Assignment 1: Attack Methodology and Countermeasures
Terrance Moore
Professor Siplin
Perimeter Defense
10/31/2013

When you are utilizing security features in an application, consideration should be given to the design, implementation, and deployment. It would helpful if you understand how a hacker thinks and then utilize the tools a hacker would use. Today, every company is becoming completely networked, through the exchanging of information on desktops, laptops, tablets and smart phones. Thinking like a hacker and understanding a hacker’s tactics and scams could make you aware and become more effective when applying countermeasures. There are several methods for carrying out ethical hacking, the most common are limited vulnerability and penetration testing. Limited vulnerability analysis, focus on entry points to gather critical systems and data. By understanding the basic approach used by hackers to target organizations, you will be better equipped to take defensive measures you will be better equipped and know what you are up against. There are steps involved in scanning a network, the following points will highlight them. 1) Check for live systems, 2) Check for open ports, 3) Fingerprint the operating system, 4) Scan for vulnerabilities, 5) Probe the network. Tools that can be used to detect scanning threats and countermeasures that a company can use to deter and avoid vulnerabilities are as follows. “Spoofing user identity -use strong authentication for passwords, do not store secrets (for example, passwords) in plaintext. Do not pass credentials in plaintext over the Internet. Tampering with data –use data hashing and signing, use digital signatures, use strong authorization, use tamper-resistant protocols across communication links, secure communication links with protocols that provide message integrity”. (Microsoft.com)
Port scanning is one of the most common reconnaissance techniques used by hackers to discover the vulnerabilities in the services listening at well-known ports such as the internet and DNS. “Some live system scanning tools are Angry IP Scanner a windows IP scanner that scans IPs of any range. It simply pings each IP address to check whether or not the system is alive. Nmap is used for port scanning. Nmap supports more than a dozen way to scan a network. Some scanning techniques used are UDP, TCP connect, TCP SYN (half open), FTP proxy (bounce attack), reverse-ident, ICMP (ping sweep), FIN, ACK sweep, Xmas, SYN sweep, IP and null scan”. (EC-Council. 2010. Ethical Hacking and Countermeasures Attack Phases. Clifton Park, NY: Cengage Learning)
Many different techniques are used as ways attackers will try to gather your information, to prevail and avoid attack you would need to stop the threat before it reaches the next phase. Reconnaissance attackers gather information using active or passive means. For example attackers obtaining details that are freely available gathering information from a company’s Web sites, company’s annual statements. Scanning attackers begins to actively probe the user for vulnerabilities that can be exploited. Gaining access attackers exploit the user to gain access to the system. Gaining access is where most of the damage is done to the device and is the crux of the system. For instance external denial-of-service attacks could stop services from running and shut down your computer systems. Another technique attacker’s use is called spoofing in order to exploit your system and pretending to be a legitimate user. Maintaining access to the system is vital once the attacker has gained access, the goal of the attack fails is they are unable to maintain control. Covering tracks once an attacker has violated a system will destroy all evidence of his or her attacks.
You could eliminate Trojans, viruses, and worms to your devices before catastrophic damage to your computer systems make it impossible to fix. Theses malicious bugs use different entry points as mentioned earlier. Trojans are able to enter through multiple applications including many commonly used systems such as Instant Messenger applications (IM), Attachments to e-mails, Physical Access, NetBIOS (file sharing), Fake programs and freeware, as well as suspicious sites. Countermeasures to protect your assets do not download any file from unknown people or sites without making sure the file is legitimate in nature. If there is ever a question you are prompted by the system to the address the threat in the form of a warning message. It is integral that routine scans are performed to ensure that the corporate perimeter defenses are continuously up to date, thus avoiding malicious threat. It is important to scan all content at the perimeter defense line that could contain malicious content. Running local versions of antivirus, firewall, and intrusion detection software, including multiple virus scanners, and installing a software for identifying and removing malware, as well as spyware. It is imperative to delete suspicious device drivers. Ethical hacker’s also known as white hats are information security professionals who specialize in evaluating, and defending against threats from an attacker. Unethical hackers on the other hand are called black hats, there is continuing debate on whether hacking can be ethical or not? The current climate is a hacker is a hacker there is no differentiation between good and bad. I believe that as technology develops and evolves the divide between good and bad hackers will widen. Attackers will make several attempts to gain your critical data such as remote network, remote dial-up, local, stolen equipment, social engineering, and Physical entry. Be cautious as to what types of critical data that you put in your emails, Facebook, there is always someone out there looking to take advantage of that one minor slip up. (EC-Council. 2010. Ethical Hacking and Countermeasures Attack Phases. Clifton Park, NY: Cengage Learning)

Resources
EC-Council. 2010. Ethical Hacking and Countermeasures Attack Phases. Clifton Park, NY: Cengage Learning
Glynn, Fergal (2006-2013) Penetration Testing. veracode.com, Retrieved 10/31/13, from http://www.veracode.com/security/penetration-testing
Howard, Michael and LeBlanc, Writing Secure Code 2nd Edition, Microsoft Press, Redmond, WA 2002, Retrieved 10/31/2013 from http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff648641.aspx