A certain institution connected their computers to a Wide Area Network and experienced some passive network threats. Outline four such threats. (4 marks)July 2020

There are several passive network threats that a institution may experience when connecting their computers to a Wide Area Network (WAN):

1. Eavesdropping: This is the act of intercepting and listening to communication between two or more parties without their knowledge or consent. On a WAN, this could involve an attacker intercepting and reading sensitive data such as passwords or confidential documents.
2. Traffic analysis: This is the act of collecting and analyzing information about the flow of data on a network, in order to infer sensitive information about the network or its users. On a WAN, this could involve an attacker analyzing the patterns of network traffic in order to identify sensitive data or activities.
3. Masquerading: This is the act of disguising oneself as a legitimate user in order to gain unauthorized access to a network or system. On a WAN, this could involve an attacker using a fake or stolen identity to gain access to restricted resources.
4. Replay attacks: This is the act of intercepting and reusing previously transmitted data in order to gain unauthorized access to a network or system. On a WAN, this could involve an attacker intercepting and reusing a user’s login credentials to gain access to restricted resource