ITNE2005 Assessment: Network Attacks and Security Audit Tools

Running Head: ITNE2005 ASSESSMENT
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Part 1: Network Attacks
Name of Attack: The Heartland Breach
Type of Attack: SQL Injection Attack
Date of Attack: March 2008
Organization Affected: Heartland Payment Systems Inc.
How it works and what it did:
SQL injections are among the network attack approaches that allow the attackers to have
full control over the organization web application databases, through the insertion of a SQL
codes into the database query to alter the normal functionality of the database queries (Som,
Sinha & Kataria, 2016). SQL injections exist in different forms, although they all involve the
insertion of arbitrary SQL codes into web application databases by the attackers. SQL injection
via user input is the simplest form. It works on the basis that a web application can accept user
input typically through forms before the front-end can pass the inputs to the back-end of the
database for processing purposes (McWhirter et al., 2018). However, web applications do not
sanitize user inputs, the attackers are able to inject and SQL into the back-end database to
compromise the integrity of the database.
Although the breach was reported in 2009, the breach had taken place in 2008. The
breach has been termed as among the slow moving event which had started in the year 2007
when a SQL injection was inserted into the company database to compromise it (Shu et al,
2017). The SQL injection appended additional database commands in their web application. The
injection modified the web login page code of the company which had been deployed some few

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years earlier. The hackers are then said to have spent several months trying to compromise the
payment processing system of the company with great care to avoid detection from the various
antivirus systems of the company (Shu et al., 2017). They eventually managed to install a
spyware program known as sniffer to allow them capture card data as payments were being
processed. The breach was then discovered later when MasterCard and Visa notified the
company about suspicious transactions from accounts it was handling
Mitigation options (McWhirter et al., 2018)
Avoiding dynamic SQL as possible: these entail the parameterized queries, stored procedures
and prepared statements.
Through regular patch updates: most of the SQL injection vulnerabilities are as a result of
outdated applications and other database tools which can be revealed regular patch updates.
Use of web application firewalls: web application firewalls filter out malicious data as guided by
comprehensive set of rules which make it easier to add new rules
Part 2: Network Security Audit Tools and Attack Tools
Name of tool: Wireshark
Developer: The Wireshark Team
Type of tool: GUI
Used on: Network Device
Cost: Open Source Software