Week 3: Lec Activity 2 - M199205zn/IAS-CS4 GitHub Wiki

Laboratory Activity: Analyzing Security Attacks and Mechanisms

Objective:
Understand the differences between passive and active attacks, analyze their impacts, and suggest appropriate security mechanisms to prevent or mitigate these attacks.

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Instructions:

1. Part 1: Categorizing Attacks
   Below are several scenarios. Categorize each as either a passive attack or an active attack, and explain your reasoning.

   Scenarios:

   • A hacker monitors unencrypted network traffic to gather login credentials.
   • An attacker floods a website with requests, causing it to crash.
   • A malicious actor intercepts and alters the details of a financial transaction between two parties.
   • An unauthorized user reads sensitive files from a shared folder without making changes.
   • An attacker reuses a captured session token to impersonate a legitimate user.

2. Part 2: Impact Analysis
   For each scenario above, analyze the following:

   • What aspect of security is violated (Confidentiality, Integrity, Authentication, or Availability)?
   • What potential damage or consequences could occur as a result of the attack?

3. Part 3: Security Mechanism Suggestions
   Propose a security mechanism to prevent or mitigate each scenario. Choose from options like encryption, firewalls, multi-factor authentication, intrusion detection systems, etc.

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