Top Network Performance Issues

Network security vulnerabilities and threats continue to evolve in both number and sophistication, typically falling into four primary categories: deception, disclosure, usurpation, and disruption. These threats, whether accidental or intentional, can degrade or even cause the failure of critical services within a virtual environment. Below is an overview of the top causes of network performance issues.

Disclosure or Information Leakage

Sensitive or private information can be leaked through various means, such as ARP table poisoning, IP address spoofing, subverting firewall rules to gain root access on a node, or escalating privileges.

Information Interception

Attackers may intercept communications between devices, a process known as sniffing or eavesdropping, to steal sensitive data. This often involves misleading the physical router to forward data packets, allowing the attacker to intercept them. The threat increases when physical resources are shared across multiple networks.

Even encrypted data within network packets is at risk. Malicious users can analyze certain features to deduce which entities are communicating, how often, and the packet sizes. Additional threats include using multiple network requests to map out the physical infrastructure’s topology.

Deception

Deception can manifest in several ways, including loss of registry entries, identity fraud, and replay attacks.

Introspection Exploitation

Introspection enables system administrators to monitor the real-time status of virtual devices, such as memory, disk, or processor registers. Malicious attackers can exploit these functions to access sensitive data within virtual nodes.

Usurpation

Usurpation involves a malicious attacker gaining access to confidential data on virtual routers. These attacks typically exploit vulnerabilities, involve identity fraud, or allow a guest user to execute arbitrary code across the host OS.

Physical Resource Overload

Physical resource overload can lead to the failure of virtual nodes or degrade network performance below the minimum required standards. This degradation can cause packet loss, network congestion, or disruption across existing networks. Resource conflicts may arise from excessive simultaneous demands on the same substrate network. Overloads may also result from coordinated attacks targeting the physical network infrastructure from within a virtual network or from external sources, with denial-of-service (DoS) attacks being the most common.

Final Thoughts

Network infrastructures must deliver high performance and robust resilience against known threats and vulnerabilities. By focusing on network hygiene, such as managing passwords, maintaining patch levels, and registering critical hosts like servers, IT staff can significantly reduce potential threats by addressing the basics that are often overlooked.

At CTEKS, we are an experienced systems integrator who understands the unique challenges your organization faces in securing your network. CTEKS partners with best-in-class technologies to develop network security solutions tailored to your specific technology and budgetary needs, ensuring your organization is protected from both external and internal threats.