Although ping commands can be useful in diagnosing network problems,
they can also be used in malicious attacks. Two examples of how ping commands
can be used maliciously are known as a ping of death and a ping flood
(Wikipedia, 2019). Both can be detrimental to a computer system. A ping of
death sends packets containing a significantly larger amount of bits then a
system is designed to handle. This type of ping can cause a system to crash due
to the overwhelming number of bits. Once the system has crashed, it now is
vulnerable to the infection of viruses.
Ping floods can disrupt a system by sending
pings back to back at a high rate (Wikipedia, 2019). When a flood of ping
requests occur, the system has the potential to slow and cause legitimate
requests to be denied. For example, if a site like Facebook was hit with a ping
flood and did not have to proper security, then any individuals who try to
access the site, might receive an error due to the site denying any request for
access because of the amount of requests caused by the flood.
Among the many security
incidents that can occur, the two chosen for discussion are computer viruses
and phishing. These two incindents have the potential to be detrimental not
only on a personal network or personal well being but a large corporation
network as well. Computers are vulnerable to both viruses and phishing due to
systems not having the proper protection such as anti virus software or network
security. Phishing can be successful due to negelgence or users not being
knowledgeable in regards to sensitive data transfer.
Computer viruses come
in many forms and are typically transmitted though electronic mail such as
email (Newman, Forest, and Balthrop, 2002). These infections can damage a
system in many ways including, taking control, crashing, or slowing down a
network. Viruses can also be transmitted to other systems which happens often.
Think of a human virus like a flu. If not properly maintained, the flu can
spread and infect many different people. The same can happen with computer
viruses. The further the virus spreads, the more damage inflicted. An entire
organization can suffer greatly from a virus. Computer viruses have been around
for many years and as long as there are computers and networks, they are bound
to evolve and continue to wreak havoc without the proper protection.
Phishing is another example of a security
incident which is defined as an attempt by an attacker to obtain an individuals
sensitive information such as bank account information by posing as a
legitimate contact (Jagatic, Johnson, Jakobsson, and Menczer, 2005). An example
would be an email from an attacker which looks to be from the victims bank
asking for the victims password information due to a problem with the banks
website being compromised. Victims of phishing could potentially lose
everything from money to privacy.
There are many ways to protect against viruses
and phishing. Computer viruses can be mitigated by utilizing sufficient
anti-virus software. There are many options available for personal and
professional networks. Organizations with large networks should utilize
information technology specialists to maintain network security. Phishing
attacks can be avoided by the understanding that most organization do not
request password information via email. If a user suspects an email to be
suspicious, they should reach out to the company directly to verify the email
is legitimate.
References
Jagatic,
T., Johnson, N., Jakobsson, M., Menczer, F., (2005) Social Phishing. School of Informatics,
Indiana University, Bloomington. Retrieved from http://www.markus-jakobsson.com/papers/jakobsson-commacm07.pdf
Newman, M.E.J., Forest,
S., Balthrop, J. (2002) Email networks and the spread of computer viruses.
Phys. Rev. E 66, 035101(R). Retrieved from https://journals.aps.org/pre/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevE.66.035101
Ping
Flood. (2019). Wikipedia. Retrieved [July 10, 2019] from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ping_of_death&oldid=900329806
Ping of
Death (2019). Wikipedia. Retrievd [July 10, 2019] from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ping_of_death&oldid=900329806
