Denial of Service and Session Hijacking
Date: Jan 23, 2022
In this sample chapter from Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) Exam Cram, you will explore types of protocol attacks, common tools used for denial of service (DoS) attacks, and countermeasures.
Denial of Service
Denial of service (DoS) attacks, as the name suggests, are not about breaking into a system but rather about denying legitimate users the opportunity to use the system. In most cases, a DoS attack is easy to execute. This makes DoS attacks a very serious problem. Every technology has limits; if you can exceed those limits, then you can make a system unusable.
Protocol Attacks
A protocol attack tries to exploit some vulnerability in the protocol being used. Exploiting such vulnerabilities can cause a system to become unresponsive. The magnitude of a protocol attack is measured in packets per second (pps).
TCP SYN Flood Attacks
A TCP SYN flood attack is an older type of DoS attack, but it illustrates the concepts of denial of service quite well. This particular type of attack depends on the hacker’s knowledge of how connections to a server are made. When a session is initiated between a client and a server in a network using TCP, a packet is sent to the server with a 1-bit flag called a SYN flag set. (SYN is short for synchronize.) This packet is asking the target server to synchronize communications. The server allocates appropriate resources and then sends to the client a packet with both the SYN (synchronize) and ACK (acknowledge) flags set. The client machine is then supposed to respond with an ACK flag set. This process, called a three-way handshake, is summarized as follows:
The client sends a packet with the SYN flag set.
The server allocates resources for the client and then responds with the SYN and ACK flags set.
The client responds with the ACK flag set.
There have been a number of well-known SYN flood attacks on web servers. This attack type is popular because any machine that engages in TCP communication is vulnerable to it—and all machines connected to the Internet engage in TCP communications. Such communication is obviously the entire reason for web servers. The easiest way to block DoS attacks is via firewall rules.
Teardrop Attacks
Fragmentation attacks in general try to prevent targets from being able to reassemble packet fragments. They usually involve sending a large number of fragmented packets to the target. A teardrop attack is a specific type of fragmentation attack. In a teardrop attack, the attacker sends a fragmented message, where the two fragments overlap in ways that make it impossible to reassemble them properly without destroying the individual packet headers. Therefore, when the victim attempts to reconstruct the message, the message is destroyed. This causes the target system to halt or crash. There are a number of variations on the basic teardrop attack, such as TearDrop2, Boink, targa, Nestea Boink, NewTear, and SYNdrop.
ACK Flood Attacks
As the name suggests, an ACK flood attack involves sending a flood of TCP ACK packets. Normally an ACK packet is an acknowledgment of something being received, be it data or a synchronization request. Some devices or services are stateful, which means they process each packet. When a target receives a flood of ACK packets, it tries to process it but, because it is not actually an acknowledgment of anything, it can overwhelm the target.
TCP State Exhaustion Attacks
There are a variety of state exhaustion attacks, and the idea behind them all is essentially the same. They attack weaknesses in Layers 3 and 4 of the protocol stack and overconsume resources. Invalid name queries to a DNS server are a type of state exhaustion attack. TCP state exhaustion attacks operate on some aspect of the TCP handshake. For example, a SYN flood attack is a type of TCP state exhaustion.
Application Layer Attacks
Application layer DoS attacks work to consume a given application’s resources. The magnitude is usually measured in requests per second (rps). Basically, overwhelming a target server with too many requests is the basis for most application layer attacks.
HTTP Post DoS Attacks
An HTTP post DoS attack involves sending a legitimate HTTP post message. Part of the post message is the content length, which indicates the size of the message to follow. In this type of attack, the attacker sends the actual message body at an extremely slow rate. The web server is then hung as it waits for the message to complete. For more robust servers, the attacker needs to use multiple HTTP post attacks simultaneously.
Slowloris Attacks
A Slowloris attack is another attack against web servers. The attacker sends partial HTTP requests. When the target receives these requests, it opens a connection and waits for the requests to complete. But rather than complete a request, the attacker continues to send multiple partial requests. Eventually, the server has opened so many connections that it exhausts its maximum connection pool limit and can no longer respond to legitimate requests.
Volumetric Attacks
All volumetric attacks seek to overwhelm the target with an overwhelming number of packets. These attacks are not particularly sophisticated or difficult. They simply overwhelm the target. The magnitude of a volumetric attack is usually measured in bits per second (bps).
