Glossary
IP Spoofing
IP Spoofing is done by forging TCP/ IP packets using somebody else's
IP address as the source address.
A common misconception is that you can use this technique to hide your
IP address when surfing websites, visiting chatrooms or sending email.
Land Attack
The Land Attack is performed by crafting a TCP/IP packet with the same
source and destination IP address and port and sends it to the target
machine. This results in a denial of service (DoS) as some operating
systems crash when receiving such a packet.
Ping of Death
The Ping of Death exploits a flaw in the networking code in some operating
systems. The attacker sends an IP packet of a certain size which causes
the target computer to crash.
Port Scan
A port scan is a reconnaissance technique used to discover which services
a computer is running. A port scan consists of sending a message to each
port, one at a time. The type of response received indicates whether
the port is used or not.
For example, a response on TCP port 80 indicates that the computer may
be running a Web service. Additional probing may follow to determine
which openrating system and which web server software is being used.
SYN Attack
The SYN (TCP connection request) attack is a denial of service (DoS)
technique. The attacker sends multiple SYN packets to the target machine
using spoofed IP addresses. The target machine eventually runs out of
resources and is unable to handle any more connections, thereby denying
service to legitimate users.
Teardrop Attack
The Teardrop Attack is performed by putting an invalid offset value
in fragmented IP packets. This can cause the operating system to crash
while attempting to reassemble the IP packet. This leads to a denial
of service (DoS).
Smurf Attack
The Smurf Attack is performed by sending an ICMP Ping where the source
IP address is forged to be that of the victim's machine. These ICMP packets
are sent to directed broadcast addresses which act as amplifiers and
flood the target machine with ICMP replies.
Spyware
Spyware is term used to describe software that gathers and sends out
user information without the user's knowledge. They are typically bundled
as a hidden component of free programs that can be downloaded from the
Internet.
Most spyware target vulnerabilities in MSIE. They can be installed without
any user intervention by visiting websites which contain code to exploit
these vulnerabilities.
WinNuke Attack
The WinNuke Attack causes some versions of the Windows operating system
to crash when they receive an Out-Of-Band (OOB) message. This leads to
a denial of service (DoS).