Security threats
Security threats defined by acts or objects that pose a danger to a system’s security
Security threats divided into 2 types Technical Attacks and Non-technical attacks
Technical Attacks
Technical Attacks considered one of the most challenging problems that E-commerce should face. The responsible for these attacks typically target sites such as banks, credit card payment gateway. (McDowell, 2009)
Denial of service attack DoS
Denial of Service attack occurs when a malicious user attempts to flood a networked computer or device with traffic in order to make the computer or device unavailable, the attack gets its name from its purpose it’s intended to deny the ability of an institution or company to provide service to its users or customers. (University, 2013)
According to the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team the symptoms of DoS are: (McDowell, 2009)
Slow network performance
Unavailability of a particular website
Inability to access any website
Distributed denied of service attack
DDoS attack is when the attacker gets access to as many computers as possible and uses these computers to send a flood of data packets to the target computer (Efraim Turban, 2006)
An Example of DDoS
DDoS considered the greatest security fear for IT professionals, the most famous DDoS attacks happened in February 2000 where websites including Yahoo, Buy.com, E-bay, Amazon and CNN were attacked and left inaccessible for several hours (O’Raghallaigh, 2010 )
Malwares
Techterms website define malwares as software programs designed to damage or do other unwanted actions on a computer system (Anon., s.d.)
There are many types of malware including:
Viruses: A piece of software code that insert itself into the target in order to propagate ...
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Available at: http://www.techterms.com/definition/malware
Anon., n.d. Trojan Horse. [Online]
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Bill Wyman, W. S. H. L. S., 2013. Email Phishing Attacks, s.l.: The SANS Securing The Human program.
Efraim Turban, D. K. ,. J. K. L. ,. D. V., 2006. Electronic Commerce: A Managerial Perspective. Prentice Hall ed. s.l.:s.n.
Engineering, M. R. t. S., 2005. Measuring Resistance to Social Engineering.
McDowell, M., 2009. Understanding Denial-of-Service Attacks. [Online]
Available at: http://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/tips/ST04-015
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O’Raghallaigh, E., 2010 . Major Security Issues in E‐Commerce, s.l.: WebScience.
University, H., 2013. What is a Denial of Service (DoS) attack?. [Online]
Available at: http://huit.harvard.edu/faqs/what-denial-service-dos-attack
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At this juncture, it may be somewhat difficult to accept the proposition that a threat to the telecommunications grid, both wired and wireless, in the United States could potentially be subject to a catastrophic cyber attack. After careful research on the subject, it appears the potentiality of an event of such magnitude, which either disrupts one or the other grids for a long period or destroys either, is both theoretically and realistically impossible. It may be that proponents—those who advance such theories—equate such “doomsday” scenarios as if a cyber attack would or could be of the same magnitude as a conventional or nuclear military strike. Terms such as “cyber Pearl Harbor,” “cyber 9/11” and “cyber Vietnam” have been used to describes potential catastrophic cyber attacks and yet, “Though many have posited notions on what a ‘real’ cyber war would be like, we lack the understanding of how such conflicts will be conducted and evolve.” (Rattray & Healey, 2010, p. 77). Yet, the U.S. government continues to focus on such events, as if the plausibility of small-scale cyber attacks were not as pressing.
A dictionary attack is a technique used to break the computer security of a password-protected machine or server by systematically entering each word in dictionary as a password. A brute force attack is a trial-and-error method used to obtain secret information such passwords.
It seems that DOS attacks and other forms of cyber attacks are not under Computer misuse Act legislation ( misinformation and ignorance from many sources such as some webs of IT security specialists) but after consultation with an international law firm that doubt was resolved,and Compuer Misuse Act encompasses a wide range of activities including DOS attacks.
Terrorism represents a continuing threat to the United States. It is the most significant threat to our national security. Terrorist attacks have definitely left many concerns about the possibilities of future incidents of terrorism in the United States. Since the events of September 11, 2011, Americans and much of the world are afraid. Americans are at war with terrorism and no longer feel comfortable. A part of this unease feeling has to do with cyber terrorism.
I decided to read the book by David Harley called Viruses Revealed. This book goes into great detail about the different kinds of viruses and virus mechanisms, the solutions to these viruses, studies on different cases of viruses and then the social aspects of viruses. In the first part of the book, Harley talks about the problems with viruses. A virus is a program that infects other programs to modify them. “Infecting means that a virus will insert itself into the chain of command” (Harley). The virus structure was defined into three different parts: Infection, Payload, and Trigger. The infection is defined as the way or ways in which the virus spreads. The payload is defined as what the virus does besides duplicating itself. Trigger is defined as the procedure that decides whether or not the payload is necessary. Harley also talks about the difference between damage versus infection. The major difference between the two is that many users have infected documents or applications on their computer. Whether or not those applications are run is the difference between the two. In part one Harley also converses about Trojan Horses. Trojan horses are normally known as a virus, but he shoots that down. Harley says that Trojan Horses are normally not viruses, but just a worm that goes from computer to computer. After talking about different kinds of viruses and worms, he goes into Anti-Virus softwares. There are two different kinds of anti-viruses. One being virus-specific. Virus-specific means that every time a virus is found on your computer, it is identified but not detected. Generic scanners do the opposite. Generic scanners detect viruses but do not identify them.
