Two different threats to various parts of heterogeneous architectures are DDoS and
DoS attacks and then also natural disasters as in floods or fires and other
environmental damages. I think physically, obvious the natural natural disasters as
in floods or fires and other environmental damages are the biggest threat, and then
human threats like DDoS and DoS attacks are the biggest threats of heterogeneous
architectures virtually because they can attack without even having to be there.
Hardware, operating systems, applications, networks, and other integral parts are all
at risk by both physically and virtually because attackers whether it be from
humans or the environment both have the ability to attack. I think the best
practice that you can do is to be fully prepared by both attackers so that means
having the proper security protection virtually and physically. I think everyone
should have anti virus on their computers to ensure that being attacked virtually
is harder for attackers to be able to do. Without getting too convoluted we can
name simple heterogeneous architectures that can, and will threaten a system.
DDoS/ DoS attacks; spear phishing attacks equipped with ransomware or spyware
and more can easily cripple a company. DDoS or DoS at are the hardest to stop
because an outside source is sending traffic to a specific location to slow the
network down. With a DDoS or DoS attack, the attack happens through TCP,
HTTP, UDP, ICMP message. This can lead to corrupt data, loss of assets
(important data) or a loss of integrity and more. DDoS or DoS attacks can be
used in tandem with another attack; like spear phishing to ensure an attack isn’t
stopped or parried (countered.) If an attacker successfully freezes/ cripples a system
the only way to get it active again is to reboot it and data can be lost if it was
not recently backed up. This might have been the attackers goal. With a frozen
system most people click randomly and a random click pared with a well-placed
pop-up can cause a lot of damage. Some threats to a heterogeneous network are
natural disasters such as fire or floods. Fire and floods will destroy the physical
part of a heterogeneous network. I consider people to be the biggest threat to a
heterogeneous network. There are people that are threats unintentionally. These
people may open emails and be victims to phishing. Phishing is a common way
to take advantage of innocent people. But then you have people known as
attackers and/or hackers, that will harm a system intentionally or use emails to
gain important data.Phishing is a widespread problem that evidently works for
hackers and attackers. Attackers and hackers infect systems with worms and viruses
also. Preventive measures is always the best way to stop these threats. Software
should always be updated on a regular cycle. Hardware should also be updated on
a regular cycle. Employees should have proper training on a regular basis. Systems
should be scanned for threats on a regular basis. Software should also be installed
for security measures. Heterogeneous architectures are not easy to secure from
every threat but a good defense is always a great idea. While you might think
that Ransomware attacks are a relatively new phenomenon, becoming prominent in
the past few years with all of the successful attacks, they have actually been
around for many years. In fact, the earliest known attack was in 1989, known
as the Aids Trojan. Modern Ransomware attacks, however, are very technically
advanced with high levels of encryption used to prevent the owners of the system
from being able to access their own data. The encryption key, required for
decrypting the data, is offered for a sum of, usually, bitcoin. There is very little
chance that you can get the data on that system back without paying the ransom.
Even if you pay the ransom, there is no guarantee that you will get the key.
There are many threats that can manifest at anytime the biggest threat will always
be hackers or attacker because there is no telling what someone has planned at
any given time. Another big threat is of course mother nature because
unfortunately we can not stop natural disasters from happening . Some other
threats include viruses and malware there are always some floating around at all
times ,and new ones are made all of the time. Threats can appear at anytime and
should always be thought about, while we can not stop a threat because there is
no real way to prevent all threat we can at least try and stay on top of them
by always being vigilant. Keeping our systems updated, making strong passwords,
and implementing good antiviruses' are just some of the ways we can try to
protect our computers from threats. Threats can get to us through hackers, emails,
and even sometimes by the owner not keeping the system updated which leaves it
vulnerable to a whole lists of threats. Threat can affect all parts of our operating
system we have to try and mitigate these threats by scanning and making sure
that all parts of the operating system is protected as best as possible. We make
this possible by making sure all patches are installed, our hardware is used
properly, and that any network we use in not compromised just to name a few
things that can be done to keep threats to a minimum. DDoS attacks have very
much evolved over the years. Early attempts were just DoS where malformed TCP
packets would be sent to systems that would cause the OS to abend, denying
service to normal users. Another of the old style attacks was known as the SYN
flood attack. If you are familiar with the TCP Three-Way Handshake, you know
that the client sends the server a SYN packet to connect. The server responds
with a SYN-ACK packet where it is acknowledging the SYN packing and sending
a SYN of its own. The client should respond to this with an ACK packet to
acknowledge the SYN from the server and then the session is started. In a SYN
flood attack the Client sends thousands of SYN packets to connect, but never
responds again with the ACK to start the session. The server holds the connection
open until it finally runs out of connections and nobody can connect. These types
of attack went out of style because fixes to the TCP stack were released that
made them ineffective. Distributed denial of service was born. This is where
hundreds or thousands of servers are used to simply flood a circuit until nothing
else can get through. Even larger circuits are vulnerable as long as there are
enough computers attacking. This is done by what is known as a botnet. These
are compromised computers under a centralized control, in this case, the attacker.
