One of the threats that a company needs to be shielded against is the IP spoofing attack, and it’s absolutely vital to know it.
This is a frequently used method in DDoS attacks, when the hacker hides his IP address thus, remaining invisible to the security.
The blog will include everything you need to know about IP spoofing, such as what it is, how it operates, why it is so dangerous, renowned cases of IP spoofing attacks, and the way to safeguard your company from these attacks.
Table of Contents
What is IP Spoofing?
Spoofing is a type of cyberattack in which a hacker disguises as another user, client, or device, with the intention of hiding the origin of the attack. Hackers can enter networks in this manner and use it as a disguise to implement harmful actions such as data interception or DDoS attacks that disrupt the usual traffic.
There are three kinds of spoofing attacks:
DNS Server Spoofing: This is a very common and is used to invade a network with malware and to alter a DNS set making the domain name to point to a different IP address.
ARP spoofing: This term is used when people want to perform a DoS attack and MITM. It connects hackers to an IP address via a spoof address resolution protocol (ARP) message.
IP spoofing: It conceals one IP address in order get access as a trustworthy system, typically in order to launch a DDoS attack or redirect communications
IP spoofing is the most common of these attacks. By pretending to be from a different IP address, this kind of spoofing protects hackers by making them invisible.
How does IP Spoofing Work?
Understanding the role of IP addresses in internet communications is essential to understanding how IP spoofing works.
Data is transferred over the internet in packets, each of which has a source identification code. An IP address, which includes the source and destination addresses, is one of the most important identifiers needed for this packet. IP addresses are used as identifiers and assist systems in determining whether or not information originates from a trusted source, much like physical addresses. IP addresses are used to identify traffic sources to a system or server in addition to being used for data sharing.
The act of a hacker manipulating a packet to alter its IP source address is known as IP spoofing. When done properly, this alteration can easily go undetected because it takes place before to a hacker ever interacting with a network or system under control. Since IP spoofing allows hackers to look as someone else, consider this a kind of disguise.
After mimicking a person or device with an identical IP address, a hacker can get access to restricted systems and intercept messages meant for the target of their spoofing attempt.
Types of IP Spoofing
The most common type of IP spoofing are as follows:
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks
Hackers use spoof IP addresses to flood computer servers with data packets during a denial-of-service attack. This enables them to remain anonymous while slowing down or crashing a network or website with high internet traffic volumes.
Masking Botnet Devices
By disguising botnets, IP spoofing can be used to get access to computers. A botnet is a collection of computers that hackers can take control of from one central location. A specialized bot that runs on each machine performs malicious actions on the attacker’s behalf. Because every bot in the network has a spoof IP address, making the malicious actor difficult to identify, IP spoofing allows the attacker to hide the botnet. This can extend an attack’s duration to increase its payout.
Man-in-the-Middle Attacks
A more hostile technique for IP spoofing involves using a “man-in-the-middle” attack to block communication between two computers, modify the packets, and forward them without the sender or receiver being aware of it. Attackers can follow every aspect of a conversation if they manage to fake an IP address and gain access to personal communication accounts. From there, data theft, user redirection to phony websites, and other activities are feasible. Man-in-the-middle attacks have the potential to be more profitable than other types of hacking because over time, hackers collect an enormous amount of sensitive data that they can exploit or sell.
What are the Examples of IP Spoofing?
Spoofing IP addresses allows attackers to flood computer servers with packet volumes that are too big for the target machines to process. Geographically distributed packets are often sent via botnets. Tens of thousands of machines can be found within large botnets, and each one is capable of continuously spoofing many source IP addresses. Tracing these automated attacks is difficult.
- The GitHub code hosting platform was the target of what at the time was thought to be the worst DDoS attack ever on February 28, 2018. Attackers submitted requests to memcached servers, which are frequently utilized to speed up database-driven websites, by spoofing GitHub’s IP address. The data that the servers returned from those calls to GitHub was magnified by a factor of approximately 50. Therefore, up to 51 kilobytes were delivered to the target for every byte supplied by the attacker. A traffic spike of 1.35 terabits per second knocked GitHub offline for ten minutes.
- In 2015, for instance, Europol launched an offensive against a man-in-the-middle attack that involved hackers intercepting payment requests between companies and their clients. The hackers gained unauthorized access to corporate email accounts of the companies through IP spoofing, which allowed them to eavesdrop on communications and intercept client requests for payments. This allowed the hackers to trick the clients into sending money to bank accounts under their control.
