ASSIGNMENT-FINAL GROUP PROJECT: E-COMMERCE BREACH
Course: CYMS6100 - Foundations of Cybersecurity
Instructor: Professor Sullivan
Group Members:
1. Sai Ram Ale
2.
3.
4.
5.
Company Background
TechBazaar Pvt. Ltd., is an emerging e-commerce platform in India operating from
Bengaluru, Karnataka. The company was founded in 2017 with an aim to provide
gadgets and quality electronic products to every consumer present in the country by a
group of technical visionaries. From a humble beginning it has grown to become one of
the leading online shopping portals catering to electronics gadgets in India. TechBazaar
is associated with quality and performance, and provides a wide array of categories that
can be anything from mobile phones and laptops and tablets as well as home appliances
and not only, but also countless accessories and gadgets.
TechBazaar owes its meteoric rise to two key success factors: Pricing as a competitive
strategy and implementation of a highly effective customer service strategy. The aspect
of appealing promotional discounts right from the comforts of customers’ homes or
offices have grafted millions of satisfied customers across the urban and semi urban and
rural India. A friendly and easy to navigate website, developed with mobile first
approach to its mobile applications have made it easy for young ambitious users
interested in the new technology upliftment to access the application’s services. The
supply chain of these business is well developed to ensure that products are delivered
and received on time regardless of the remote location.
The company has an outstanding feature of having a mobile application whose working
allows effective implementation of dynamic Seasonal Sales Events, and Special
Promotional Offer Campaigns. These campaigns along with the new exclusive app only
offers have made TechBazaar a brand name in e-commerce industry. With festive sales,
flash discounts ongoing on the platform, the site makes sure that the shoppers
constantly hurry to get the best of gadgets and electronics.
Thanks to the experienced architects who mastered the cloud infrastructure the swift
growth of the TechBazaar is possible knowing such huge amounts of customers’ data.
These structures enable smooth processing of payment, real-time management of
stocks, and enhancement of clients’ interactions. The company applies and also
captures data and information on customer purchasing patterns and behavior and
presents them as recommendations to improve the overall and unique shopping
experience. Thus, a combination of introducing new technologies in the work of the
Company and shifts towards the customer orientation have allowed TechBazaar to
differentiate from the conventional retail strategies.
The cloud-based system also guarantees the customer secure and fast transactions that
are important for developing trust in the growing embrace of digital business. These
technologies have enabled TechBazaar stay ahead of competitors since they enable
efficient delivery of convenience and satisfaction to the increasing customers.
However, as effectively demonstrated in this paper, TechBazaar has faced significant
challenges consequent to its exponential growth, primarily doing to to cyber threats.
With the growth of the company and its continual move online, weaknesses have been
found within the company’s structure. Although the company has invested in
technology solutions, the management has not considered the aspect of protection of
the new developed environments and structures.
Lack of employee education on cybersecurity best practices, system loopholes
examination, and threats forecast are mere examples to indicate that the company
offered invitations to evitable attacks. These weaknesses were quickly capitalized by
hackers; especially the information that TechBazaar processes daily. Credit card
numbers, individual characteristics, purchase histories, and other information are
potentially valuable for criminals and very much required by them.
TechBazaar is one of the e-commerce platforms that attract hackers substantially mainly
because the platforms harbor enormous records of their clientele’s information. For
TechBazaar, the increase in the rates and amounts of online shopping only added to the
aggressiveness of threats. That is why the absence of well-developed protection
mechanisms gave the intruders a chance to find vulnerabilities in the system and
potentially endanger both the customer data and the company’s image.
To its disappointment, TechBazaar had serious shortcomings in terms of security. It
exploited technology in its activities but failed to incorporate security in tandem with its
building’s technologically advanced structure. Simple things like performing penetration
tests, monitoring the network, and constantly looking for threats were never done, and
this left core systems and customer data vulnerable for attack.
TechBazaar’s experience demonstrates that while the digital transformation helps to
expand PESTEL opportunities in the e-commerce segment, it also entails certain risks.
While using technology the firm was able to grow quickly and deliver high-quality
service to customers but its biggest weakness was the laxity in regard to security. In the
future, TechBazaar needs to start mitigating these weaknesses in order to protect the
business and its clients.
This means that there should be prioritization of cybersecurity, the incorporation of the
greater monitoring tools and inculcation of more cyber awareness among employees at
TechBazaar. The acquisition of these measures is not only a question of safeguarding
information but also a key to the firm’s viability over time in a fast changing and
intensely competitive environment for business operations. By therefore effectively
blending innovation and specific inventory security measures, TechBazaar may well
remain the trail blazer in the growing e-commerce technological market in India.
Attacker Background
DarkShades is a well-known cybercrime group that exist within the dark web to conduct
very specialized and rather complicated attacks. This group has effectively carved a
niche for itself in today’s digital underground crime environment by using sophisticated
methods, especially in social engineering and carrying out sophisticated phishing
attacks. It is a structured group and often recognized as spy group’meticulously planning
their attacks as they analyze the weaknesses of their targets. Contrary, their operations
are very specific, and what is more, as mentioned before, they attack organizations and
companies which have valuable assets, important information, and weak or no
protection at all.