Using a heterogeneous architecture (HET) throughout the technological needs of the
infrastructure enables cross-compatibility and allows for network simplification. It
also has it's flaws and implications in regards to system security.One major flaw
of HETs is that the shared memory means sharing access-related leaks. Once an
internal central system for the network is infiltrated, the rest of the environments
and/or containers associated with that host are potentially compromised as well. We
must be diligent about our IT checkpoints, manufacture updates and/or recalls, and
ensure to upgrade regularly for both speed and security reasons.One of the main
causes of infiltration would be the use of "tack on" security implements, or
hardware and software that was added to the infrastructure as an after-thought. It
can be something as simple as forgetting to change a default admin backdoor
password, or a complicated low-level processor/memory space exploit, but there are
ways to attempt proper circumvention of being "hacked." Instead of security
implementations after-the-fact, data security & privacy should be a forethought and
at the front of the solution discussions- and thus the main purpose of the network:
to not only remain accessible, but confidential and integral. Heterogeneous
architectures will actually suffer the same amount, if not more, vulnerabilities from
day-to-day as compared to homogeneous. The same worms, viruses, DDoS,
ransomware, VLAN attacks, or malware infect either side without a care. An under-
thought vulnerability is that most security endpoints or applications utilize Windows
OS. This is important because regardless of the Host OS, the system is still
vulnerable to attacks via a specific operating software. This is common with a
Linux OS Host and a VM utilizing Windows that isn't sandboxed or within Linux
Host via something like WINE or Snap(Snappy).A few more common threat to
heterogeneous architectures is any form of DDoS attack, SYN/ UDP flood(or UDP
reflection), Ping of Death, etc.. These are prominent because they allow an
attacker to attack remotely with minimal information. An experienced hacker or
user only needs a few minutes minutes or even seconds to do what needs to be
done/ gained while their computer or application is rendered useless. It is also
worth noting that on larger scales, data consumption and integrity start to play a
huge role on the vulnerabilities as it creates the need for a data quality
management plan. Heterogeneous architectures is a cross-vendor set of specifications
that allow for the integration of central processing units and graphics processors
on the same bus, with shared memory and tasks.
Malware is becoming smarter and sneaky and it is increasingly widespread over
many heterogeneous platforms. Most often, malicious software is especially built for
a given target environment as it leverages. Malware can mostly be cost by a
person. People like to surf the internet and open websites they become curious
about and those sites just may have malware that will give hackers easy excess
too anyone devices. Countermeasure is another example of threat that is part of
the heterogeneous Architectures.
Countermeasure is an action or device designed to negate or offset another. In the
heterogeneous architecture the Electronic Countermeasure could be used to deceive
the HSA by not letting it know that it detected that there is trouble involving the
CPU of GPU. The Countermeasure is most use by the military to help the detect
if another device is approaching. A network architecture that supports a collection
of heterogeneous network elements for the same functional capability offers a
greater possibility of surviving security attacks as compared to homogeneous
networks. But, there are threats to various parts of heterogeneous system
architecture as stated in the following two examples;
1.Communication problems due to heterogeneous architecture and protocols used.
For example, two hardware resources are different in architecture and use different
protocols of communication that are best suited for their kind, and then there will
be communication failure between them.
