Vulnerabilities are weaknesses that attackers can exploit to gain unauthorized access to a network or its resources. Attacks are attempts to damage, access, or misuse assets without permission. Network security mechanisms detect, prevent, and recover from attacks using methods like routing control, traffic padding, encryption, access control, digital signatures, and ensuring data integrity.

2. Vulnerability
Attack
Threat
Network Security Mechanisms

3. Vulnerabilities are weak points or loopholes in
security that an attacker exploits in order to gain
access to the network or to resources on the
network.

5. Attack is any attempt to destroy, expose,
alter, disable, steal or gain unauthorized
access to or make unauthorized use of an
asset.
Two types of attack are:
 Passive Attack
 Active Attack

10. A mechanism that is designed to detect, prevent,
or recover from a security attack.
Different types of security Mechanisms are:
 Routing control
 Traffic padding
 Encipherment
 Access Control
 Digital Signatures
 Data Integrity

11. Enables selection of particular physically secure
routes for certain data and allows routing changes,
especially when a breach of security is suspected.

12. The insertion of bits into gaps in a data stream
to frustrate traffic analysis attempts.

13. Encipherment is the process of translating
plaintext into ciphertext.
The use of mathematical algorithms to
transform data into a form that is not readily
intelligible.
Cryptography technique is used for
enciphering.

14. A word with greek origin, means “Secret
Writing”.
Two distinct mechanisms:
 Symmetric-Key Encipherment
 Asymmetric-Key Encipherment

15. A digital signature or digital signature
scheme is a mathematical scheme for
demonstrating the authenticity of a digital
message or document.

17. It uses methods to prove that a user has
access rights to the data or resources owned
by a system.
Examples: passwords and PINs

18. Data integrity refers to maintaining and
assuring the accuracy and consistency
of data.
A variety of mechanisms used to assure the
integrity of a data unit or stream of data
units.

19. A check digit is an extra digit added to a number
so that, if a number is changed, the error will be
detected.
Method
Starting from the right, multiply the first digit by 1,
the second by 2 etc
Add the results together
Use the last digit of the result and add to end of
number.
◦ Example: 56037 becomes 560372
◦ Example: 50637 becomes 506376