DarkShades seems to have its roots in several years back, but it has only recently grown
into what it is today. It is considered that the group consists of a small number of
hackers with origins in low-level scams like identity theft and simple phishing. They
gradually metamorphosed into a more complex organization and attracted the skilled
folks to join them and acquire tools for executing the mass-casualty incidents. Their
attention turned to corporations, financial institutions and government agencies,
because these stores massive amounts of sensitive and valuable information.
And since Dark Shades’ theme revolves around shadows, it must be known that this
cybercriminal group is very organized. They know how to investigate their targets,
determine flaws in the security systems of their targets and manipulate the people.
They mostly employ social engineering techniques because they know that the human
element will be the biggest vulnerability. Their campaigns are professional which involve
the use of fakes emails, web-links, and other related modes of contacting people which
even looks like genuine ones.
Lately, DarkShades committed several attacks and takes most of the credit for being a
dangerous and efficient group of hackers. These are usually carried out in phases; the
first phase involves informations gathering on the target. Upon realizing that an
organization has certain weaknesses, they send phishing emails in order to gain access
into the organization’s network. Such emails appear to look like communications from
within the company since they are branded, contain logos, and are written in company
language to make the victims give out their login information.
One of their main operations is to create clones of login pages from the target
organization’s intranet look and feel. This makes it almost impossible for the employees
to be certain the deception is being perpetrated. When employees provide their
credentials, DarkShades logs into the organizations network and conceivably act as
regular user. This enables them to compromise a number of conventional security
systems and to navigate throughout the network.
They are not just interested in basic stealing of data. After the infiltration into a target’s
system DarkShades spends much time exploring the network, its key assets and defining
its further actions. To achieve this, they aim at getting as much information as they can
on the organization’s activities such as accounting records, customers database, patents
among others. For that reason, they may decide to leak information, cause downtime to
the organization, or use ransomware to compel the victims to pay.
Another thing that characterizes DarkShades’ operation is the group’s capacity to avoid
identification. These scripts employ sophisticated methods so as to become invisible
within the network and look like ordinary users. This makes it difficult for the
conventional security systems in identifying their operations. They also are relentless in
their attacks and are capable of spending time, sometimes weeks or even months,
within a target network while remaining invisible and undetectable while gathering
intelligence or rehearsing for the next phase of an anticipated operation.
The actions of the group in the past consist of several events which proved their
capacities. Specific information about the two’s early years of operation is rather scarce
but they are associated with several major cybercrimes in the previous years. These
attacks mainly focus on those business that possess valuable data and minimal
protection like mid sized companies, schools and colleges and online shopping websites.
They have time and again unleashed attacks that have led to immeasurable loses in
terms of money, damage on the reputation of the targeted organization and
organization’s productivity.
There is high organizational professionalism of this group, they often work in a team
where everyone has their responsibilities. Some work on creating phishing emails and
fake sites, others work on network infiltration and data leakage. This division of labor
helps them run their operations seamlessly and get every segment of their operation
right.
This is one of the reasons why DarkShades has become so popular, they know how to
counteract new protective methods. The structure to the hacks becomes even more
dangerous and with time, DarkShades adapts to growing organization security
measures. They are said to employ sophisticated gadgets; specifically crafted viruses as
well as the most complex codes of 암 encryption incomplete fulfillment of their goals.
This has made them one of the most dreaded cybercriminal groups in the industry due
to their flexibility and aptitude to create new and improved tactics.
Nevertheless, DarkShades is not devoid of experience in cyberattacks while they mainly
rely on psychological impact on their victims. They always use attacks that target
humans instead of computers by creating phishing stratagems that appeal to human
emotions like trust and time pressure. It tends to make the audience feel that there is
an urgent message in circulation or a message that’s very crucial in every organization
they compel the employees to take action before they can confirm the legitimacy of the
message. This psychological aspect is also a major asset because it also enables them to
dodge even complex technical protection measures.
Besides their technical and social engineering skills, DarkShades are also credited with
being good planners. Unlike conventional criminals, hackers spend a lot of time and
money planning and studying their prey before they strike. For this purpose, it
incorporates assessment of the organizational structure, employee profiling, and
mapping the online presence. Thus, DarkShades can adjust the operations of the
recognizable target to achieve the highest possible chances of a successful attack.
There is no doubt that DarkShades is well regarded among cyber criminals as a rather
good and efficient team. They are usually employed by other fugitives or criminal
associations to perform particular assaults to extend their authority. These he whole
work hand in hand with other evils so as to gather resources and ideas and make them
more dangerous.
