Network Security

Information and system security for individuals and organizations are important because it protects the IT foundation and vital business practices of a business, protect customers and their information and maintain/improve the business’s efficiency. Vahid and Lysecky (2017) describe denial of service (DoS) as an attack that is achieved by “… submitting huge numbers of access requests simultaneously to one target website …” (p. 8.6). A couple of examples of DoS attacks are a ping flood and the ping of death. A ping flood is a DoS attack that overwhelms a device with a request making it unavailable for regular traffic (Cloudflare, n.d.). The ping of death is a DoS attack that sends oversized packets causing the target to crash or freeze (Fortinet, n.d.).

Vahid and Lysecky (2017) tell us that spam is an unwelcome email sent out in bulk that could be advertising a product or spreading a virus. A few examples of email spam are antivirus warnings, spoofing, sweepstakes, and down on one’s luck money scams. These types of spam can be dangerous due to the likelihood they contain malware (Cisco, 2022). Computer systems are vulnerable to email spam because people often send messages via unprotected networks. Without safeguards, hackers access email messages as easily as postcards. Email spam threats are malware, phishing, social engineering, malicious entities, and unintentional acts (Stine & Scholl, n.d.). A couple of recommendations for protecting a computer system from email spam are encrypting a user’s authentication session, including firewalls, routers, and intrusion detection and prevention systems.

According to Vahid and Lysecky (2017), “phishing is an Internet scam that baits a user to share sensitive information like a password or credit card number” (8.4). Humans are the weakest link to exposing sensitive data, unauthorized access, and system disruptions (Dosal, 2020). An attack can have devastating results, such as unauthorized purchases, identify theft, declining market share, reputation, and consumer trust; in addition, attackers create a sense of urgency (Imperva, 2020). A couple of recommendations for protecting a computer system from phishing are reviewing each email carefully and thinking about why the person received the email and two-factor authentication.

References

Cisco. (2022, March 8). What is spam email? https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/security/email-security/what-is-spam.html

Cloudflare. (n.d.). Ping (ICMP) flood ddos attack. Retrieved April 26, 2022, from https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/ddos/ping-icmp-flood-ddos-attack/

Dosal, E. (2020, March 10). Top 5 computer security vulnerabilities - compuquip. Compuquip Cybersecurity. https://www.compuquip.com/blog/computer-security-vulnerabilities

Fortinet. (n.d.). What is a ping of death and ping of death attack? Retrieved April 25, 2022, from https://www.fortinet.com/resources/cyberglossary/ping-of-death

Imperva. (2020, June 17). Phishing attacks. https://www.imperva.com/learn/application-security/phishing-attack-scam/#:~:text=Phishing%20is%20a%20type%20of,instant%20message%2C%20or%20text%20message.

Stine, K., & Scholl, M. (n.d.). Email security: An overview of threats and safeguards. Journal of AHIMA. Retrieved April 23, 2022, from https://bok.ahima.org/doc?oid=99319#.YmdeqtrMLiA

Vahid, F., & Lysecky, S. (2017). Computing technology for all. zybooks.zyante.com/