GitHub is a code hosting platform, and in February 2018, it was hit by what was believed to be the largest DDoS attack ever. One of the most frequently cited examples of an IP spoofing attack is GitHub’s DDoS attack in 2018. Over time, hackers collect a wealth of confidential information they can use or sell – which means man-in-the-middle attacks can be more lucrative than the others. From there, it’s possible to steal information, direct users to fake websites, and more. If attackers spoof an IP address and obtain access to personal communication accounts, they can then track any aspect of that communication. This can prolong the duration of an attack to maximize the payoff.Īnother malicious IP spoofing method uses a ‘man-in-the-middle’ attack to interrupt communication between two computers, alter the packets, and transmit them without the original sender or receiver knowing. IP spoofing allows the attacker to mask the botnet because each bot in the network has a spoof IP address, making the malicious actor challenging to trace. Each computer runs a dedicated bot, which carries out malicious activity on the attacker’s behalf. A botnet is a network of computers that hacker’s control from a single source. IP spoofing can be used to obtain access to computers by masking botnets. This allows them to slow down or crash a website or network with large volumes of internet traffic while concealing their identity. In a DDoS attack, hackers use spoofed IP addresses to overwhelm computer servers with packets of data. The three most common forms of IP spoof attacks are:ĭistributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks IP spoofing is not illegal when used in this way. This would involve creating thousands of virtual users to test the website to see if the site can handle a large volume of logins without being overwhelmed. For example, organizations may use IP spoofing when testing websites before putting them live. While cybercriminals often use IP spoofing to carry out online fraud and identity theft or shut down corporate websites and servers, there can also sometimes be legitimate uses. Because of this vulnerability, using simple authentication as a defense strategy is increasingly being replaced by more robust security approaches, such as those with multi-step authentication. Once a hacker breaches the network and makes it inside, it's easy to explore the system. A concept sometimes referred to as the ‘castle and moat’ defense, which is where those outside the network are considered threats, and those inside the ‘castle’ are trusted. In systems that rely on trust relationships among networked computers, IP spoofing can be used to bypass IP address authentication. This occurs at the network level, so there are no external signs of tampering. In IP spoofing, a hacker uses tools to modify the source address in the packet header to make the receiving computer system think the packet is from a trusted source, such as another computer on a legitimate network, and accept it. Each packet has an IP (Internet Protocol) header that contains information about the packet, including the source IP address and the destination IP address. Let’s start with some background: Data transmitted over the internet is first broken into multiple packets, and those packets are sent independently and reassembled at the end. To learn more about what IP address is and how to protect it, watch this video on YouTube: This might include stealing your data, infecting your device with malware, or crashing your server. IP spoofing allows cybercriminals to carry out malicious actions, often without detection. IP spoofing, or IP address spoofing, refers to the creation of Internet Protocol (IP) packets with a false source IP address to impersonate another computer system. Of the different types of spoofing, IP spoofing is the most common. It's one of many tools that hackers use to gain access to computers to mine them for sensitive data, turn them into zombies (computers taken over for malicious use), or launch Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks. Spoofing is a specific type of cyber-attack in which someone attempts to use a computer, device, or network to trick other computer networks by masquerading as a legitimate entity.
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