Although it is still unclear who the DarkShades members are and where they are from,
the effects of the group’s work cannot be contested. These attacks have created
awareness to organizations to come up with better security measures and implement
better security measures. But in any case, as long as people’s mistakes and bad
decisions regarding protection remain, the DarkShades will remain a serious problem.
Social Engineering Attack
The attack orchestrated by DarkShades on TechBazaar utilized one of the most
pervasive and insidious methods in cybersecurity: social engineering using phishing
emails. Unlike other cyber-attacks that target technical vulnerabilities in a system, this
approach aimed at exploiting the social engineering weaknesses by trusting, pressuring
and familiarizing the employees into disclosing sensitive information. The team behind
the DarkShades, who were expert in APT attacks and crafting highly believable lures,
planned their operation to exploit the weakest side of TechBazaar – the employees.
The phishing emails that were sent by DarkShades were very well-crafted and could be
easily confused with a message from the IT department of TechBazaar. The attackers
are accurate in their mimicry of the look and feel of internal company communiques and
messaging. The emails had logos, language, and formatting that were realistic, official,
and resembled internal organizational memos. Broad themes, such as “Urgent Security
Update Required” or “Mandatory Password Reset to Secure Your Account”, created the
sense of immediacy that made workers quickly click on links and not question the
authenticity of the messages they received. The body of the email provided a false
security alert emphasizing on the urgency of the situation and how failure to take
prompt action could see a system crash or having to experience intrusive
inconveniences.
It was thus the link placed in the email, which when clicked led the employees to what
looked like a legitimate company portal where they could change their passwords. This
was a fake portal designed with high probability to mimic the real TechBazaar’s internal
login interface so perfectly that it would not appear different to a passer-by. The actual
portal was copied to the last detail – the color scheme, logos, position of buttons and
links, and the overall structure – that is, there were no discrepancies that would make
the employees think they are dealing with fakes. This emphasis was rather important
when it comes to developing the necessary trust to enslave the victims and make them
willingly provide their login information.
Some of the employees who received the emails became impressed by the apparent
reliability of the Web site and the sense of the urgency expressed in the e-mails
provided by the cyber criminals entered their usernames and passwords. This offered
DarkShades complete control over TechBazaar’s networks and systems. This exploit
allowed the attackers to penetrate the company’s network, thereby circumventing all
standard precautions. Since the credentials used were legitimate, the activity was not
marked suspicious and the attackers remained invisible to the system.
Upon gaining access to the company’s networks, DarkShades proceeded to perform
what is known as the ‘outing reconnaissance’ phase where he or she conducts a sweep
through the company’s networks to establish areas of interest. Their primary target was
to steal customers’ personal information such as name, address, phone number, credit
card number, and their spending patterns. The group also got information on the
financial and operational processes of TechBazaar with the aim of leveraging this
information for financial gain and possibly extending the attack.
This indicated the high proficiency of DarkShades in relating with the network without
being noticed due to human mistakes and negligence. While using legitimate
credentials, they remained inconspicuous in normal traffic and as such, could not be
easily noticed by IDS and SIEM systems. This enabled them to stay in the network for a
longer time as they strategized the other levels of their attack.
With weak internal control mechanisms in place, the attackers proceeded to abuse the
access granted to them by elevating their privileges. They were able to compromise key
networks and infiltrate several systems containing crucial business data and customer
records. In doing so, DarkShades procured the capability to steal or sabotage data or
operations at its own discretion. Their activities were as follows: charting
communication flows within the organization, identifying constraints, and high-risk
zones regarding information protection.
Another significant factor that contributed to the success of the attack was the
psychological aspect involved. DarkShades was aware that people tend to blindly follow
emails they consider to be from recognizable reliable sending sources, especially when
the messages have overtones of urgency or importance. The adversaries abused this
trust by incorporating situations that did not allow for ambiguity or uncertainty. The
employees, who were not privy to the phishing strategies or had been trained in
identifying fraudulent messages, unknowingly helped the attackers gain entry into
TechBazaar’s networks.
Furthermore, the planning and organization of the phishing campaign demonstrated a
detailed understanding of human conduct. This is because the attackers choose topics
that would interest most employees, which included security updates and compliance
issues. Timing was also another factor on the emails in that they were sent during the
business hours when employees could be easily distracted and therefore less alert. This
strategic timing further minimized the chances of their details being scrutinized before
necessary action was taken.
It is pertinent to note that DarkShades did not just limit themselves to the acquisition of
login credentials; instead, they utilized their gains proactively. It was identified that
there are weaknesses in both the physical design layout and internal processes of
TechBazaar that could be targeted by the groups. The attackers worked silently and
made sure that their actions did not raise any alarm. This meant that they refrained
from taking steps which would cause disruption or alert people to their presence, but
focused instead on acquiring knowledge of the network and how it operated, as well as
taking control of more and more aspects of it.
This phase was also characterized by the lateral movement whereby the attackers
moved to other systems and data storage points. Through these accounts, they were
able to penetrate other parts of the network, such as the financial details, chat history,
and other business details. Technically, the escalation of privileges would further
weaken resources at TechBazaar, which increases the risk of theft and sabotage to
valuable resources.