The ability to conduct warfare through technological methods has increased information security awareness and the need to protect an entities infrastructure. Subsequently, cyber warfare produces increased risk to security practitioners that employ technology and other methods to mitigate risks to information and the various systems that hold or transmit data. A significant risk to information lies in the conduct of electronic commerce, hereinafter called e-commerce. E-commerce is the purchasing or selling of goods and/or services through the internet or other electronic means (Liu, Chen, Huang, & Yang, 2013). In this article, the researcher will discuss cyber warfare risks, present an evaluation on established security measures, identify potential victims of identity theft, and present an examina...
...ng it, crashing it, jamming it, or flooding it. Denial of service is impossible to prevent because of the distributed nature of the network: every network node is connected via other networks, which in turn connect to other networks. A firewall administrator or ISP has control of only a few of the local elements within reach. An attacker can always disrupt a connection "upstream" from where the victim controls it. In other words, someone who wants to take a network off the air can either take the network off the air directly or take the network it connects to off the air, or the network that connects to that network off the air, ad infinitum. Hackers can deny service in many ways, ranging from the complex to the brute-force.
Malicious software in short known as Malware. It is also known as computer Contaminant. Similar to biological parasite, malware also reside in a Host. Malware will get installed on host without user’s consent. Generally a software is considered malware based on the intent of the creator...
Every day millions in some cases billions of dollars are made by businesses from income brought in by online sale of products and services. As businesses continually develop and expand their client base with online products and services so does the desire by criminals to exploit vulnerabilities in their e-commerce setup. The mass worldwide internet usage growth within the last 20 years has been “an approximate 16 million users in 1995 to an estimated 2,937 million in March of 2014” As the importance of e-commerce increases so does the need to protect the technological infrastructure that will carry out online transactions for each business regardless of its size. I will attempt to highlight and review the history of a few cyber crimes to show the progression of the crimes within the last 30-40 years. I also plan to review how the economy and consumers are impacted by cyber crimes. Finally I will make an effort to contribute with information gathering on how to lower the risk of a cyber attack from and individual user to a large scale business.
capacity and performance. However, as networks enable more and more applications and are available to more and more users, they become ever more vulnerable to a wider range of security threats. To combat those threats and ensure that e-business transactions are not compromised, security technology must play a major role in today's networks.
Malicious code, also known as malware, installed on a computer provides an attacker with the control over this machine. Therefore, malware can be defined as “a set of instructions that run on your computer and make your system do something that an attacker wants to do”. It is more common to see malicious code to be implemented in binary executable files. However, it can be implemented in almost any computer language. Attackers have used a huge number of scripting languages, word processing macro languages and a h...
Malicious software, or simply malware, can be described as software that a computer user never authorized to be loaded. This means that the software can be found on user’s computer without his or her knowledge. Furthermore, a malware can be described as software that collects private information from any computer without user’s knowledge and authorization. As the name suggests, this software is malicious and can do great damage to a computer, mobile device, or other related devices. This damage can range from something as slight as altering the author’s name on a document to massive damage like making an entire device fail to function properly (Töyssy and Marko 109). The good news is that malwares can be controlled or prevented. As a matter of fact, it does not cost a fortune to keep a device safe from malware attacks. It also needs enough knowledge about them. In order to be able to do this, however, it is important to understand the various terminologies used to describe malicious software.
In today’s days malware is designated as a software which aims to disturb a computer with the consent or permission of the owner. This term “Malware” is used by computer professionals to describe a varied forms of destructive, annoying and intrusive software code. This word “Malware” is used to indicate all types of malware which include a true set of viruses.
Inevitably a cyber-attack will occur, and society needs to be prepared to defend against them. This increase of large-scale attacks was what brought to light the necessary balance between security and safety and how betraying either can damage trust, which may never be repaired. Though everyone has differing opinions on online safety and security, many authors can agree that education and policies need to be a larger priority in today's world. Consequently, ignoring these requirements will not improve cybersecurity standards, while those wishing to harm others perfect their skills, many on the internet will be left
Cybercrimes is rapidly growing and increasing at a substantial rate. This is a crime that affects everyone no matter where a person lives. Anything that connects to the internet is susceptible to attack. In fact Verizon quoted, “No locale, no industry or organization is bulletproof when it comes to compromise of data”. IBM President and CEO Ginni Rometty described cybercrime as, “The greatest threat to every profession, every industry, and every company in the world”. Individuals are just as susceptible to attack. There is a hacker attack every 39 seconds, affecting 1 in 3 Americans. In this essay I will cover types of cybercrimes and the affect they have on businesses, government agencies, and the economy.