What are the most common TCP/IP attacks?

TCP/IP is the backbone of the internet and network communication, but it also exposes devices and systems to various types of attacks. In this article, you will learn about the most common TCP/IP attacks, how they work, and how to prevent or mitigate them.

1 SYN Flood

A SYN flood is a type of denial-of-service (DoS) attack that exploits the TCP handshake process. The attacker sends a large number of SYN packets to the target server, but never completes the connection by sending an ACK packet. This causes the server to allocate resources and wait for the ACK packets, eventually exhausting its memory and bandwidth. To prevent or mitigate SYN floods, you can use firewalls, load balancers, SYN cookies, or other techniques that limit or filter the incoming SYN packets.

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2 IP Spoofing

IP spoofing is a type of attack that involves forging the source IP address of a packet to impersonate another device or system. The attacker can use IP spoofing to bypass authentication, hide their identity, launch DoS attacks, or hijack sessions. IP spoofing can be detected by using packet filtering, encryption, authentication, or other methods that verify the source and integrity of the packets.

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3 ARP Spoofing

ARP spoofing is a type of attack that exploits the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP), which maps IP addresses to MAC addresses on a local network. The attacker sends fake ARP replies to trick other devices into associating their IP addresses with the attacker's MAC address. This allows the attacker to intercept, modify, or redirect the traffic between the devices. ARP spoofing can be prevented or mitigated by using static ARP entries, ARP monitoring, or encryption.

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4 TCP Hijacking

TCP hijacking is a type of attack that involves taking over an established TCP connection between two devices. The attacker can use IP spoofing, ARP spoofing, or other methods to insert themselves into the communication and send malicious packets to either device. The attacker can use TCP hijacking to steal data, inject malware, or disrupt the connection. TCP hijacking can be avoided or reduced by using encryption, authentication, or sequence number randomization.

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Cory Marsh

I secure the most vulnerable applications on the Internet from the Internet's most dangerous attacks. Over 20 years of Internet security experience working for high-security, high-traffic websites.
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this may be misleading for some readers. initial tcp sequence numbers have been randomized since the mid 90s. While side channel attacks have been public for almost a decade (notable DelakedACKLost counter on linux), and can be used to infer the initial sequence number; this would require an attacker to already have user access to the target system.

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5 DNS Spoofing

DNS spoofing is a type of attack that involves altering the DNS records or responses to redirect the traffic to a malicious website or server. The attacker can use DNS spoofing to perform phishing, malware distribution, or man-in-the-middle attacks. DNS spoofing can be performed by compromising the DNS server, poisoning the DNS cache, or intercepting the DNS queries. DNS spoofing can be detected and prevented by using DNSSEC, HTTPS, or other methods that validate the DNS records or responses.

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6 Ping of Death

A ping of death is a type of attack that involves sending a malformed or oversized ICMP echo request (ping) packet to the target device, causing it to crash or reboot. The ping of death exploits a vulnerability in the IP protocol that allows packets to be larger than 65,535 bytes, which exceeds the maximum size of an IP datagram. The ping of death can be blocked or filtered by using firewalls, routers, or other devices that limit or drop the oversized packets.

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Cory Marsh

I secure the most vulnerable applications on the Internet from the Internet's most dangerous attacks. Over 20 years of Internet security experience working for high-security, high-traffic websites.
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again, systems have been protected from this type of attack since the mid 90s. maybe there is a time filter that can be used to create this ai generated content?

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7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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Cory Marsh

I secure the most vulnerable applications on the Internet from the Internet's most dangerous attacks. Over 20 years of Internet security experience working for high-security, high-traffic websites.
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as long as we are talking about ancient history. old unix systems used to have a process called init.d which would accept all tcp connections and hand them off to the correct program. well on real-time operating systems (looking at you QNX, HPUX) if you would send a SYN packet and not finish establishing the connection the entire operating system would hang indefinitely waiting for an ACK that never came…

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Rohit Tarang

Associate Manager IT @ HCG | Networking | Cloud
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1. Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) Attacks: Unauthorized interception and potential alteration of communication between two parties. 2. Denial of Service (DoS) Attacks: Overloading a system or network to make it unavailable to users. 3. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks: Coordinated DoS attacks using multiple systems to overwhelm a target. 4. Session Hijacking: Unauthorized takeover of an established session between a user and a system. 5. Smurf Attack: Sending a large volume of ICMP echo request packets to IP broadcast addresses to create a flood of responses. 6. Port Scanning: Systematic probing of a computer's ports to find vulnerabilities.

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What are the most common TCP/IP attacks?

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2

3

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5

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1 SYN Flood

2 IP Spoofing

3 ARP Spoofing

4 TCP Hijacking

5 DNS Spoofing

6 Ping of Death

7 Here’s what else to consider

Network Administration

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What are the most common TCP/IP attacks?

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1 SYN Flood

2 IP Spoofing

3 ARP Spoofing

4 TCP Hijacking

5 DNS Spoofing

6 Ping of Death

7 Here’s what else to consider

Network Administration

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