Any networked system tends to present points for attacks that present vulnerabilities that are in the system. An attack vector is a virtual surface on which the attacker can plant their malicious bombs and information grenades in an effort to gain access over an information system. The users of the networked system will be more threatened when they have an attack vector that is unknown to them exposed to the outside world. Hackers from the outside will probe the system looking for such a vector and when they find it, take advantage of the weakness it presents to them in an effort to get into the system.
A networked system will also have many weaknesses that can easily be taken advantage of and this is an attack vector that attackers and hackers will spend lots of hours trying to find. As the hacker looks into the weaknesses that an information system exposes to the outside, they will take not of even the tiniest errors or misconfigurations to the system. This is quite useful for them as they will be able to find where to gain a hold when scaling up the firewalls put in place to keep them out of the way.
Networked systems might also present an attack vector in being improperly configured and usually, the misconfigurations present an incorrect setup that was not properly tied up together and can lead to information leakages and the loss of privacy for the users of the networked system. Authorization for the system, for instance, will need to be very stable in order to prevent the users from getting locked out of their own systems. The measures that are enforced for the networked systems make it possible for the users to have a better experience with the applications as well as maintaining the security level of the system.
Finding out the weak spots in the configuration of a networked system is very simple and involve testing the system and trying it out in an effort to establish the weaknesses it presents to hackers. This is not always a simple process but a very important one for anyone running an information system that needs to stay secure and well protected. Loss of information and denial of service attacks are brought on by the poor configuration of the system which exposes the points of attack to the hackers and they get to take advantage of this information in escalating privileges among other things.
In conclusion, upholding the security of an information system, especially networked systems, is very useful as it prevents hackers and other kinds of attacks from being carried out on the system. The hacker will always be looking for the slightest entry into the information system and for poorly configured systems; this means that even the smallest point of access can be used to break into the entire system. As a network administrator, running scans for such weaknesses and making your overall security mechanism stronger can be really useful in ensuring that you have a safe and secure running system.