Smurf IP Attacks
A UDP attack is a type of volumetric attack, and a Smurf attack is a very popular version of a DoS attack. An ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) packet is sent out to the broadcast address of the network. The network responds by echoing the packet out to the network hosts, which then send it to the spoofed source address. Also, the spoofed source address can be anywhere on the Internet, not just on the local subnet. A hacker who can continually send such packets can cause the network itself to perform a DoS attack on one or more of its member servers. This attack is clever and rather simple. The only problem for the hacker is getting the packets started on the target network. This task can be accomplished via some software, such as a virus or Trojan horse, that begins sending the packets.
In a Smurf attack, there are three people/systems involved: the attacker, the intermediary (who can also be a victim), and the victim. The attacker first sends an ICMP echo request packet to the intermediary’s IP broadcast addresses. Since this is sent to the IP broadcast address, many of the machines on the intermediary’s network receive this request packet and send back an ICMP echo reply packet. If all the machines on a network are responding to this request, the network becomes congested, and there may be outages.
The attacker impacts the third party—the intended victim—by creating forged packets that contain the spoofed source address of the victim. Therefore, when all the machines on the intermediary’s network start replying to the echo request, those replies flood the victim’s network. Thus, another network becomes congested and could become unusable. This type of attack is illustrated in Figure 4.4 in Chapter 4, “Malware.”
UDP Flood Attacks
The UDP flood attack is another example of a volumetric attack. Keep in mind that UDP (User Datagram Protocol) is a protocol that does not verify each packet’s delivery. In a UDP flood attack, the attacker sends a UDP packet to a random port on a target system. When the target system receives a UDP packet, the attacker determines what application is listening on the destination port. Then, if the attacker wants to attack that application, he or she just starts a flood of UDP packets to the IP address and port. If enough UDP packets are delivered to ports on the target, the system becomes overloaded trying to determine awaiting applications (which do not exist) and then generating and sending packets back.
ICMP Flood Attacks
The ICMP flood attack is another volumetric attack. ICMP flood attacks are usually accomplished by broadcasting a large number of either pings or UDP packets. Like other flood attacks, the idea is to send so much data to the target system that the system slows down. If it can be forced to slow down enough, the target will time out (i.e., not send replies fast enough) and be disconnected from the Internet. This type of attack is far less effective against modern computers than it was against older ones. Even a low-end desktop PC now has 4 GB (or more) of RAM and a dual-core processor, making it difficult to generate enough pings to knock the machine offline. However, at one time, this was a very common form of DoS attack.
Ping of Death Attacks
A ping of death attack, often simply called a PoD attack, is accomplished by sending malformed ICMP packets (e.g., sending a packet that is 65,536 bytes in size). RFC 791 specifies a maximum packet size of 65,535 bytes. A PoD attack can cause a vulnerable system to crash.
Other DoS Attacks
Some DoS attack types don’t fit neatly into one of the previously discussed categories. These attacks can nonetheless be quite effective against target systems.
Multi-Vector Attacks
As the name suggests, a multi-vector attack is a combination of two or more of the other attacks (e.g., launching a SYN flood attack and a teardrop attack at the same time). Another method is to launch one type of attack and then, after a time, to shift to a different attack vector. This method can overcome DoS countermeasures the target may have implemented.
DHCP Starvation Attacks
DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) is used to dynamically assign IP addresses to systems on a network. If an attacker floods a target network with DHCP requests for dynamic IP addresses, the attacker can completely exhaust the address space allocated by the DHCP server. Then legitimate users cannot get an IP address assigned and thus cannot connect to the network. There are tools such as gobblers that can do this for an attacker.
PDoS Attacks
Though not terribly common, it is possible to have a DoS attack that leaves the system either inoperable or needing the operating system completely reinstalled. These are referred to as permanent denial of service (PDoS) attacks, or phlashing. Such attacks usually involve DoS attacks on a device’s firmware.
Registration DoS Attacks
A registration DoS attack is a very simplistic attack used against websites. The attacker creates a script or program that just keeps registering fake users on a website. This is one reason many registration websites use CAPTCHA.
Login DoS Attacks
Login DoS attacks are similar to registration DoS attacks and also frequently use scripts or programs. The attacker tries to overload the login process by continually sending login information. This can overwhelm the target system or at least slow it down. Many websites use CAPTCHA to prevent automated login attempts.