2.Resource utilisation may not be optimized and shared resources can have
overlapping security issues like data centers expected to deliver constant
performance and provide high security of data, and now if the data center will
spend its major power and time on the configuration of different parts and their
interconnection then performance will certainly decline.Heterogeneous architecture,
networks, and protocols all require specialized instructions to work together
increasing the load on memory. These issues may result in severe threats such as
data loss, data leakage, and high loads on the servers leading to more power and
resource consumption. There are many examples of ways heterogenous architectures
may be attacked by threats. One that can cause companies to lose revenue due to
unwanted downtime is the DDoS attack. In this attack, an attacker bombards the
companies websites and company users' computers with inconsequential emails, and
requests for information-so much so that in response, the company's systems and
websites are clogged. This can cause lost revenues to denial of inside or outside
use of the systems and websites. Another attack that would be detrimental to
heterogenous architectures would be malware installed in random emails. This type
of attack needs to be activated by the computer's user by opening an email
message they think is legitimately from a trusted source. In my organization, we
receive information constantly on combatting these types of malware from our IT
section, so most of our employees are well-versed and know NOT to open
anything that they cannot immediately recognize the source from which it comes.
Ultimately, I've been a victim of an online attack. It is not a fun ordeal to go
through. I literally watched the attacker break into my Microsoft account and
proceed to change all of my user information. When I finally was able to get in
touch with support and regain control of my account, much of the damage had
already been done. Luckily, I was able to re-secure all of my online linked
accounts. My personal recommendation to anyone would be to constantly monitor
your networks and online accounts for ANY suspicious activity, and change
passwords regularly. HSA (heterogeneous system architecture) can be a time,
money and resource saver. There are many reasons to deploy a virtual environment
and low cost is the biggest reason. It can allow for the use of commercialized,
easy to acquire software and does not necessarily require the use of ultra robust,
expensive hardware, reducing the up front cost. But, it can be more demanding in
terms of resource usage, like RAM and CPU capability. Running a virtual
environment on shared physical resource with routers and links from other virtual
networks can cause issues. Example; using VLANs allows for eavesdropping since
isolation is typically based only on packet tagging because all frames sent through
a VLAN network are tagged with their corresponding VLAN ID. Ultimately
processed by VLAN enabled routers and forwarded as necessary. This security
concern on virtualized networks due to users from a virtual network being able to
access or interfere with traffic that belongs to other virtual networks violates
security properties, like confidentiality and integrity. A properly configured virtual
network should utilize tunnels or VPN's to secure traffic. Another potential issue
with an HSA, would be that the infrastructure could be a target for a DoS (denial
of service) attack, causing availability issues for all virtual networks maintained or
riding within it. There are many threats to the different parts of heterogenous
architectures. One of those threats is the execution of arbitrary code. This allows
an attacker to run any command on the system and exploit any vulnerability that
may exist. With this type of threat an attacker can upload that malicious code
onto a remote computer, by exploiting a vulnerability, and then trick the remote
computer into executing, or running that code. Another damaging threat is a worm.
A worm can spread on its own and doesn’t need to be attached to any software
to cause significant damage. To prevent these and other types of attacks its
important that all hardware and software is kept up to date and in the case of
an attack there should be a strong mitigation strategy in place. Any piece of
WAN-connected hardware is susceptible to attack by malicious actors. Two
different types of vulnerabilities that cloud data centers can suffer from are
malware and DDOS attacks.The NSA, DOD, CIA, and others organizations were
targeted in a state-level malware infection earlier last year that went un-noticed for
quite sometime. Malware can be hidden inside of software or firmware provided
to companies that use their products. There are many other ways malware can
infect systems inside a data center but the severity of such an attack is very real.
Customers could have their data stolen or the data center could suffer from system
crashes as a result.A DDoS attack is a distributed denial of service attack. This
happens when an attacker uses hundreds or in most cases thousands of physical
and virtual hosts to overload an application or web server. This can cause the
data center hosting an application or web server to suffer downtime and damage
their reputation.A heterogeneous architecture is defined as certain set of
specifications that allow the integrity of the CPU and graphic processors sharing
memory and tasks. an example would be the apple cloud. it shares memory with
the current operating system of the iphone. however i believe that it is susceptible
to many hackers and many hacks. they say that it you are unable to hack an
apple product but i think it can be done. another example would be the
Samsung's version of the cloud. i also think that it is susceptible to being hacked.
