Report on Cyber Security and Ethical Hacking: Vulnerabilities and IDPS

This report provides a comprehensive overview of cyber security and ethical hacking, addressing critical vulnerabilities at both personal and organizational levels. It identifies and explains various cyber threats, including inadequate data protection, third-party risks, and inadequate staff training, alongside personal vulnerabilities such as third-party service providers, malicious attacks, and phishing schemes. The report details three cyber exploits: socially engineered malware, password phishing attacks, and social media attacks, emphasizing their potential damages. Furthermore, it explores the components of Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (IDPS), including signature-based detection, anomaly-based detection, and stateful rule analysis, to combat these vulnerabilities. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of IDPS in mitigating cyber threats and suggests specific measures to prevent various attack vectors, such as employing trusted email providers, security software, employee training, and strong password policies. The report underscores the crucial role of proactive security measures in safeguarding sensitive data and maintaining organizational integrity.

Cyber Security & Ethical
Hacking

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
1) Three cyber vulnerabilities at personal and organisational level.......................................1
2) Three cyber exploits and its damages when identified by an attacker...............................3
3) Components of IDPS to fight against the vulnerabilities...................................................3
CONCLUSION:...............................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES:...............................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Cyber security is a major issue in today's contemporary world. There are various security
issues that are faced by organisation. The cyber threats can damage and harm the organisation
data and information to a great extent. So it is important to secure the database to keep the data
safe from hackers (Berger,. and Jones, 2016). They steal or hack the data and misuse them for
their own purpose. Besides this, ethical hacking means an expert who penetrate a computer
network for the purpose of finding security vulnerabilities. It is either for financial purpose or for
exploiting organisation data. For keeping the data safe and secure various software and methods
are used. These help in providing limited access to data and restricting hacker to enter in the
network. With this organisation is able to share data in a network easily. Also, it can be used at
personal level to keep the system safe. This report will show cyber vulnerabilities and damages
done by attacker. Moreover, intrusion detection and prevention system (IDPS) can be used
against vulnerabilities.
1) Three cyber vulnerabilities at personal and organisational level
Cyber vulnerabilities refers to flaw in system that can lead to cyber attack. It can occur
due to weakness in computer system or network (Marsh, 2017). These vulnerabilities can highly
damage the entire network leading to leaking of confidential information. It can occur at personal
and organisational level.
The three cyber threats at organisational level are :-
Inadequate protection of data- It refers to storing data in database. It means using weak or
unsecure platforms to store the data. This can occur when data device is not encrypted and
causes threat of getting hacked. It also happens when organisation is having poor access control
over their system (Abu-Shaqra. and Luppicini,, 2016). Moreover, staff does not know how to
handle different types of data. The hacker takes advantage of this and enters the database
through a network. With this data can easily be stolen creating vulnerabilities to entire system. It
becomes very essential to remove vulnerabilities from system as it can leak confidential
information of company.
Third party risk- It is related to using of third party for doing transaction. An organisation deals
with various suppliers, distributors, etc. for business operations. Also, sometimes third party is
used to do payments. This is very risky as it can lead to cyber vulnerability. Besides this, audit is
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been don by these parties. Therefore, hacking can occur in this situation. Hacker can hack or get
access to third party system. They can use them to enter organisation network.
Inadequate training- This vulnerability occurs when staff is not properly trained to handle
different types of data and systems. They do not have enough knowledge on how to protect
system and what actions are taken in case of getting hacked (Hartley, , Medlin, and Houlik, ,
2017). Besides this, lack of communication between staff and management can lead to
inappropriate security of network. Moreover, staff do not know about security awareness and
current threats that can affect organisation system. For this proper training must be given to them
on how to protect and secure the network.
Along with organisation, there are various types of cyber vulnerabilities that can occur
with a person or individual. These are as follows:-
Third party service providers- It is related to companies that provide different types of services
to people. These third party can access the information when system is not properly secured. A
hacker can easily enter into the network and take advantage of sensitive data and information.
This can result in risk of stealing copyrights and useful formulas. (Mahadev, , 2017). The
internal system can be highly damaged b y hacker leading to data breach.
Malicious attacks- It refers to using various malware software to attack the system. It occurs
when person clicks on a link or visit untrustworthy website. With this the hacker sends several e
mails to person in order to collect sensitive data or password. It happens when the system is
either outdated or not enough secured. It gives hackers opportunity to exploit known
vulnerabilities.
Phishing attack- It is the most common type of attack that is done to steal confidential
information. It main purpose is to target person banking or account details. It is done by sending
advertising e mails on online banking site (Christen, and et..al 2017). It is sent directly to request
to verify some account details, credit card numbers, etc. This request will be accompanied by a
threat making the account disabled or suspended. It can lead to financial loss of a person. There
are basically two phishing attack. These are social and spear phishing. Social phishing is done
with networking sites while spear is done by sending fraudulent e mails.
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2) Three cyber exploits and its damages when identified by an attacker
There are several cyber exploits that can damage the computer system. These damages
have to be identified in order to prevent the system. Also, an attacker can attack network to steal
useful information of person or organisation. By doing malicious activities and sending spam e
mails attacker can enter into the system (Faily, and Jones, , 2015). This will enable him to know
about organisation and misusing data.
Three cyber exploits are explained below:-
Socially engineered malware:- It is a malware software in which an attacker tries to run a trojan
