Hacking and Network Security

Network hacking is sinister industry with a lot of commercial value. Some of the network security attacks and port scanners manage to penetrate systems. The primary aim of the attackers is monetary gain. With all the talk of penetration and hacking an enterprise or server the organization tries to secure itself through a variety of means.

Employees and security threats

Yet the most potent threat to network security does not come from hackers or any automated robot or software. It comes from a disgruntled employee or is related to employee malice. Statistics show that nearly 70% of unauthorized access to systems is by employees. Staff in House keeping, Maintenance and repair services, temporary workers and contractors are also found to be vulnerabilities that are often overlooked by the company.

Tele working is another employee friendly measure adopted by many companies. Employee laxity and ignorance toward security has also caused major problems. One of the causes of compromise in security is the computer used by the employee may already be compromised through which the attacker gains the user names and password. Another major problem is that of the employee logging into the network from a kiosk or booth and not logging out.

Social Engineering is a very old art of human persuasion. It is done in many ways through emotions of fear and panic. It is also done through building of trust. In many occasions the employee unknowingly is manipulated to part with key information and data. The attacker usually gets most of the information of his victim through spying, theft or clever deception. It could begin by a call from the attacker disguising himself as a tech support worker who gleans the password for maintenance procedures. Trojans and worms have been successfully spread by this. Phishing is another means of social engineering to obtain through mail identities and passwords.

Cyber crime and internet attacks

Cyber attacks have increased manifold in the last few years and continue to grow at a rapid pace. The nature of crime has changed over the years and internet is become the source of several attacks on networks. The inherent weakness of internet protocol is used by many hackers to gain entry into machines. Tele working has only heightened the awareness for security. Worms and viruses can spread from other compromised machines onto the network and soon compromise the server.

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