What are the most important network security breaches to monitor?

1 Malware Infection

Malware is any malicious software that can infect your network devices, such as viruses, worms, ransomware, spyware, or trojans. Malware can damage or delete your files, steal your data, encrypt your systems, or disrupt your network operations. To prevent malware infection, you need to have a robust antivirus and anti-malware software installed on all your network devices, and update them regularly. You also need to educate your users on how to avoid clicking on suspicious links, opening unknown attachments, or downloading untrusted software.

3 Denial-of-Service Attack

Denial-of-service (DoS) is a type of attack that aims to overwhelm your network with a large amount of traffic or requests, causing it to slow down or crash. DoS attacks can disrupt your network availability, performance, or functionality, and affect your business operations, reputation, or customer satisfaction. To prevent DoS attacks, you need to monitor your network traffic and identify any abnormal patterns, and use firewalls, routers, or load balancers to filter or distribute the traffic. You also need to have backup or redundant systems in case of a network outage.

4 Man-in-the-Middle Attack

Man-in-the-middle (MITM) is a type of attack that involves intercepting or altering the communication between your network devices or users, without their knowledge. MITM attacks can compromise your network confidentiality, integrity, or authenticity, and allow the attacker to steal, modify, or spoof your data or messages. To prevent MITM attacks, you need to use secure communication protocols, such as HTTPS, SSL, or TLS, and encrypt your data in transit and at rest. You also need to verify the identity and trustworthiness of your network devices and users, using certificates, keys, or tokens.

5 Password Cracking Attack

Password cracking is a type of attack that involves guessing or breaking your users' passwords, using brute force, dictionary, or rainbow table methods. Password cracking can enable the attacker to gain unauthorized access to your network accounts, systems, or data. To prevent password cracking attacks, you need to enforce strong password policies, such as length, complexity, or expiration, and use password managers, salt, or hash to store your passwords securely. You also need to implement multi-factor authentication, such as OTP, SMS, or email, to add an extra layer of security.

6 SQL Injection Attack

SQL injection is a type of attack that involves injecting malicious SQL code into your network database, using input fields, forms, or URLs. SQL injection can damage or delete your database, manipulate or extract your data, or execute commands on your server. To prevent SQL injection attacks, you need to validate and sanitize your input data, and use parameterized queries, stored procedures, or prepared statements to interact with your database. You also need to limit the privileges and access rights of your database users, and use firewalls or web application security tools to block malicious requests.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?