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Question
What are three of the most common categories of network attacks on enterprise networks?
Answer
The three most common enterprise network attacks are: Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), Data Breaches, and Malware (including ransomware).
| Attack Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| DDoS | Coordinated attack from many compromised devices ("zombies") to overwhelm a target's website or resources | Mirai botnet attack (2016) took down DNS (Domain Name System) provider Dyn |
| Data Breach | Compromise of servers or hosts to steal confidential information | Equifax breach (2017) — 147 million records |
| Malware | Malicious software infecting hosts — viruses, worms, trojans, ransomware | WannaCry ransomware encrypted data and demanded payment |
Key insight: While these attacks get the headlines, they often start with a Layer 2 compromise on the local network. If an attacker gains access to the LAN (Local Area Network), they can escalate to any of these attack types. That's why securing the switch infrastructure (Layer 2) is critical — it's the foundation everything else sits on.
Go deeper:
Denial-of-service attack (Wikipedia) — DDoS via botnets and the Mirai/Dyn 2016 example.- Data breach (Wikipedia) — breaches, threat actors and notification law.
- Malware (Wikipedia) — viruses, worms, trojans and ransomware (the WannaCry category).
Everaldo Coelho and YellowIcon · LGPL · Wikimedia Commons
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