The increased popularity of wireless networks owing to the multiple efficiency and productivity benefits it brings about to individuals and enterprises have however also resulted in increased threats that stem from using wireless networks.
Trojan Horses
Trojan horses rank as the number one network security threat, especially for home networks without adequate safeguards in place. Trojan horses are programs that piggybank other seemingly legitimate programs and install and run by stealth. Trojan horses damage the computer and network with virus, change system configuration, and steal data.
Denial of Service
Denial of Service (Dos) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDos) are two common enterprise network security threats. Both DoS and DDoS attempt to make a computer resource unavailable to its intended users by preventing its proper functioning. DoS force the target computers to reset or consume resources to the extent that it can no longer communicate adequately to provide the intended service.
A common method of implementing DoS is by sending a host of external communication requests to the targeted machine, to the extent that the machine cannot respond to legitimate traffic, and becomes unavailable.
Distributed Denial of Service is when viruses and Trojans use the system to launch denial-of-service attack on another system. The intruding Trojan install an “agent” on the compromised computer, and a “handler” instructs all such agents sitting in various computers to launch a denial-of-service attack on another system.
In most cases, the latest patches remove the risk of a system being susceptible to DoS and DDoS attack
JavaScript and ActiveX
Mobile codes such as Java, JavaScript, and ActiveX serve convenient options, for they allow the computer programs to be attached to web pages. These options however also make it easy for intruders to gather information on browsing habits, passwords and other sensitive information, by allowing running of malicious code that come embedded with seemingly legitimate web pages.
The best protection is not to allow web browsers to run JavaScript or ActiveX automatically.
Email and Chat Virus
Very often, emails serves up deadly virus and other malicious code. One common method adopted by hackers and other intruders is email spoofing, or disguising the sender’s address. Disguising the senders address as a trusted source may entice a user to click on the accompanying attachment, and with it the virus executes, infecting the system, and by extension, the network.
Chat applications such as instant messaging applications and Internet Relay Chat (IRC) networks that allow bi-directional transmission of data over the network can also bring in deadly virus, worms, and other attachments in a manner similar to email spoofing.
A network may have varying levels of security, and hackers might find it easy to gain access and corrupt a weak link. Site security is interdependent on the security of other computers and/or servers in the network, and a compromised computer places all computers in the network at risk.