- Hacker Kevin Mitnick used IP spoofing to attack rival hacker Tsutomu Shimomura’s systems on December 25, 1994. By discovering the pattern of TCP sequence numbers that the computer creates, Mitnick took advantage of the trust connection that existed between the server and Shimomura’s X terminal computer. He sent a barrage of SYN requests from spoof IP addresses that were routable but not active, flooding the system. The computer’s memory became full of SYN requests as it was unable to respond to the requests. We call this method SYN scanning.
How to detect IP Spoofing?
The hardest thing about IP spoofing to catch end users off guard is how hard it is to detect. The reason for this is that since these assaults happen on the network, spoof requests for external connections typically seem genuine and don’t exhibit any outward indications of tampering.
Nonetheless, there exist tools for network monitoring that can identify IP spoofing. Businesses can use them to gauge traffic at the endpoints. Systems with packet filters are a popular technique for this. They identify irregularities in the flow of IP packets between the source and the destination and are frequently included into routers or firewalls.
Types of Packet Filtering
There are two main types of packet filtering: Ingress and egress filtering. Here’s how they work:
- Ingress filtering: Ingress filtering verifies that the source IP header on arriving IP packets corresponds to a legitimate source address. Suspicious-looking packets are rejected.
- Egress filtering: This is the opposite of ingress filtering, in which the packets that are sent out are examined. It is not sent if the IP source address does not match the network of the company. This is meant to stop insiders from using IP spoofing attacks.
How Can You Protect Yourself Against IP Spoofing Attacks
Set up your office network properly: Make sure your office network is set up properly by changing the default username and password on your router. At the very least, you have to create a new password with a minimum of 12 characters, a combination of capital and lowercase letters, digits, and special characters.
Avoid falling for phishing attempts: Phishing attacks, a type of email spoofing, involve fraudsters sending you an email with the intention of tricking you into disclosing your password or other private information. Frequently, it appears as though the email was sent from a reliable address. However, the attackers will be able to access your computer if you open infected attachments or click any links. Moreover, they may use your email address to initiate more attacks. Thus, always exercise caution and make sure the message is coming from a reliable source.
Verify the security of your website: Websites that do not have an active SSL certificate are more vulnerable to hacker attacks. Avoid using these websites if at all feasible as they present a security risk when exchanging sensitive data. An unsafe website can be identified by its URL beginning with HTTPS. Websites that have a padlock icon in the URL bar and whose URLs begin with HTTPS are considered safer.
Use an antivirus tool: You may check your computer for infection by running an antivirus program. If you want to protect yourself from the newest internet risks, you should routinely scan your device and update your software.
Use a VPN: Most public networks, even hotspots, lack security. Because of this, hackers can easily access the devices that are linked to them. You should utilize a VPN (virtual private network) when browsing in public areas to protect your important data. Your internet connection is encrypted, enhancing the security of data transmission and reception.
How Can Leasing IP Address From LeaseIPx help in Online security?
There are various ways that leasing IP addresses from LeaseIPXs might improve your online security. First of all, you can spread your online activity across several IPs by using leased IP addresses, which makes it more difficult for hackers to target you. This strategy makes it more difficult to monitor your activity or carry out targeted assaults. Furthermore, LeaseIPXs offers dependable, superior IP addresses that are updated frequently and screened for security risks, guaranteeing that you use IPs that are less likely to be compromised. You may keep robust protection against a variety of cyber hazards and stay ahead of future security threats by having the ability to quickly modify or add IP addresses as needed. By utilizing LeaseIPXs’ IP leasing services, you may increase your online safety by adding an extra layer of security.
Conclusion
Maintaining the security and privacy of what you do online requires you to safeguard your IP address. You can greatly reduce the probability that your IP address will be misused by using a VPN, turning on firewall protection, updating your software, creating strong passwords, practicing caution when using public Wi-Fi, keeping an eye on your network, being aware of phishing scams, limiting app permissions, and educating both yourself and others. Additionally, you want to think about selecting LeaseIPXs‘ expert IP leasing services. You may improve your online presence with dependable, scalable, and affordable solutions from our IP leasing and bulk IP leasing services. To keep your online activities secret and safe, be active.
