In information security, reconnaissance refers to the preliminary phase of an attack where an attacker collects information about a target system, network, or organization. It involves gathering data on system architecture, network topology, potential vulnerabilities, and other details to plan and launch a targeted Cyberattack. Reconnaissance can be passive, involving information obtained from publicly available sources, or active, where the attacker engages with the target to gather specific data. This phase helps attackers identify weaknesses and tailor their strategies for subsequent stages of the attack.

Web spidering, also known as web crawling, is like having a tireless, digital librarian scurry across the vast web, reading every page and meticulously filing it away for easy searching. It’s the process by which search engines and other tools discover and organize the massive amount of information available online.

In a replay attack, which is a type of man-in-the-middle attack, an attacker sniffs communications being sent on a channel in order to intercept them and resend them while still appearing to be genuine messages. The replay attack is particularly dangerous since the attacker can trick the recipient into believing that the message they have just received is valid without ever decrypting it.

An injection attack is a type of security threat where malicious code or commands are inserted into data inputs, tricking a system into executing unintended actions. This can lead to unauthorized access, data manipulation, or other security breaches. Common examples include SQL injection and cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks.

Enforcing, strict input validation and also using parameterized queries for dynamic data and also enforcing strict authorization controls to restrict user access to specific resources can mitigate injection attacks.

In a cookie poisoning attack, the attacker modifies HTTP cookies’ contents before the user’s browser sends them to a web site. Attackers may use cookie hijacking as a prelude to cookie poisoning so they can access cookie content before altering it, however this is not always required.

Cookie poisoning attacks are fatal because they allow attackers to use the data stored inside cookies to gain unauthorized access to users’ accounts or to steal their identities.

The correct answer is Fuzzing

Fuzzing is a software testing technique where unexpected, random, or invalid inputs are provided to a program to identify vulnerabilities, bugs, or security weaknesses. The goal is to see how the program reacts to these inputs, potentially uncovering issues such as crashes, buffer overflows, or input validation errors that may lead to security risks.

Explanation of Incorrect Options:

1. Quality Assurance: This refers to the overall process of ensuring that a product meets quality standards, not specifically about random input testing.
2. Dictionary testing: This involves using a pre-defined list of inputs (often for password cracking) but is not the same as random input testing.
3. Penetration testing: This is a broader security testing practice where systems are attacked to find vulnerabilities, but it doesn’t specifically involve providing random inputs to programs like fuzzing does.

A dictionary attack entails inputting every word in a dictionary as a password in order to gain access to a password-protected computer, network, or other IT resource. A dictionary attack can also be used to try to decipher a communication or document that has been encrypted.

A brute force attack is a hacking technique that makes use of trial and error to break encryption keys, passwords, and login credentials. It is a straightforward but effective strategy for getting unauthorized access to user accounts, company systems, and networks. Until they discover the proper login information, the hacker tries a variety of usernames and passwords, frequently utilizing a computer to test a wide range of combinations.

All mentioned are different types of attacks

1. Dictionary Attack: This brute-force method involves trying a pre-defined list of potential passwords, often based on common words or phrases.
2. Credential Stuffing: In this attack, attackers use lists of previously leaked username-password combinations to attempt logins on different websites. It’s a type of brute-force attack where the attacker tries known credentials across multiple services.
3. Reverse Brute Force Attack: Instead of trying multiple passwords for a single user, the attacker selects a common password and tries it across many different usernames.

Each of these techniques falls under the category of brute-force attacks because they involve automated attempts to guess or verify passwords or credentials.

Credential stuffing is like a digital pickpocket rummaging through a lost wallet of passwords, trying them on every door they find. It’s a cyberattack where stolen logins (usernames and passwords) from one website are used to try breaking into accounts on other websites, hoping some users reuse the same credentials everywhere.

A Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attack is a security breach where an unauthorized third party intercepts and potentially alters communication between two parties without their knowledge. The attacker can eavesdrop on or manipulate the exchanged data, compromising the confidentiality and integrity of the communication.

The correct answer is: Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attack

A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack aims to overwhelm a system by flooding it with illegitimate traffic, often coming from multiple sources (distributed). The goal is to exhaust the target’s resources, such as bandwidth, CPU, or memory, making the system unavailable to legitimate users.

Explanation of Incorrect Options:

1. Phishing Attack: This is a social engineering attack where attackers trick users into providing sensitive information like passwords or credit card numbers, typically via deceptive emails or websites.
2. Spear Phishing Attack: Similar to phishing, but more targeted, spear phishing attacks focus on specific individuals or organizations, using personalized messages to trick users into divulging information.
3. Buffer Overflow Attack: This attack exploits a vulnerability by sending more data than a buffer can handle, which may lead to arbitrary code execution, but it does not involve flooding a system with traffic.

SQL queries that can read or modify database data are injected by the attacker. Advanced SQL Injection attacks allow the attacker to write arbitrary files to the server and even run OS commands using SQL commands. This might compromise the entire system.

Threats: Authentication bypass in login pages, data loss, compromised data integrity

A phishing attack is a cyber threat that involves deceptive attempts to trick individuals into revealing sensitive information, such as passwords or financial details, by posing as a trustworthy entity through fake emails, messages, or websites.

Improper session management is a vulnerability because it can lead to unauthorized access to user accounts and sensitive information, allowing attackers to hijack valid sessions or manipulate user sessions without proper authentication.

A hacker can force a web server to deliver web pages that they are not authorized to view by changing specific elements of a URL.

Malicious actors use URL manipulation tactics to commit directory traversal attacks by altering the paths of a targeted URL.

Dynamic websites serve pages based on URL parameters, malicious users can manipulate the URL with unexpected values. Vulnerable web applications can render pages which the user is not authorized to.

A supply chain attack is a cyber-attack strategy where attackers compromise a target organization by exploiting vulnerabilities in its supply chain. Instead of directly targeting the organization, attackers focus on infiltrating third-party suppliers, vendors, or service providers connected to the target. By compromising the supply chain, attackers can introduce malicious elements, backdoors, or vulnerabilities into the products or services delivered to the target, leading to potential security breaches, data theft, or system compromises.

A worm is a self-replicating type of malware that spreads independently across computer networks without requiring user interaction. Worms often exploit vulnerabilities in software or network protocols to infect and propagate to other connected systems. They can cause widespread and rapid infections, affecting multiple devices and networks.

The correct answer is: 0-day vulnerability

A 0-day vulnerability refers to a security flaw that is unknown to the software vendor or the public and has been discovered by attackers or researchers. The term “0-day” implies that there has been “zero days” since the discovery for the vendor to develop and release a patch, making it highly dangerous as attackers may exploit it before a fix is available.

Explanation of Incorrect Options:

1. Blind Injection vulnerability: This refers to a specific type of injection attack (such as SQL injection) where the attacker does not see the results directly, but this isn’t related to the timing of vulnerability discovery.
2. Alien vulnerability: This term isn’t commonly used in cybersecurity and is not relevant to vulnerabilities.
3. Time-to-check to time-to-use vulnerability: This refers to a specific race condition where there’s a gap between checking a condition (e.g., permissions) and using the result, which could lead to exploitation, but it’s not the same as a newly discovered vulnerability

Social engineering attacks manipulate human behavior through tactics like pretexting, phishing, baiting, impersonation, and emotional exploitation. Attackers gather information, create convincing scenarios, and exploit trust to trick individuals into disclosing sensitive information or performing actions that compromise security. These attacks leverage psychological tactics to exploit human vulnerabilities and are often carried out through deceptive communication methods.