Network Attacks
A network attack is an unauthorized and malicious attempt to disrupt, compromise, or gain access to computer systems, data, or communication within a network, often for malicious purposes.
Network attacks target organizations and households alike. Most of these attacks are called server-side attacks as they target an organization’s servers, such as domain controllers, which hold user accounts, or SQL database servers, which hold confidential customer data and credit card information.
The following sections will investigate several types of network attacks.
Pivoting
A pivoting attack is implemented when an attacker gains access to the network via a vulnerable host and targets a critical server, such as a domain controller or a database server.
On a virtual network, this type of attack is called VM escape, which is covered in Chapter 7.
When an attacker launches a pivoting attack, they will likely be armed with the Network Mapper (nmap) tool,...