here are two different but similar versions of the same thing and where they are
similar they are also different. i think cloud storage can be easily broken into and
someone can get your information from it. Heterogeneous is a big word and we
must first define it and then understand the major role it plays when it comes to
the computer system. Heterogeneous computing refers to system that uses more
than kind of processor or cores.When I heard about the Heterogeneous system it
had me considering “The Matrix”. Here you have the big super system and
everything is trying to invade and attack it.As I was reading and doing my
research this system is suppose to be faster and more convenient. It is actually
where system are going. The major drop back is the vulnerabilities can be with
malware and man in the middle.Malware – can often infect a system through links
which are click upon by users through email, fake websites. Some have even have
been hidden trojans within top gamers.Man in the middle attacks when someone is
trying to intercept a wireless signal either through rogue router. Acting as one
main router fooling users to connect and once connected it downloads harmful
software in the background causing damage to the system.I believe the older a
system the more vulnerability it is likely to have. I remember when Apple had
sold it’s products on the fact that you can’t hack into it. Well after several years
of selling it is possible of being hack. When it comes to threats to various parts
of heterogeneous architectures there are many, to name a couple of them, there
are many forms of malware, trojans, worms, and ransomware to name a few.
There are also threats to networks that base off of vulnerable systems which have
not been patched or updated. This can cause major problems and leave openings
to a system being hacked. when it comes to malware, trojans can be quite
common, which are files that appear to be harmless but carry a malicious payload.
There also computer worms which are known to spread from system to system
and slow down a computer or even install backdoors for attackers to exploit.
These issues can manifest from simply visiting a website that has links to
malicious content within it. They can also spread through emails and instant
messages. A worm is known to afflict a systems hard drive for example,
consuming resources and propagating before continuing to spread, it a good idea
to disconnect the afflicted system from the network to stop the spread of a
worm.Now, the threat of un-updated software is mainly due to users negligence, or
severely outdated hardware or software, An attacker can scan a system for
vulnerabilities that have not been patched on a users system even if the patch
came out months prior. This is because not all systems are set up to update
automatically and they also may be running hardware that could be years old and
is no longer supported or updated. Windows XP for example is no longer updated
and leaves many openings to attackers to users that still use this outdated
operating system. Though there are businesses that still can be seen running
windows XP it is not recommended as Microsoft no longer produces patches and
updates for this software. Although heterogeneous architectures at first seem more
complicated. They are susceptible to the same attacks as single processor systems.
On top of these heterogeneous architectures are also vulnerable to other more
complex attacks.
One example of a threat that affects the heterogeneous platform is the legacy
dilemma. Seeing this dilemma first hand while in the Air Force. Our weapon
system being designed in the 70's had outdated technology such as cartridge tape
and floppy disks. Vulnerabilities have been discovered but the Military has
determined that the cost for replacement is not worth it. This problem may not
affect the company or cooperation initially but when building heterogeneous
systems replacement and upgrades should be considered.Another threat to the
heterogeneous platform is the compatibility issue among components. Having to
take into consideration operating systems and system compatibility is just the
beginning to this issue. As attackers look to capitalize off of exploiting the
systems weakest points. Adding hardware leaves you open for attack as the new
hardware is untested. While the older pieces of the system become outdated.Data
centres are evolving at a rapid pace in recent years. A lot of physical hardware
and virtual systems are used in the data centres to ensure seamless communication.
However, there are a number of threats to the different parts of the heterogeneous
architectures. Network bandwidth exhaustion DoS is one of the prominent threats.
It targets and attacks the network connectivity and results in exhaustion of the
available bandwidth on internet connection. Through the generation of bulk service
packets or requests, such types of attacks are performed .Attack on the hypervisor
is another potential threat for the virtual machines operating in the data centres. It
is one of the most common threats. This type of attack can take place through
the host operating system or the guest operating system (Zhang & Jain, 2011).
Such types of attacks mainly make use of the security holes and vulnerabilities in
the modern operating systems in order to gain control of the operating systems.
The attack results in the compromising of the hypervisor and allows the attacker
to perform various malicious activities on the virtual machines that are hosted by
the hypervisor. Addressing these threats at an early time is important. A number
of security measures can be used in order to overcome the threats and provide
more protection to the different parts of the heterogeneous architectures in data
centres. One of the threats that are heterogeneous would be malware. If your
computer has a malware attack, it can hurt both the hardware and software. The
virus itself will attack the software and computer, and if programmed to do so,
can turn off your computer fans, causing your computer to overheat and crash. If
a malware virus like this attacks a business such as a hospital, telecommunications,
food industry, etc. it could be crippling to the business.
