 12% in 2018.
5. The top malicious email attachment types are .doc and .dot, which make up 37%, the second-highest is .exe at 19.5%.

Classification of Information Security Attacks

Every year 111 billion software is launched. With each software, the risks and vulnerabilities also increase. Cyberattacks and threats are of different types, such as phishing, espionage, and malware. The various cyberattacks are classified according to the accountable agent and the consequences of the cyberattack. According to Microsoft, information security threats are classified under six categories. The six categories of initials are combined to form a model called STRIDE. The model was developed by Praerit Garg and Loren Kohnfelde. Below defined is the STRIDE model:

Spoofing Attack

The term spoof means to trick or deceive someone. A spoofing attack is when a malevolent person or entity imitates as another device or user to get unauthorized access to someone else’s device. Hackers tend to use common spoofing methods such as IP address spoofing attacks, ARP spoofing attacks, and DNS server spoofing attacks.

Tampering Attack

The tampering attack aims to modify the parameters exchanged among customers and servers. To alter a price, quantity, and user credentials, the attacker finds such information hidden and saved in cookies and URL Query string. The attacker attacks to exploit the user for personal benefit through a middle man. The success of the tampering attack can lead to other effects such as XSS, SQL Injection, file enclosure, and path expose attacks.

Repudiation Attack

A repudiation attack usually takes place when a company’s system or application’s track and log user actions are compromised. The inadequate system allows malicious manipulates or forge an identity to perform new actions in place of existing ones. The attacker attacks to gain access to the information and change it, thus, making the data stored on log files invalid or misleading. These actions look identical to the ones being stored using website analytics and can often be missed.

Information Disclosure

Information disclosure happens when an application or system does not adequately protect confidential information from others. The information disclosure usually takes place through low-security issues in web applications. It allows hackers to gather in-depth details of a specific digital product to gain complete, illegal action. Information disclosure attacks are of various categories. Some of the information disclosure attacks are as follows:

1. Active Reconnaissance
2. Inapt Control over Confidential Data
3. File Path Disclosure
4. Source Code Disclosure

Elevation of Privilege Attack 

Elevation of privilege or privilege escalation is one of the most common information security threats. The threat enables the hacker to access the IT infrastructure of an enterprise, and pursue fake permission to snip data, disturb organizational operations, create loopholes to enter in for impending attacks. In many cases, attackers also disrupt the security settings, configuration, and data of the organization. The privilege escalation attack occurs mainly because enterprises lack in implementing high-security systems for their confidential data. Such a loophole grants the hacker access to high priority accounts using low privilege accounts. The privilege escalation is of two types. Listed below are the two types:

1. Horizontal Privilege Escalation
2. Vertical Privilege Escalation, also known as an elevation of privilege or EoP.

Securing Application and Systems with QuickStart

As the change in software is taking place, the number of cyber threats has outgrown. With each software, different threats and security issues are associated. Organizations that don’t pay much attention to this issue struggle to retain employees and reputation in the market. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a security system that is strong enough to protect the data and the application or its system. To avoid getting hacked, QuickStart aims to provide various certifications for IT professionals that ensure adequate safety of the application and systems. The two best training provided at QuickStart online is as follows.

1. CISA training online: CISA stands for Certified Information Systems Auditor. The training aims to provide adequate knowledge regarding IT security, audit, control, and assurance. The certification is for the master level and is based on 17 hours duration class.
2. CISSP training online: CISSP stands for Certified Information Systems Security Professional. The CISSP training intends to utilize human and virtual capabilities to form an adequate security system. The course helps IT professionals, to build sound information and comprehension of data security requirements of an enterprise. The course is based on a duration of 21 hours. For more information on information security online courses, contact our experts at QuickStart.

Also, Read our blog on different tips to keep your data secure in 2020 against these attacks.