DDoS Attacks
Perhaps the most common form of DoS attack today is the DDoS attack. This type of attack is accomplished by getting various machines to attack the target. This is commonly done by sending out a Trojan horse that causes infected computers to attack a specified target at a particular date and time—which is a very effective way to execute a DDoS attack on any target. In this form of DDoS attack, the attacker does not have direct control of the various machines used in the attack. These machines are simply infected by some malware that causes them to participate in the attack on a particular date and at a particular time.
Another method is to use a botnet to orchestrate a DDoS attack. A botnet is a network of computers that have been compromised by an attacker so that the attacker has control of the computers. This is often accomplished via delivery of a Trojan horse. However, unlike in the previous DDoS example, the attacker has direct control over the attacking machines in the botnet.
A botnet usually has a command and control (C&C) that controls the various compromised machines. Then the botnet can be used for whatever the attacker wishes. DDoS is only one application of a botnet. Password cracking and sending phishing emails are other uses. The compromised systems can be attacked in any of the ways that malware is usually distributed: via phishing emails, compromised websites, vulnerable target systems, etc.
Peer-to-Peer Attacks
While peer-to-peer (P2P) apps have become quite popular, so have P2P DoS attacks. One method is to force the client to disconnect from the legitimate P2P hub and get the client to connect to the attacker’s fake hub. There have also been massive DDoS attacks on peer-to-peer networks. In addition, attackers attempt to exploit flaws in the protocols used, such as the Direct Connect (DC++) protocol that is used to share files between peer-to-peer clients.
Distributed Reflection DoS Attacks
As previously stated, DDoS attacks are becoming more common. Most such attacks rely on getting various machines (i.e., servers or workstations) to attack the target. A distributed reflection DoS attack is a special type of DoS attack. As with all such attacks, it is accomplished by the hacker getting a number of machines to attack the selected target. However, this attack works a bit differently than other DoS attacks. Rather than getting computers to attack the target, this method tricks Internet routers into attacking a target.
Many of the routers on the Internet backbone communicate on port 179, particularly using BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) to exchange routing information. A distributed reflection DoS attack exploits that communication line and gets routers to attack a target system. What makes this attack particularly wicked is that it does not require the routers in question to be compromised in any way. The attacker does not need to get any sort of software on a router to get it to participate in the attack. Instead, the hacker sends a stream of packets to the various routers, requesting a connection. The packets have been altered so that they appear to come from the target system’s IP address. The routers respond by initiating connections with the target system. What occurs is a flood of connections from multiple routers, all hitting the same target system. This has the effect of rendering the target system unreachable.
Common Tools Used for DoS Attacks
As with any of the other security issues discussed in this book, you will find that hackers have at their disposal a vast array of tools in the DoS arena. While it is certainly well beyond the scope of this book to begin to categorize or discuss all of these tools, a brief introduction to just a few of them will prove useful.
LOIC
LOIC (Low Orbit Ion Cannon) is one of the most widely known DoS tools available. It has a very easy-to-use graphical user interface, shown in Figure 6.1.
FIGURE 6-1 LOIC
This tool is very easy to use. As you can see in Figure 6.1, it simply requires the user to enter the target URL or IP address and then begin the attack. Fortunately, this tool also does nothing to hide the attacker’s address and thus makes it relatively easy to trace the attack back to its source. It is an older tool but still widely used today. There is a tool similar to this named HOIC, which we discuss later in this section.
DoSHTTP
DoSHTTP is another tool that is simple to use. You select the target, the agent (i.e., the browser type to simulate), the number of sockets, and the requests and then start the flood. You can see this in Figure 6.2.
FIGURE 6-2 DoSHTTP
XOIC
XOIC, which is similar to LOIC, has three modes: send a message, execute a brief test, or start a DoS attack. You can see these options in Figure 6.3.
FIGURE 6-3 XOIC
Like LOIC, XOIC is very easy to use. It is just a point-and-click graphical user interface. Even attackers with minimal skill can launch a DoS attack using XOIC.
HOIC
HOIC (High Orbit Ion Cannon) was developed by the Anonymous collective as an improvement on LOIC. It is available at https://sourceforge.net/projects/highorbitioncannon/. Although HOIC was meant to be more powerful than LOIC, it still has a very simple user interface, which can be seen in Figure 6.4.