The consequences of the phishing attack reached further than merely the leakage of
important information. This provided details of how DarkShades’ operations interfered
with normal business and made work processes inefficient, illustrating how a successful
cyberattack affects an organization. The lost information encompassed customer PII and
financial records; thus, the violation posed a major risk to TechBazaar and left the
company vulnerable to legal sanctions.
The actions by the attackers also had dire consequences on the perception of
TechBazaar in the market. This violation affected customer trust and confidence in the
platform and its capacity to protect their data. Details of the invasion gone viral were
acted out and shared on social media especially through the complaints and harmful
reports of customers. This reputational loss aggravated the financial impact of the
violation, as many clients started to doubt the availability of TechBazaar’s services.
Altogether, the phishing attack performed by DarkShades demonstrates well how the
distinct stages of a social engineering attack work in harmony. The attackers took
advantage of human factors, organizational failures, and technical openings to breach
TechBazaar’s perimeter and conduct a step-by-step assault. Their capacity to remain
dormant for an elongated duration proved that human component and technology both
needed adequate focus in cybersecurity. This attack underscored the importance of the
employees in ensuring that organizations remain secure and the implications of not
addressing social engineering risks.
Network Attack 1: Man-in-the-Middle Attack
After proceeding with the phishing attack on TechBazaar, DarkShades decided to up the
ante and proceeded with a Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attack. This method focused on
exploiting a significant weakness in TechBazaar’s setup – the absence of encrypted
communication. This loophole allowed DarkShades to position themselves between the
company’s server and its users, thereby acquiring the capacity to eavesdrop, modify,
and tamper with data exchange at the user’s end.
The attackers were able to exploit the wireless networks that were publicly available
and unprotected used by the employees and customers to connect to TechBazaar’s
network. These were unsecured that everyone considered to be secure and these are
indeed the ones that were exploited to be the main port for the attack. DarkShades
launched faux access points aimed at mimicking some of the legitimate APs associated
with TechBazaar network. When employees or customers inadvertently associated with
these fake APs, they were basically letting the attackers into their communication
channels.
In their relationship, DarkShades were granted permissions that enabled them to have
access to certain privileged data. The attackers were able to capture login credentials,
session IDs, payment details, and other sensitive information as it passed through.” This
was not only the customer database but also other information such as administrative
accounts that granted access to the company’s upper tiers. With these credentials,
DarkShades was able to compromise the customers’ privacy and gain unauthorized
access to organizational information and data.
By having their own privileges, DarkShades proceeded to drain TechBazaar’s valuable
information at will. The attackers were able to transfer a large amount of specific
customer data, such as names, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, and billing and
payment information. Once collected, this data was a treasure trove for all sorts of
criminal endeavors ranging from identity theft to fraud. Moreover, DarkShades
distributed the stolen data to other individuals on the dark web, increasing the damage
caused by the attack.
Besides data theft, DarkShades also manipulated TechBazaar’s communication records
and bills, leaving gaps and inconsistencies that interfered with everyday business
transactions. This deliberate manipulation led to confusion among employees and even
the customers, thus eroding the efficiency of the company’s operations. It also
weakened the sanctity of contracts as altered data caused inconsistencies in the
accounts and transaction history.
The consequences of the MITM attack on TechBazaar were dire, as shown below. The
leakage of customer details dealt a blow on the reputation that the firm had established
with its customers. The leakage of customer details led to customers complaining and
airing their annoyance and displeasure on social media and reviewing sites. This
negative publicity was a major PR disaster for TechBazaar as it was associated with an
unreliable and insecure marketplace.
Adding to the scandal were such issues as legal and financial repercussions. This can
lead to penalties, legal costs, compensations to clients affected by the breach, among
others, were the risks of TechBazaar. In addition to these direct expenditures, the
company also experienced tremendous internal losses. The act of violating customer
information affected productivity, created delays, and exacerbated system crashes,
which in turn, inflicted additional damage to the organization’s attempts at mitigating
the breach’s consequences.
From the revealed vulnerabilities, it is evident that TechBazaar’s MITM attack unveiled
serious flaws in its communication security. Lack of encryption measures such SSL/TLS
or https left all transferred data open for interception. Prior to the implementation of
encryption, core information including login credentials and payments, as well as intercompany and customer communications, were transmitted in plaintext which required
minimal efforts from a cybercriminal like DarkShades to observe and analyze.
DarkShades capitalized on these weaknesses by providing themselves as a link between
TechBazaar’s server and the consumers. By posing as genuine servers, they were able to
infiltrate the networks and extract critical information with ease. This attack was further
compounded by the fact that TechBazaar had implemented a protocol stack that
included TCP/IP that exposed all transmitted data in its raw form since it lacked the
encryption layers.
