Secure Networking Threats

This chapter covers the following topics:

Though the enemy be stronger in numbers, we may prevent him from fighting. Scheme so as to discover his plans and the likelihood of their success.

Sun Zi, The Art of War

That vulnerability is completely theoretical.

Microsoft

As discussed in Chapter 2, "Security Policy and Operations Life Cycle," when considering the characteristics of your network security system, you must understand the likely threats your network will encounter. The bulk of the information contained in this chapter outlines the various attack classes you must consider when designing your network. Because this book is focused on the network rather than the computer, the threats are oriented accordingly. Application layer attacks, for example, are grouped into one subheading and summarized, while network-based attacks are highlighted in more detail.

The material in this chapter can be used in three ways:

NOTE

This is not the "learn how to hack" chapter. If you are looking for that sort of information, you would be better served by a book focused on that subject. This chapter merely attempts to describe the kinds of attacks so that you have a frame of reference for the terms you'll read about in the rest of the book. It is also worth noting that the skill sets required to break something and to fix something do not overlap 100 percent.

The following sections outline the attack process, types of attackers, and the varieties of vulnerabilities, and they set up the final two sections that cover attack results and attack classes.

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