FIGURE 6-4 HOIC
Other Tools for DoS and DDoS Attacks
There are many other tools for DoS and DDoS. A few are listed here:
Hulk: A Python script, available at https://github.com/grafov/hulk
DAVOSET: A command line tool for DoS attacks, available at https://github.com/MustLive/DAVOSET
R-U-Dead-Yet (RUDY): Tool that uses POST attacks, available at https://sourceforge.net/projects/r-u-dead-yet/
AnDOSid: An Android tool for DoS, available at https://www.hackingtools.in/free-download-andosid/
Countermeasures to DoS and DDoS Attacks
The CEH exam will ask you about countermeasures to DoS and DDoS attacks. A few of them have already been discussed. For example, CAPTCHA can mitigate web DoS attacks. In general, three categories can be used in the case of overwhelming attacks:
Simply shut down the targeted service. This is usually not a good choice, as it essentially means capitulating to the attack.
Keep the critical services functioning by stopping noncritical services and use those resources for the critical services.
Absorb the attack. This method is popular with internet service providers (ISPs; for an added charge). When the ISP detects a DoS or DDoS attack in progress, it allocates additional bandwidth to absorb that attack.
A good antivirus approach coupled with regular system updates can prevent one of your systems from becoming compromised and becoming part of a botnet. Filtering incoming and outgoing traffic to your network can also mitigate DoS attacks. Rate limiting any service or IP address so that it can consume only a finite percentage of resources also helps mitigate DoS attacks.
Honeypots are gaining popularity in deflecting all sorts of attacks, including DoS attacks. A honeypot is a fake system set up for the sole purpose of attracting hackers. Essentially, if a honeypot looks realistic enough, the attacker may go after it rather than after a real system.
Robust network configuration can also help mitigate DoS attacks. Load balancing critical services is a very good first step in helping mitigate DoS attacks. Throttling or limiting traffic for a given service can also help. Being able to drop incoming requests when a certain threshold is reached is also helpful.
There is actually a standard for filtering. RFC 3704, “Ingress Filtering for Multihomed Networks,” is a standard to help limit the impact of DDoS attacks by blocking any traffic with spoofed IP addresses.
Black hole filtering is another common technique. A black hole is a network location where traffic is simply discarded/dropped, typically by sending traffic to an IP address that is not in use. When a DoS attack is detected, suspected DoS traffic can be forwarded to the network black hole.
As mentioned earlier in this book, the CEH exam has a strong emphasis on Cisco. You therefore need to be familiar with a couple Cisco commands that can help mitigate DoS attacks:
access-list access-list-number {deny | permit} tcp any destination destination-wildcard: Defines an IP extended access list
ip tcp Intercept list access-list-number: Enables TCP intercept
There are also a number of devices that can be added to a network to help mitigate DoS attacks, including:
FortiDDoS-1200B
Cisco Guard XT 5650
Cisco IP reputation filtering
Check Point DDoS Protector
Active Reach DDoS mitigation device https://activereach.net/solutions/network-security/protect/ddos-mitigation/perimeter-ddos-mitigation/
Verizon DDoS Shield https://www.verizon.com/business/products/security/network-cloud-security/ddos-shield/
Netscout DDoS protection https://www.netscout.com/solutions/ddos-protection
F5 DDoS protection https://www.f5.com/solutions/application-security/ddos-protection
DDoS Mitigation https://www.a10networks.com/products/thunder-tps/
There are also software solutions that can help mitigate DoS attacks:
Anti DDoS Guardian: http://www.beethink.com
DOSarrest’s DDoS Protection Service: https://www.dosarrest.com
DDoS-GUARD: https://ddos-guard.net
SPI (stateful packet inspection) is an excellent way to mitigate DoS attacks. Many modern firewalls use SPI. These types of firewalls not only apply rules to each packet but maintain the state of communication between the client and the server. As an example of how this mitigates attacks, the firewall realizes that multiple SYN packets are coming from the same IP address and then blocks those packets. This is one major reason SYN floods are not seen much today. In addition, next-generation firewalls (NGFWs) combine traditional firewall capabilities and other functions, such as those of an application firewall or an intrusion detection system/prevention system (IDS/IPS). Using a modern advanced firewall is an excellent way to mitigate DoS and DDoS attacks.
DoS in the Real World
According to the security consulting firm Calyptix Security, the first quarter of 2018 set records for DoS and DDoS attacks. This included a massive DDoS attack against the GitHub site on February 28, 2018, peaking at 1.3 Tbps. This illustrates how effective and damaging these attacks can be, for the amount of data sent in DoS attacks is growing all the time.