Moreover, the lack of previously mentioned security measures, such as certificate
pinning and mutual authentication, enabled DarkShades to infiltrate the site’s trusted
entities, thus affecting its overall reliability. These failures allowed DarkShades to
infiltrate TechBazaar’s communication channels and procure additional information
while remaining concealed for long periods.
Thus, DarkShades’ actions during the MITM attack were not only limited to the theft of
data. The attackers disrupted the network traffic and this led to many operational
disturbances. Official channels to communicate were either inaccessible or redirected,
resulting in non-executed transactions, late reply, and customer accounts problems.
During the periods of robust sales, these disruptions were even more apparent and led
to the loss of potential sales and customer frustration.
DarkShades also took advantage of their position to feed malicious commands into the
network. These commands interfered with key business operations which led to
inaccuracies in stock records, payments, and orders. Visitors experienced slow page
loading, error messages, and inability to track orders; all of which compounded
frustration and loss of trust.
The absence of a proper network monitoring and IDS at TechBazaar played a significant
role in the success of the attack. These tools are used to detect items that are out of the
norm, for instance, a rogue device or traffic which might herald an intrusion. On this
note, it is crucial to highlight the fact that the target network lacked such components;
their absence enabled DarkShades to infiltrate and remain surreptitious within the said
network for an extended period.
Another technique that DarkShades used was to regularly change the MAC addresses,
which made them difficult to track. This technique helped them to imitate lawful traffic
and remain connected without triggering suspicion. There were also no ’alarms-bells’ for
anticipating or preventing any suspicious activities since the monitoring systems were
not as sophisticated as they are today.
In addition, the security of TechBazaar was based on static MAC filter; this is outmoded
security feature that involves assigning MAC addresses to devices for identification
purposes. However, while this method can give basic control, it is far from being secure
and is easily spoof able. DarkShades took advantage of this loophole to mimic authentic
devices and slip past these safeguard measures employed by organizations to limit and
monitor device connections to networks, thereby achieving root access to highly
sensitive server systems. This weakness highlighted the inefficacies of the traditional
blocking model in combating contemporary and complex threats.
The MITM attack greatly affected the TechBazaar corporation’s image, leaving a
negative impression. Consumers, who became concerned about the leakage of their
smoke data, no longer believed that the program was providing sufficient protection.
Bad comments and complaints posted on social media networks served to intensify the
negative image, repelling prospective consumers from interacting with the firm. This
gave arising consequences in the long run, including the erosion of customer loyalty and
their ability to remain loyal with the company.
The attack was also launched at a time when Apple was holding one of its largest sales
events, which inflicted even greater damage. For optimum disruption, DarkShades
intentionally staged this period, ensuring optimal exposure to the attack. The resulting
confusion not only negatively impacted current sales but also affected the potential for
future sales as well.
The MITM attack on TechBazaar exposed the lack of security in the company’s network
and structure as a whole. A lack of modern encryption standards along with insufficient
network monitoring and outdated authentication methods rendered the company
vulnerable to such high-profile attacks.
As DarkShades leaked important information and compromised key resources, it
unveiled how costly a lack of cybersecurity could be. Critical financial losses, disruptions
in operational processes, and negative impacts on the overall reputation served as a
clear indicator for organizations to uphold strict security protocols amid the growing
integration of connected systems in the modern world.
Network Attack 2: Media Access Control (MAC) Spoofing.
Subsequently gaining entry into TechBazaar’s network through prior spying activities,
DarkShades employed an advanced Media Access Control (MAC) Spoofing attack in
order to progress with their plans. This technique covered MAC spoofing, which refers
to the changing of Media Access Control addresses; these are distinct physical identifiers
given to devices to ensure identification in networks and regulate their access. In this
attack, DarkShades acquired a legitimate MAC address and thus was able to gain
unauthorized access in the TechBazaar’s network mimicking the identity of an
authorized device. This attack not only affected the network but also brought a series of
abnormal operations into the company, causing serious losses in terms of operations,
finance, and reputation.
MAC address facilitates identification and authentication of devices within a network.
These identifiers, although used by various access control systems, can be easily forged
with a stock standard tool kit. DarkShades took advantage of this by using the
information acquired from their reconnaissance to locate a well-privileged device inside
the TechBazaar’s network. They employed packet sniffing tools to capture data packets
with the intention of extracting the legitimate MAC address belonging to this device.
Having obtained this information, the DarkShades employed spoofing software to mimic
the extracted MAC address. This enabled it to imitate the legitimate device’s identity
and therefore avoid being restricted by the access control measures and gain full control
over the network. Most crucially, the network failed to employ dynamic validation or
additional tiers of authentication, which made it virtually impossible to distinguish the
intruders from legitimate users and allowed them to penetrate important systems
unhindered.
After penetrating the targeted network, the DarkShades gang performed more
reconnaissance to identify its members and a range of valuable assets. They
concentrated on essential targets including administrative systems, customers’ data,
and financial records. The attackers effectively identified areas of weakness or
significant data assets based on traffic flows and interlinks. This groundwork enabled
them to map their actions and attacks to achieve greater depth of penetration and
infiltration.
