Common attack vectors

1. Common attack vectors

Think about what it’s like for someone just learning how to play a new game. There are rules or guidelines to follow and strategies to win. Just as in learning a new game, knowing how malicious actors operate allows you —as a cloud security professional— to stop them more easily. In this video, we'll discuss attack vectors and their significance for network and system security. We'll explore various attack vectors, understanding their impact on security, and discuss common examples along with effective countermeasures. Let’s first explain attack vectors. Attack vectors are pathways attackers use to penetrate security defenses. Now, let’s learn the guidelines of using attack vectors. One, gain insight into attack vectors that are vital for network and system security. Two, once you gain insight into attack vectors, pinpoint potential vulnerabilities, and effectively defend against targeted attacks. Next, we’ll discuss strategies using countermeasures to help you overcome common attack vectors that impact perimeter and boundary protections. Malicious actors may use social engineering tactics that exploit human mistakes to gain access to sensitive data or valuables. Examples of social engineering are phishing, vishing, smishing, and spear phishing attacks. These types of social engineering attacks involve the use of digital communications to trick people into revealing sensitive data or deploying malicious software. To counter this, you can implement user training and email security measures. Next, password attacks are a widespread threat that usually involve brute force techniques in which attackers use trial and error to reveal private information. To significantly improve security, strengthen your password policies and incorporate multifactor authentication. Cybercriminals might also exploit vulnerable software by taking advantage of known vulnerabilities. Remember, a vulnerability is a weakness that can be exploited by a threat. To counteract this, it's crucial to regularly patch and update software, and use vulnerability scanning tools. Then, there's malware, or software designed to harm devices or networks, which infiltrate and compromise systems. To combat malware, use advanced malware protection solutions and regularly update your software. Lastly, distributed denial of service, or DDoS attacks, are a type of denial of service attack that uses multiple devices or servers located in different locations to flood the target network with unwanted traffic. This can cause service outages and potential unauthorized access. To protect your company from these attacks, deploy DDoS mitigation services and monitor network traffic. It’s important to know the threat actors you might encounter and how they think. You’ll first need to understand guidelines of using common attack vectors. Next, you can utilize strategies to implement robust perimeter and boundary protection measures. Then, you’re in position to keep your network and systems secure.

2. Let's practice!

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