One creative example comes from 2017. In February 2017, a new DDoS attack vector emerged. Attackers used memcache, a database caching system, to amplify traffic volume. A request could be amplified by a factor of several thousand by using this method. The aforementioned GitHub attack involved memcaching. This illustrates that new methods of DoS are being developed, and you should expect to see them out in the real world (though not on the CEH exam).
Session Hijacking
Conceptually, session hijacking is quite simple. The goal is to find an authentic TCP session and to take over that session. This is possible because, generally speaking, the session is authenticated at the beginning. Clearly, session hijacking is easier with some systems than with others.
Several factors can make a system more vulnerable to session hijacking. Having a weak session ID generation algorithm is a common issue. This makes predicting or guessing session IDs much easier. Having no expiration or having a very long expiration on a session also increases the possibilities for an attacker.
There are two types of session hijacking:
Active: In active session hijacking, the attacker identifies an active session and takes over that session.
Passive: In passive hijacking, the attacker just sniffs the traffic. This is not true session hijacking but is identified as passive session hijacking by the CEH exam.
The Session Hijacking Process
The CEH exam defines a process of five steps for session hijacking. An attacker won’t always follow this process, but you should know it for the CEH exam:
Sniff the traffic going to the target so you can learn about how sessions are handled. This involves using a packet sniffer such as Wireshark or tcpdump (discussed in Chapter 2, “Enumeration and Vulnerability Scanning”) to see what is being sent between a client and a server.
Monitor the traffic to determine if you can predict the next valid sequence number or session ID.
Break the connection to the legitimate client.
Take over the session, posing as that client using a session and/or sequence ID that will appear legitimate to the target server.
Perform command injection, or inject packets into the target server.
Specific Session Hijacking Methods
There are a number of mechanisms for getting a session token in order to take over a session. If data is unencrypted, you may be able to derive this information through packet sniffing. Or if the target uses a simple session ID, such as a date/time stamp, it is easy to predict the next session ID. However, there are other methods, as described in the following subsections.
Web Session Hijacking
If the target is a web server, cross-site scripting (XSS) might be able to derive a token. XSS uses malicious JavaScript. The most typical method of XSS is to insert the JavaScript into a website in a place where users normally enter text for other users to read, such as product reviews. However, it is also possible to send malicious scripts as part of an email. Or a phishing email may be able to get a user to a website that has malicious JavaScript built in.
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks an active session with a trusted site. The attacker might have a malicious link on some compromised site. Often users have more than one browser open at a time. If a user visits a compromised site and clicks on the link while they also have an active session open, the attacker can get the user’s session ID for the target site. Then the attacker sends requests to the target website, posing as the user. Both XSS and CSRF are listed as OWASP (Open Web Application Security Project) top 10 vulnerabilities.
Session fixation is another method of session hijacking. The attacker tries to get the user to authenticate to the target server, using a session ID prechosen by the attacker. This works only if the server has a very weak session ID generation scheme—one that the attacker can readily emulate to produce a session ID that appears legitimate to the server.
Session replay attacks are still covered on the CEH exam, but they rarely work today. Such an attack involves simply intercepting authentication packets and re-sending them to the target. Although modern authentication methods make such attempts ineffective, you should be aware of this type of attack for the CEH exam.
Variations of the man-in-the-middle attack work whether the target is a web server or not. The attacker sits between the client and server, via a fake access point, a fake website, or using one of many other methods. One variation of the man-in-the-middle attack is the forbidden attack. This is targeted to older, flawed implementations of TLS. Older TLS versions would sometimes reuse a nonce (short for number only used once) during the TLS handshake, which made them vulnerable. The attacker would sniff the nonce and then use it to authenticate to the server. (Remember that TLS [Transport Layer Security] is the successor to SSL [Secure Sockets Layer] since 1999. However, many people still simply say SSL when they mean TLS.)
With a man-in-the-browser attack, malicious software is on the client machine and behaves like a software library or component that the browser uses. Then that malware intercepts data going out from the browser. This is a variation of a man-in-the-middle attack. A number of malicious Chrome extensions and Firefox add-ins have been man-in-the-browser malware.
Other attacks specifically target flaws in protocols such as SSL/TLS. CRIME (Compression Ratio Info-Leak Made Easy) is one such attack. Essentially, the compression used in earlier versions of TLS was flawed and could lead to data leaks. There have been similar issues such as the BREACH attack. BREACH (Browser Reconnaissance and Exfiltration via Adaptive Compression of Hypertext) is an improvement over CRIME that attacks an issue with the gzip compression algorithm.