Thus, using a spoofed MAC address, DarkShades gained deep and unique insights into
TechBazaar’s systems. They tapped into sensitive conversations, harvested confidential
corporate data, and manipulated organizational procedures. The attackers also
exploited the access to steal customer data such as PII and payments information that
they later used to demand a ransom.
Having a spoofed device in the network was instrumental in disrupting the functioning
of TechBazaar to a greater extent. Thus, by pretending to be a proper device,
DarkShades influenced the network traffic and disrupted its flow, resulting in failures
and fluctuations. Original devices frequently became less utilized while the spoofed
device dominated, causing inefficiencies in the system and delays in operations.
Customers complained of common problems like inability to complete their
transactions, account being frozen, and slow page loading. These interruptions were
especially damaging because DarkShades coordinated their attack with a major sales
campaign, thus aggravating the situation. The failure to process orders or deliver
services during this critical period quantity to immediate revenue loss and long-term
dissatisfaction with clients.
The attack affected TechBazaar’s customer base in a significant way. Through shoppers’
complaints and feedback, many customers lost access to their accounts or faced errors
while trying to finalize purchases. Such issues coupled with slow pace of service
recovery gave rise to more disgruntlement. Another consequence of the lack of effective
quality assurance was information leaks on social media; disgruntled customers
complained about TechBazaar’s products online.
As a result of the negative publicity, many customers were left questioning the reliability
and security of the platform. In addition, complaints rose as many of Amazon’s
dedicated and long-standing customers started using other e-commerce sites instead.
This eroded trust impacted TechBazaar’s brand image and market position hence
making any efforts to reverse the effects challenging.
One of the reasons why this attack was successful was because TechBazaar utilizes static
MAC filtering in authenticating these devices. This old security method assigns MAC
addresses to devices and cannot detect or counteract spoofing operations. DarkShades
took advantage of this vulnerability to infiltrate and extend their stay in the network
without authorization.
Static MAC filtering is inherently susceptible since it fails to consider dynamic threats or
changes in network traffic patterns. In this case, there were no dynamic filtering or realtime authentication mechanisms in place that would have enabled the network
administrators to notice the change in MAC address and kick out DarkShades out of the
network earlier than they blocked out all legitimate users.
Another disadvantage stemmed from TechBazaar’s inability to utilize sophisticated tools
to monitor its network. Systems like Instruction Detection Systems (IDS) or Instruction
Prevention Systems (IPS) could have identified the existence of cloned or malicious MAC
addresses. However, this exposed the network devoid of such systems for an extended
period of exploitation.
In the absence of constant supervision, the spoofed device acted independently within
the network, eavesdropping on the exchange of information, halting processes, and
transferring sensitive data outside the network. These aims were successfully achieved,
and in turn, the attackers were able to evade being detected within TechBazaar’s
environment for the chosen duration, thus exposing key vulnerabilities in TechBazaar’s
cybersecurity.
The MAC Spoofing attack led to significant operational disruptions and financial losses
to TechBazaar. Network operations disruptions during a peak sales event led to revenue
losses. Those who could not complete their transactions or access their accounts also
lost confidence in the platform, which also decreased future sales and continued
patronage.
Internally, there was confusion as workers grappled with the problem on their network
connections and getting back to normalcy. The interference with internal activities and
information flow contributed to delays, mistakes, and slower work, which also
hampered the recovery process.
The MAC Spoofing attack also highlighted some more general issues in TechBazaar’s
cybersecurity plan. While the company relied on conventional approaches to viewing
logs and opening ports, their control methods did not include advanced measures like
dynamic filtering and real-time monitoring, making them susceptible to modern attacks.
This attack could be considered as the call for introducing extensive security changes
and a more active approach regarding threats and vulnerabilities.
Thus, the MAC Spoofing attack by DarkShades exposed significant loopholes in
TechBazaar’s network protection. The vulnerability of WEP due to static MAC filtering
which the attackers utilized accompanied by lack of efficient monitoring and
authentication, gave the attackers the mastery to penetrate the network and unleash
these calamities. Besides the leakage of information, the attack caused severe
reputational losses for TechBazaar and highlighted the significance of proper
cybersecurity measures in the modern world.
Attack Responses
As earlier observed, if there is a correct way of handling the situation in question, it
ought to be prompt and effective and sadly this is hard to find at TechBazaar. The first of
the actionable suggestions that would be taken at the moment of the attack would be
to alert the employees to the phishing attack. This message has to be understandable to
all the employees and inform them that some fake emails are circulating the internet.
One way of achieving this was by sending an email, newsletter or any other internal mail
within the firm to make a note of it. It would also explain the look of the fake emails and
then give an elaborate procedure on what to do if one received them. Employees would
also be encouraged to forward any suspicious mail and would not be encouraged to
open any link or download any file from the mail.
