As technology is growing at a faster pace, the threats along with it are growing equally. Along with the creation of a website, today website owners have to arrange their security measures as well. Cybercrimes are on a high in this generation. Data can be easily hacked and retrieved from your devices if proper security steps aren’t taken. Therefore, it is always advised, along with the beautification of the website one needs to pay equal attention to its security as well.
Malicious content, spam links, phishing emails, hacking, are no longer new words for the people in and associated with the internet industry. To stay at a bay from such situations and avoid their side-effects one needs to gain proper knowledge about website security and ways to imply them.
What is ARP Spoofing Attack all about?
Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is a method that helps to transfer information from one system to another without attaching any external device to the systems. Though it is a helpful and easy way to transfer data, it has an equal number of side-effects too. ARP leads to open information that can be easily hacked by a hacker. In such a situation it is known as an ARP Spoofing attack. Open data is a huge threat to several vulnerabilities and hackers.
Security is an issue in the case of ARP. It happens on LAN to send malicious ARP packets. These packets are sent to the default gateway on a LAN. This helps the attackers to disguise their IP address and easily hack your device without being noticed. This also delays the procedure to identify the corrupt individual.
Spoofing attack involves hacking the open information and entering malicious ARP packets in the LAN network. For this purpose, the attackers send a false ARP message over LAN. It helps the hacker to immediately connect to a genuine IP address without being identified. One can identify the hack by activities like:
- Abnormal working of the server
- Display of unwanted information
- Loss of certain data
Methods to Avoid Spoofing Attack
- Identify the Attack
After the process of identifying the attack, the next step involves identifying the form of a spoofing attack. A major number of times involves the same pattern of ARP attack but at times it might vary. Let us have a glance at some of the other forms that might involve an ARP attack:
- DoS Attack: Denial of Service or DoS attack is a procedure in which the hacker tries to destroy the host connection with the help of one computer and internet connection. The main aim of this form of attack is to block the ways of the client to reach out to genuine customers.
- Session Hijacking– Session Hijacking involves the use of ARP spoofing to hack one’s data. This form of hacking can be easily done if one is using public WiFi.
- Man-in-the-middle Attacks– This form of attack involves monitoring the traffic of a website. The Hacker can study the traffic under a legitimate user name and modify it for their beneficial purpose.
- Use of VPN
When we wish to use the internet and connect to various websites to perform various activities one initially connects to an Internet Service Provider (ISP). This helps one to connect to various other websites and browse the helpful and useful information. But if one follows the same procedure by using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) then one is connected to the internet with the help of an encrypted tunnel. This helps to keep the data encrypted and safe. Therefore, one should try to use VPN to avoid ARP spoofing and various other malicious attacks.
VPN is useful for people who travel often and have to work during their traveling hours. This helps to avoid the use of public WiFi which is one of the highly used ways by hackers to hack one’s data. One can use their mobile data to lower the chances of hacking and keep the personal data encrypted.
- Static ARP
Using a static ARP helps to keep the data safe and secured. It lowers the hacking chances and keeps one encrypted. If 2 hosts communicate daily with the help of a static ARP it creates a permanent entry in the ARP cache. This procedure helps to add a layer of security to ARP and allows one to browse through the internet smoothly.
A CISCO router can help one to detect an ARP spoofing without any hassle. Setting up ARP spoofing might involve the use of perfect knowledge and skills but one can gain it with time. While setting up one needs to be sure about the method setup or else one might mess up the simple procedure.
- Use of a Detection Tool
Though one might have ample knowledge about detecting an ARP spoof attack and might also resolve it but the use of a third-party tool helps in easy detection of the attack. This helps to detect the disguised hackers and find the data there are eyeing. Along with focusing on ARP spoofing attacks one also needs to pay attention to its timely detection. A third-party tool is helpful under such cases to detect an ARP spoof immediately and get rid of it. XArp is a third-party tool that can help one to detect an ARP Spoof attack. The use of a robust monitoring tool helps one to detect the attack and prevent it for a longer time.
- Avoid Easy Trust
Few systems use IP trust relationships to connect to another device to share information. One should avoid doing so to keep their business safe and encrypted. When your device uses the IP address to identify another device or the user, it becomes easy for the hacker to hack your ARP.
Another method to prevent such attacks is using private logins and passwords for known users. It keeps your protection layer safe and secured and blocks intruders to use your personal information.
- Setting Packet-Filtering
Few attackers will attack your LAN by sending ARP packets. Once these ARP packets have been sent one can start hacking the system or wait until the information is easily leaked. Packet filtering helps to detect the poisonous packets and block them before they harm your system and open up the personal data.
One can also pay attention to the below-mentioned points to strengthen the security:
- Have a look at the malware monitoring settings
- Run spoofing attacks
Conclusion
The above-mentioned steps are helpful to avoid an ARP spoofing attack. Following these steps can help one block these attacks and protect the company’s data and the website.