Mechanisms of system penetration: Review

Abstract

Given the escalating frequency of cyber-attacks worldwide, network security has become a pressing concern. Consequently, a substantial amount of "ethical hackers" have offered their services voluntarily to develop strategies and scripts to combat security problems. The necessity for more efficient management of security systems has led to the development of penetration testing, as it is time-consuming to maintain and monitor attacks on each hardware and software within an enterprise. Several research organisations have developed algorithms to protect networks based on their size, kind, and purpose. This study involves the construction of a simulated organisational framework to examine the practise of penetration testing within a live server-client environment. The Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) was selected as the routing protocol due to its extensive usage in contemporary networks. In addition, BGP exhibits low internal vulnerabilities, which enhances the overall security assessment. This research introduces computer-based attacks and actual network-based attacks, together with their corresponding defence methods. The article demonstrates the process of conducting penetration testing on a specific BGP network. Both internal and external network attacks are used to produce packets, exploits, and payloads. Firstly, we commence by delineating all the sub-fields within the penetration testing domain, together with its respective requirements and repercussions. This paper focuses on several techniques used to attack routers, switches, and physical client workstations in the context of educational and learning research.