Besides, the company ought to have conducted a sweep to discover which accounts had
been reached by the phishing attack the very moment the breach was noticed. This
would involve sometime checking the login activity logs or else less verifying with the
employees. In case there were any compromised accounts such, accounts were
supposed to be deactivated by the IT department to prevent access by such persons.
Besides, all the users should have been forced to develop new passwords in the system.
Password resets ensure that even if the password is cracked it is guaranteed to turn out
ineffective. To strengthen security for the organization, MFA should have been enforced
at TechBazar to make users provide other information or identifiers for access for any
system. MFA strengthens the security because even if the attacker got the stolen
credentials, he/she/it cannot gain access to the accounts.
Regarding the second type of attack, namely the Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attack, this
is how TechBazaar’s real-time response should have looked. Communication can be
intercepted only until the presence of the third party is apprehended, and it implies in
the case of TechBazaar it should have localized the affected communication modes to
avoid further intrusion. The IT team should have tried to make a attempt of a network
lockdown and lock all the busy traffic apart from shutting down all the unauthorized
ports. There should have been cybersecurity forensic experts who should have to
examine the attack and understand how the attackers got into the system and see areas
of weakness that favored the intruders.
Despite this, there are some weaknesses that ought to have been managed to be
applied to this attack; all the transmitted data should have been encrypted both in
storage and during transfer. For these comms, encryption mechanisms like SSL/TLS or
even HTTPS should have have already been put in place. As for the situation when the
attackers are able to intercept the data then encryption would only complicate their
understanding of it without having decryption keys. In addition, certificate pinning and
mutual authentication should have been used to prevent man in the middle attacks and
to allowed only the trusted endpoint devices in the system.
Furthermore, others remedial measures that ought to have been undertaken, for
example were to encrypt pertinent customer details for tracking and to temper with the
consequences of the breach. Even in the case whereby the data includes the following
information which was intercepted, it was encrypted in another level and hence any
way the attackers could have got was impossible. Other keys being kept discreet would
offer customers an extra layer of protection while making the given information virtually
indecipherable; thus, preventing the attempts at fraudulent manipulation of the
customer’s financial accounts from happening.
In responding to the MAC Spoofing attack, apart from blocking the MAC address of the
attacker as done by Tech Bazaar, the response should have included following
measures: The network should have been properly monitored to detect the spoofed
device. The exact identity of the spoofed device should have been authenticated using
tighter authentication mechanisms available. Real time intrusion detection technologies
such as Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (IDPS) would have helped the
company to detect and block duplicate MAC addresses and suspicious traffic patterns on
the network. Dynamic MAC filtering together with device authentication through
certificates may have limited access to all authenticated devices, thus keeping undesired
entities out of secured areas.
Another good approach would have been implementation of port security on switches.
If TechBazaar had allowed only few MAC addresses to be associated with a port, then
the spoofed MAC address would not have been allowed in the network. Furthermore,
allowing for the 802.1X authentication standard protocols of their network devices
would have provided another layer of protection as the devices attempted to gain entry
into the network.
Fail-over Systems and Redundancy also have a great part to play in managing such
attacks. Load balancing systems could have steered actual traffic to other sections of the
network that remained unaffected, at the same time, shield the affected zones. In case
of the attack, TechBazaar using segregation techniques could have limited
the0578541300 scope of the attacker to a particular sub-net to contain stretched
malicious exercises.
The organization known as TechBazaar should also have also underlined the importance
of monitoring and logging in a bid to identify patterns of network traffic that deviate
from the norm. Devices that send notifications on any suspicious activity like a device
sending lots of requests could have been of help to the administrators. Just as useful
would have been training employees to identify compromised devices and suspicious
traffic that has breached company networks.
In this regard, spoofing attacks should have been in the organization’s incident response
plan that lacked detailed action to be taken in such circumstances. This would involve
finding out that device, cancelling that device and also starting the process of
investigating how this actually occurred. Maybe, concentration on the analysis of
failures and lessons learnt will assist TechBazaar in avoiding such vulnerabilities in the
future.
Last but not least, employee cyber security is very important to be emphasized.
Continuous awareness of self-phishing email, self-awareness of social engineering, and
self-reporting of any identified issue wouldAtlantic shorthaul fact staff as the first line of
defense. Maybe these suggestions will help make the idea of occasional imitation cyber
threats more reliable: Periodically conducting special sessions that would recreate
different types of spoofing and phishing and other attacks could help remind the
employees of these skills and allow preparing them to face real threats.
Such measures combined with disaster response plan would put efforts in much
stronger position concerning protection of TechBazaar. By actively mitigating risks,
constantly scanning for threats and sharing knowledge with employees, TechBazaar will
be able to protect its services, customer data, and its reputation intent on regaining the
customer trust.