Network Session Hijacking
TCP/IP hijacking is the process of taking over a TCP connection between a client and a target machine. It often uses spoofed packets. If the attacker can cause the client machine to pause or hang, the attacker can pretend to be the client and send spoofed packets. To do this, the attacker must know the packet sequence number and be able to use the next sequence number. Modern authentication methods periodically re-authenticate, often rendering this type of attack unsuccessful.
RST hijacking is another method. The attacker uses an RST (reset) packet to spoof the client’s IP address, but also uses the correct sequence number to cause the connection to reset. This resets the connection and allows the attacker to take over that session. A number of tools help craft custom packets, such as Packet Builder from Colasoft.
Some attackers simply inject forged packets into a data stream, spoofing the source IP address. With this method, the attacker cannot see the response, and it is thus called blind hijacking.
UDP hijacking is similar to TCP/IP hijacking, but using UDP packets. The attacker spoofs the server, sending the client a forged UDP reply, so the client connects to the attacker’s machine.
There are a number of tools that can help perform any of these attacks. One of the most widely used—and heavily emphasized on the CEH exam—is Burp Suite. Burp Suite can be downloaded from https://portswigger.net/burp. There is a free community edition, and there are professional and enterprise editions. Using the default settings, the main screen of the Burp Suite community edition looks as shown in Figure 6.5.
FIGURE 6-5 Burp Suite
The CEH exam won’t test you on all the uses of Burp Suite, but it is probably a good idea to get familiar with this tool as it is very helpful in conducting penetration tests. Fortunately, the internet is replete with tutorials for Burp Suite.
There are other tools that can accomplish similar tasks:
OWASP ZAP: A tool often touted as a website vulnerability scanner, which also allows you to intercept and alter packets, available at www.owasp.org
WebSploit Framework: A tool explicitly designed for man-in-the-middle attacks, available at https://sourceforge.net/projects/websploit/
Bettercap: A tool that is also useful for Bluetooth hacking, available at https://www.bettercap.org
DroidSheep: A session hijacking tool that runs on Android, available at https://droidsheep.info
DroidSniff: An Android tool designed for security scanning that can also be used for man-in-the-middle attacks, available at https://github.com/evozi/DroidSniff
Countermeasures for Session Hijacking
There are many different methods for mitigating session hijacking. One of the easiest is to encrypt all data in transit. This includes using SSH for any secure communications. In addition to ensuring that communications are encrypted, you should ensure that you are using up-to-date methods. Earlier in this chapter, we discussed attacks against TLS vulnerabilities. Using the latest TLS version (which is 1.3 as of this writing) will mitigate or eliminate most of them.
Never use session ID numbers that are easy to predict. They should be random numbers generated by a robust random number generation algorithm. Also ensure that session IDs are transmitted securely and that sessions time out.
Strong authentication techniques such as Kerberos will prevent at least some session hijacking attacks. Also ensure that you are using the normal antimalware protections, such as antivirus and intrusion prevention systems.
Web developers can combat session hijacking attacks on their websites by using a variety of additional techniques. For example, cookies with session information should be stored securely (encrypted), and a website should use the HTTPOnly attribute. HTTPOnly means the cookie can only be accessed with the HTTP protocol; any script or malware on the client computer cannot access it.
Websites should check to see that all traffic for a given session is coming from the same IP address that initiated the session. This will at least detect many session hijacking techniques. Always have timeouts for cookies, sessions, and so on. The shorter, the better—but, of course, it is important to keep user satisfaction in mind.
HTTP Strict-Transport-Security (HSTS) can also help mitigate session hijacking attacks. HSTS is a server setting that requires browsers to connect with HTTPS rather than HTTP. This makes all traffic encrypted. HTTP Public Key Pinning (HPKP) allows a web client to associate a specific public key with a specific server, so it is harder for an attacker to spoof a legitimate web server.
Always use secure protocols. Table 6.1 summarizes them.
TABLE 6.1 Secure Protocol Replacement
Insecure Protocol |
Secure Replacement |
|---|---|
HTTP |
HTTPS |
Telnet, rlogin |
SSH |
Any TCP/IP traffic |
Encrypt with a VPN |
FTP |
SFTP or FTPS |
What Next?
If you want more practice on this chapter’s exam objectives before you move on, remember that you can access all of the Cram Quiz questions on the book web page. The next chapter covers specific methods for avoiding security measures.