house program. It tells the user to install some new software to access the website. The user
clicks past security measures a
Password phishing attack- It occurs through spam e mails. In this attacker sends e mails to user
in order to access confidential information. It is often done through social media or banking
websites. The main aim is to encrypting the password for financially benefits. For example- a
person was making online transaction on website. The attacker sends him e mails and encrypts
his password. This enables hacker to access his bank account information leading to loss of
money.
Social media attacks- Today's era is social world era led by Facebook, twitter, etc. Social media
threats are done to access accounts of user. The purpose is to access personal information of
organisation or person. The attacker sends request to user with a specific account. Besides this, it
is done to misuse the information of person (Chigozie-Okwum, , Michael, and Ugboaja, ,2017)
Organisation have to keep its employees data safe and secure so that hacker do not reach it. It
can highly exploit organisation image and its employees data. For example- an employee account
has been hacked and information related to it was misused.
3) Components of IDPS to fight against the vulnerabilities
Intrusion detection and prevention system is a process of monitoring the events
occurring in the network. It is done to analyse the possible signs of threats to security policies. It
can be braked into two parts that means intrusion prevention performs intrusion detection and
then stopping detected incidents (Burkart,. and McCourt, 2017). The security measures are called
intrusion detection system (IDS) and intrusion protecting system (IPS). IDS is a device that
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monitors action to identify spiteful or mistrustful circumstance. On the other hand IPS analyse
network traffic flows to find and prevent danger exploits. There are usually three methods used
in this. It is described below:-
Signature based detection- It is the simplest method used in IDPS. It compares the signature
with the events to identify possible incidents. It uses string comparison operations with the
current part of action such as a bundle.
Anomaly based detection- It compares the average action with determined outcome to identify
pervert. It is very helpful in identifying the threats that has occurred earlier. (Berger,. and Jones,.,
2016).
Stateful rule analysis- It compares planned profiles of recognised definitions for each rule state
with observes threats to determine pervert.
There are many components of IDPS. These are discussed below:-
 Monitoring users and system software
 Correcting hardware and software faults.
 By installing devices to record data about errors.
 Identifying abnormal activities through statistical analysis.
An IDS often looks for suspicious events that might result in virus, worm or hacker, etc. It only
focuses on known attacks. This helps in providing notification whenever a hacker tries to enter in
the system. IDS do not act as firewall. The difference between them is firewall limits the access
between network to prevent intrusion while an IDS evaluates a suspected intrusion and signals an
alarm. It watches attacks that originate within a system.
For the above vulnerabilities an effective IDPS system can be applied. It will be useful in
preventing the system form cyber threats. In the above section the three cases of cyber attacks
has been discussed (Topham,, and et..al., 2016). For that components of IDPS can help to fight
against vulnerabilities.
Socially engineered malware:- For this good and trusted e mail service provider can be used to
sent e mails. Along with this using a good web browser and security software will be helpful for
reducing vulnerabilities.
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The password phishing attack can be prevented by providing effective training to employees.
Also, keeping all the systems updated with latest security measures. Besides this, certain web
filters can be used to block malicious websites. Organisation can encrypt all its sensitive
information by installing antivirus software. It will be useful in providing ease to system.
Social media attacks- It can be prevented by restricting the employees to access networking
sites. Also, by giving knowledge about spam mails to employees. Firewall can be established so
that spam mails can not be send to users. Setting strong password on sites will be helpful in
restring another person to access it.
CONCLUSION:
From this report it is concluded that cyber vulnerabilities can damage the organisation
network to a great extent. It can damage the entire network leading to leaking of confidential
information. It can occur at personal and organisational level. IDPS is a process of monitoring
the events occurring in the network. It is done to analyse the possible signs of threats to security
policies. The security measures are called IDS and IPS. IDS monitors activity to identify
malicious or suspicious events while IPS analyse network traffic flows to observe and forbid
danger work. An IDS often looks for suspicious events that might result in virus, worm or
hacker, etc. .
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REFERENCES:
Books and Journals:
Abu-Shaqra, B. and Luppicini, R., 2016. Technoethical Inquiry into Ethical Hacking at a
Canadian University. International Journal of Technoethics (IJT).7(1). pp.62-76.
Berger, H. and Jones, A., 2016, July. Cyber Security & Ethical Hacking For SMEs. In
Proceedings of the The 11th International Knowledge Management in Organizations
Conference on The changing face of Knowledge Management Impacting Society (p. 12).
ACM.
Burkart, P. and McCourt, T., 2017. The international political economy of the hack: A closer
look at markets for cybersecurity software. Popular Communication.15(1). pp.37-54.
Chigozie-Okwum, C.C., Michael, D.O. and Ugboaja, S.G., 2017. Computer forensics
investigation; implications for improved cyber security in Nigeria. AFRREV STECH: An
International Journal of Science and Technology.6(1). pp.59-73.
Christen, M and et..al 2017. A Review of Value-Conflicts in Cybersecurity. ORBIT Journal.1(1).
Faily, S. and Jones, M., 2015. Embedding Professional Practice into the Cybersecurity
Curriculum using Ethics.
Hartley, R., Medlin, D. and Houlik, Z., 2017. Ethical Hacking: Educating Future Cybersecurity
Professionals. In Proceedings of the EDSIG Conference ISSN(Vol. 2473, p. 3857).
Mahadev, N., 2017, June. Building a Secure Hacking Lab in a Small University. In Proceedings
of the 2017 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science
Education(pp. 371-371). ACM.
Marsh, D., 2017. Are Ethical Hackers the Best Solution for Combating the Growing World of
Cyber-Crime? (Doctoral dissertation, University Honors College, Middle Tennessee State
University).
Topham, L., Kifayat, K., Younis, Y.A., Shi, Q. and Askwith, B., 2016. Cyber Security Teaching
and Learning Laboratories: A Survey. Information & Security: An International Journal.35.
pp.51-80.
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Online:
Common cyber threats and associated vulnerabilities, 2017. [Online] Available Through:
<https://www.itgovernance.co.uk/blog/the-top-five-common-cyber-threats-and-associated-
vulnerabilities/>
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