Information on cyber attacks

Denial-of-Service 

An adversary only needs the IP address of their target to commence a Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack. This fact makes DoS attacks extremely common, especially with those who have little knowledge of the actual systems being attacked. There are different techniques when it comes to DoS attacks. The most common is when a single attacker sends the target system a multitude of packets in an attempt to overload system resources. Another technique is called a Distributed Denial-of-Service attack (DDoS). This is when multiple legitimate systems are used in the attack. In a DDoS attack, there is exponentially more attacking power and an increased difficulty in finding the real source of the attack. 

Hydra login cracker

Hydra is a common brute-force login cracker that comes pre-loaded with Kali Linux. The program is able to exploit a variety of protocols such as SSH, FTP, telnet, MS-SQL, etc. A target IP addresses, a vulnerable service, and a wordlist is required for this type of attack. There are a variety of wordlists that come pre-loaded in Kali Linux such as rockyou.txt. However, using such a massive wordlist can take years to run. It is recommended that a more specialized dictionary file is used to increase the chance of a successful attack.

Metasploit Project

The Metasploit Project is a cyber security project focused on information regarding software vulnerabilities and supplying resources for testing exploits. The main resource created by the project is a free tool called The Metasploit Framework. This is a command line interface program that provides the ability to create and demonstrate software exploits. Metasploit Pro is a commercial version that adds a Graphical User Interface (GUI) as well as a few additional features. The Metasploit Framework comes pre-loaded with Kali Linux.