Another threat would be not keeping your software up to date, and someone
remote hacking into your router. Because you did not have everything updated,
they were able to find a hole and get into your network. Now that the hacker is
in your router, they can affect computers all of your network , which could be
all over the globe. This could also raise a risk for identity theft, or taking your
customer's information if you are in a business where you keep customer
confidential information. This could affect the business, because if many customers
are compromised due to your negligence, they will leave and go to another
business that will protect their information. Heterogeneous architectures could be
described as the human body in my opinion. We are like a well oiled machine
from birth into adulthood. We also have around us thing that can cause minor
harm or critical harm which can either be fixed or eventually cause us to pass
on. This could point back to threats within a system that make the network
vulnerable. Since in this system we are work with DC in which it is
communicating with internal and external network. There are points of where the
network and hardware is threaten such as with the external DMZ with router that
is not redundant and control traffic thru different routes or send packets across the
network using the right protocol. Another intrusion threat could be from
application, when coding within your application is not programmed correctly, this
open area to inject malicious virus which can collect information from your system
if u don't some sort of tool that monitors your network. On the hardware front if
your not patching your hardware you can sometime expose your hardware to
ransom virus. Or if you have old hardware that is not sunset you could find
yourself being exploited with virus or frequent downtime issues when handling
dataflow. Heterogeneous platforms are facing many threats that evolve and become
smarter every day. Among the main threats to heterogeneous architectures are
malware and countermeasures. Unfortunately, malware can attack both software and
hardware platforms leading to serious damage, data loss, and breach of sensitive
information.Malware such as viruses, worms, Trojans, etc. are considered as means
to attack software and hardware in a system. Malware has protection methods that
prevent the detection of potential threats. Protection of heterogeneous architectures
is vital since those platforms shield the infrastructures of the virtual networks and
allow the real big scale of use of those platforms. yy I don't consider human error
that causes a security issue "bad luck" as there is a root cause for it. Information
Security Policy should be comprehensive enough to cover just about any action an
employee could take. The idea behind the policy is to guide behavior to prevent
a security incident from occurring in the first place. If the act committed by an
individual was not covered in the policy, then the policy was deficient and the
employee is not totally at fault, though some acts are obviously not smart. If the
act is covered in policy and the employee failed to comply with policy, the
employee should be disciplined and review of the Security Awareness Program
completed. Policy will not be followed if the employees do not know about it.
Heterogeneous means that the programs need to be written differently with
different instruction sets, therefor, threats can vary. Two threats might include:
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) and Malware. Wireless Sensor Networks are
heterogeneous systems that consist of many small devices called sensor nodes.
WSNs are vulnerable against many kinds of attacks; some of the common reasons
are: Theft, limited capabilities and resources, unreliable communications, sensor
nodes’ selfishness and vulnerability against eavesdropping. In WSNs, most attackers
are targeting routing layer, since they can control passing information into the net-
work. Besides, WSNs mainly are based on sensor nodes’ reporting to the base
station; so, disrupting and violating from this process leads to success attacks. As
a result, for such networks, most proper architecture for IDS will be NIDS. A
NIDS using network raw data packets as data source; it eavesdrops and listens to
the network traffic, captures packets in real-time, then controls and tests them to
detect attacks. There is a SIDS on each sensor node to detect attacks.
Malware, which is a malicious software that is dangerous to the computer. The
following are potential risks if malware is installed.
• Hardware: can damage computer discs and cause frequent power failure.
• Operating Systems: can take control of operating systems viaransomware and
phishing.
• Applications: can steal personal information and destroy computer data
without detection.
• Networks: malware can cause inaccessibility to network systems.
DDoS/DoS attacks are a great threat to our heterogenous architectures. There are
many companies that have suffered substantial losses due to these attacks, each
day another business falls victim to malware and scams such as phishing and
corrupt files from emails. It is up to us to learn all we can about these threats
so we may combat them. Knowledge is important in keeping your systems
protected from attacks. A hacker can bypass your password using birthday attacks
as well by matching the hash value. There seems to always be an exploit for
something.
