Methods of Preventing a Network Attack (OCR GCSE Computer Science)

Penetration Testing

What is penetration testing?

• Penetration testing is a method of preventing vulnerabilities whereby a company employ people to try and hack their network and databases

• This allows the 'hackers' to point out the parts of the system that are vulnerable 

• The companies then use this information to fix the issues that are found

What form of attack would this help to prevent?

• SQL injection

Anti-Malware Software

What is anti-malware software?

• Anti-malware software is a term used to describe a combination of different software to prevent computers from being susceptible to viruses and other malicious software

• The different software anti-malware includes are

  • Anti-virus 

  • Anti-spam 

  • Anti-spyware 

How does anti-malware work?

• Anti-malware scans through email attachments, websites and downloaded files to search for issues

• Anti-malware software has a list of known malware signatures to block immediately if they try to access your device in any way

• Anti-malware will also perform checks for updates to ensure the database of known issues is up to date

What form of attack would this prevent?

• Anti-malware would help prevent against any form of malicious software

Firewalls

What is a firewall?

• A firewall is a barrier between a network and the internet

• A firewall prevents unwanted traffic from entering a network by filtering requests to ensure they are legitimate

• It can be both hardware and software and they are often used together to provide stronger security to a network

  • Hardware firewalls will protect the whole network and prevent unauthorised traffic

  • software firewalls will protect the individual devices on the network, monitoring the data going to and from each computer

What form of attack would this prevent?

• Hackers

• Malware

• Unauthorised Access to a Network

• DOS/DDOS attacks

User Access Levels & Passwords

What are user access levels?

• User access levels ensure users of a network have designated roles on a network

• Some examples of different levels of access to a school network include

  • Administrators: Unrestricted - Can access all areas of the network

  • Teaching Staff: Partially restricted - Can access all student data but cannot access other staff members' data

  • Students: Restricted - Can only access their own data and files

What are passwords?

• Passwords are a digital lock to prevent unauthorised access to an account

• They are often stored as an encrypted/ciphered text entry in a database, ensuring that even with unauthorised access to a database, a hacker would not be able to gain access to the individual passwords of users

What form of attack would this prevent?

• Data Interception and Theft

• Physical Security Issues

• SQL Injection

Encryption

What is encryption?

• Encryption is a method of converting plain text into ciphered text to be stored

• Encryption uses complex mathematical algorithms to scramble the text

• Asymmetric encryption, also known as private key, public key encryption is often used for web pages and other communication

What form of attack would this prevent?

• Encryption plays a role in all forms of attack on a network

• It is important to note that it does not prevent the attacks from occurring but it does stop the attacker from gaining access to the information

Physical Security

What is physical security?

• Physical security is a method of physically preventing access to any part of a network

• There are a range of physical security measures that can be implemented on a network

  • Locked doors: Preventing access to server rooms and cabinets of switches

  • Biometrics: Fingerprint scanners, facial recognition and retinal scans 

  • Surveillance Cameras: Monitoring the activity around the site where crucial networking hardware is located

What form of attack would this prevent?

• Data interception and theft

• Social engineering

Summary of attacks a preventative measures