Prevention and Applicable Laws
Indeed, for the prevention of the MITM attack, the use of secure coding standards,
proper encryption, and vulnerability scans is paramount. Users should be educated not
to use insecure or unauthorized networks because such networks securely represent
MITM attacks. This ensures that intercepted information will be as good as being in alien
language, since it will be coded and can only be understood with a decryption codes.
Penetration testing can also be conducted on periodic bases to discover vulnerabilities
in the communication interfaces to ensure TechBazaar does not have a blind side that
an aggressive attacker can quickly capitalize on.
MAC Spoofing attacks; to prevent such attacks at TechBazaar the following measures
should be implemented dynamic MAC filtering that requires 802.1X to prove the
legitimacy of the device before it is granted access. I agree with Huaet that real time
monitoring tools that can discover the presence of similar MAC address would notify
administrators of spoofing. Additionally, possible spoofed devices can be detected early,
if regular employees are trained to look for suspicious activity on a network or some
device.
Legal compliance is equally important. To ensure that the company complies with data
protection legislation, TechBazaar complies with the Information Technology Act, 2000
of India and the GDPR of the European Union. These laws entail organizational
measures such as encryption, access control and data processing reporting activity to
minimize legal implications and also accelerate customer confidence to the
organization.
Currently, all major systems should have Two-Factor Authentication to minimize
unauthorized access to TechBazaar accounts. It adds an extra layer of protection, even
passwords which have been compromised cannot be abused to get past anti-virus or
firewall protection. Moreover, employers’ training regarding the threats of cyber
criminals and other conflicts should involve the presentation of different types of scams
and attempts, including phishing and attempts at social engineering, and should include
in-person practice of what has been taught via e-mail, for example sending a phishing email to the employees to show them the importance of avoiding such scams.
The best defense against MAC Spoofing is therefore the development of intense disaster
response planning. This paper discovered that ‘the networks have to be segmented, and
infected devices be quarantined to minimize the impact of a cyber-attack on the
systems. The technical infrastructure of TechBazaar must also include load balancing
systems and fail over plans for sustained service continuity in the event of a cyber
attack.
In order to protect TechBazaar from the threats that are present and constantly evolving
it is required to develop and implement a complex, multi-level information security
plan. Such plan should combine application of new IT solutions and constant training of
employees. Better coding standards, better monitoring procedures and adhere to legal
requirement will minimize such attacks in the future thus protecting customers’ data
and trust. In this way, some measures may be implemented to protect its operations
while trying to build a reputation in reliability and security.
REFERENCES.
Alotaibi, B., & Elleithy, K. (2016). A new MAC address spoofing detection technique
based on random forests. Sensors, 16(3), 281.
https://doi.org/10.3390/s16030281
Ammar, M., Russello, G., & Crispo, B. (2017). Internet of Things: A survey on the security
of IoT frameworks. Journal of Information Security and Applications, 38, 8–27.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jisa.2017.11.002
Aliyu, F., Sheltami, T., & Shakshuki, E. M. (2018). A detection and prevention technique
for man in the middle attack in fog computing. Procedia Computer Science, 141,
24–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2018.10.125
Benzaïd, C., Boulgheraif, A., Dahmane, F. Z., Al-Nemrat, A., & Zeraoulia, K. (2016).
Intelligent detection of MAC spoofing attack in 802.11 network. Intelligent
Detection of MAC Spoofing Attack in 802.11 Network, 1–5.
https://doi.org/10.1145/2833312.2850446
Conteh, N. Y., & Schmick, P. J. (2016). Cybersecurity:risks, vulnerabilities and
countermeasures to prevent social engineering attacks. International Journal of
Advanced Computer Research, 6(23), 31–38.
https://doi.org/10.19101/ijacr.2016.623006
De Magalhães, S. T. (2020). The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation
(GDPR). In WORLD SCIENTIFIC eBooks (pp. 529–558).
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789811204463_0015
Eigner, O., Kreimel, P., & Tavolato, P. (2016). Detection of Man-in-the-Middle Attacks on
Industrial Control Networks. Detection of Man-in-the-Middle Attacks on
Industrial Control Networks. https://doi.org/10.1109/icssa.2016.19
Gupta, S., Singhal, A., & Kapoor, A. (2016). A literature survey on social engineering
attacks: Phishing attack. A Literature Survey on Social Engineering Attacks:
Phishing Attack. https://doi.org/10.1109/ccaa.2016.7813778
Kaur, R., & Aggarwal, R. A. (2013). The Information Technology Act, 2000-Demystified
with Reference to Cybercrimes. Paradigm a Management Research Journal,
17(1–2), 99–104. https://doi.org/10.1177/0971890720130111
Phishing for phools: the economics of manipulation and deception. (2015). Choice
Reviews Online, 53(05), 53–2272. https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.194469
Sowah, R. A., Ofori-Amanfo, K. B., Mills, G. A., & Koumadi, K. M. (2019). Detection and
Prevention of Man-in-the-Middle spoofing attacks in MANETs using predictive
techniques in Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). Journal of Computer Networks
and Communications, 2019, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/4683982