Network Security Threats: Typical Cyberattacks and How Penetration Testing Mitigates Risk
Understanding the most common network attacks targeting organizations, the vulnerabilities they exploit, and how network security assessments help strengthen real-world defenses.
Modern organizations rely on interconnected systems that continuously move data across on-premises and cloud environments. This connectivity improves operational agility and enables seamless data exchange, but it also expands the surface exposed to network security threats. Understanding these risks, and validating defenses through network pentesting, is essential for any business seeking a resilient security posture.
So, what exactly are these risks and how do they emerge?
A network security threat is any event or circumstance that could compromise the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of a resource in the network. Threats materialize by exploiting weaknesses in configurations, software, or human behavior.
In practice, incidents can begin with something small: a misconfigured firewall rule, an exposed service, or an overlooked credential. Once exploited, the impact often extends far beyond downtime, as breaches can lead to data loss, regulatory penalties, and long-term operational disruption.
Network penetration testing helps organizations map how vulnerabilities can be chained into realistic attack paths. By simulating real attacker techniques, it demonstrates exploitability, supports risk-based prioritization, and validates the organization’s ability to detect and respond before damage occurs.
Network Attacks: How They Start and How to Stop Them
While network cyber threats keep evolving, many incidents follow familiar patterns. Below are five of the most common attacks that continue to affect modern infrastructures.
1. Unauthorized access and credential compromise
In network assessments, it’s common to find accounts that should have been disabled, including credentials tied to former employees or legacy integrations. Once identified, attackers can use these credentials to authenticate, move laterally within the environment, or escalate privileges.
Weak passwords, credential reuse, and limited visibility into access permissions often make this vector possible. Preventing it requires strong identity management, enforcing multi-factor authentication, rotating privileged credentials, and regularly reviewing account inventories to ensure only active users retain access.
2. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks
A DDoS overwhelms a target with traffic until legitimate users can no longer connect. Attacks may be volumetric or protocol-based (such as SYN floods) and can also strike the application layer with resource-intensive requests. The goal is service disruption, sometimes linked to extortion or used to divert attention from other intrusions.
Defending against DDoS requires building capacity and detection in advance. Rate limiting, load balancing, and traffic filtering are key controls, but visibility is equally important: organizations that continuously monitor network behavior and maintain a clear response plan can react before an overload becomes a full-scale outage.
3. Malware and Botnet Infections
Malware is software designed to steal data, disrupt operations, or provide attackers with remote control. Once a system is compromised, it can also be integrated into a botnet to support broader attacks. These infections typically arise from overlooked security gaps (unpatched systems, unsafe downloads, or exposed remote access ports) and can move laterally across shared resources if segmentation is weak.
During network penetration testing, pentesters may detect misconfigured, outdated or vulnerable services which normally serve as an entry point for infections and malware.
4. Phishing and Social Engineering
Many successful attacks begin by targeting people rather than systems. Phishing uses convincing messages or cloned websites to trick users into revealing credentials or downloading malware. Once access data is compromised, attackers can infiltrate email systems, VPNs, or cloud dashboards under legitimate identities.
Phishing prevention depends on both technology and awareness. Email authentication standards like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC help block spoofed senders, while sandboxing and URL filtering stop most malicious attachments before they cause harm. Still, the strongest defense is education: when employees understand how these attacks work, they can recognize warning signs that automated tools might overlook.
Learn more about social engineering penetration testing in our dedicated article.
Network Security Solutions & Services: How to Choose the Best Network Penetration Testing Provider
Protecting modern infrastructure requires a balance of technology, expertise, and proactive testing. Network security providers help organizations design defenses that align with their architecture, while specialized teams conduct network penetration testing to assess how resilient those defenses truly are.
When relying on a third-party provider (a common choice for companies with limited internal teams and/or specialized skills), it’s essential that pentesting partners understand the nuances of internal segmentation, privilege management, and how business logic influences security exposure.
Beyond tools and technology, the key factor is adaptability. As networks expand across hybrid and cloud environments, network attacks evolve just as quickly. Working with experts who deeply understand these attack vectors (and how adversaries act when exploiting them) allows organizations to identify weaknesses before they turn into real incidents.
Need Expert Network Penetration Testing?
For organizations looking to validate the security of their network infrastructure, we've partnered with leading offensive security specialists who combine deep technical expertise with an attacker-led mindset. They focus on uncovering business-critical vulnerabilities specific to your unique architecture and workflows.
Our pentesting partners focus on:
Targeted attack scenarios: Business-critical simulations that focus on your most valuable assets and attack surfaces, thinking like real attackers.
Regulatory compliance: Specialized assessments for PCI DSS, SOC 2, ISO 27001, and other industry-specific requirements.
Real-world risk prioritization: Manual testing that uncovers exploitable vulnerabilities beyond automated scanning capabilities.
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