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Security, Malware,
and Your Computer
Computers are practically in every aspect of our lives these days
and our reliance on them is heavy. They are used as tools for
work, data storage, schoolwork, shopping, and entertainment.
Because so much information is typically stored on our computers
we must always make sure they are protected from that loss of
information. Businesses have to secure information on their
computers to protect it from exploitation by hackers. And the home
computer user is no exception to the requirement to protect
computer information because there can be credit card numbers,
social security numbers, and other sensitive personal information
stored on their computer or transmitted when doing online
shopping. There is a term used for this and it is “computer
security risk.” This term refers to the likelihood that some
action could cause the loss of information, computer hardware, or
denial of service.
When computer security is put at risk intentionally, it becomes
criminal in nature or we call this a computer crime. Another
relative of the computer crime is the cybercrime. The FBI pays
especially close attention to cybercrimes and there are other
types of crimes related to them such as corporate spying,
unethical computer activity, cyberterrorism, hacking, cracking,
and cyberextortion.
Hacking at one time had a positive meaning to it but since
computer crimes were introduced, it falls in the bucket with the
rest of them. The hacker is the person who gains access to a
computer network illegally. They sometimes use the excuse that
they were only trying to break a network’s security so as to make
the administrator aware of any security deficiencies.
Closely related to the hacker is the cracker. But the cracker
never has been viewed in a positive light. The cracker always has
had the intent to gain access to computer and its network to do
harm to it or commit a crime like stealing information stored on
it. The cracker, like the hacker, has to know what he or she is
doing so advanced computer skills are needed in order to pull
these crimes off.
Then there are the cyberterrorists and cyberextortionists. The
cyberterrorist has a political motive behind his or her activities
and it is to do harm to computers to adversely affect a political
system. Cyberterrorism requires extensive planning, skilled people
to carry it out, and money to fund it. It is much like the classic
terrorist attack.
The cyberextortionist is the one who commits the crime of
extortion via email. They will hold a company hostage by
threatening to release sensitive company information or harm a
company’s computers and network if not given some confidential
information and/or money. Sometimes these criminals are aware of
security leaks that will allow them to exploit the computer. It is
much like classic extortion except carried out through computers.
Then there is the employee who wants to get revenge on his or her
company because of some perceived wrong done to them or they want
to pad their pockets. These people are known as the unethical
employees and what makes them so dangerous is that they many times
know how to get into the system.
Not everyone has the computer skills required to be a cracker or
hacker so there is another classification known as the “script
kiddie.” This person is usually is a teenager attempts to harm a
computer system but cannot do much because he or she does not know
much. This person will use canned programs and scripts to attempt
to do the hacks and cracks.
Some unethical businesses try to gain an unfair advantage on their
competition through an illegal activity known as corporate
espionage. The same unethical businesses will hire a corporate spy
who is highly-proficient in computers and technology to break into
the target corporation’s computers. The corporate spy will then
steal information or even sabotage the target computer.
It is imperative that home and business computer users take action
to shield their computer from these threats to their security.
Computer security methods are not 100% foolproof but they do
decrease the risk to computers significantly. As soon as a
solution is found to protect against one threat, someone figures
out a new way to gain unauthorized access to them. Computer users
on home networks are more at risk to have information stolen than
are computers on business networks mostly because of the more
advanced security on the latter. And the internet is a network
even more susceptible and at risk when it comes to security.
Another problem with security on the internet is that there is not
one centralized point to manage security and safety on the
information highway.
You are probably wondering now if your computer is secure from
threats such as these. There are ways you can get your system
evaluated. You can find sites on the internet that offer services
that will access your computer and report to you any security
vulnerabilities found either through internet browsing or the
e-mail. These same companies many times offer tips and suggestions
of ways to protect against the vulnerabilities. Another resource
in the fight against computer security threat is the Computer
Emergency Response Team (CERT) Coordination Center which also
offers suggestions.
Security attacks against computers usually involve things like
worms, viruses, denial of service, Trojan horses, and spoofing.
All of these, the computer virus is the most famous. A computer
virus is basically software that is designed to do damage to the
files on your computer once it gets installed on it. All if it is
done without the user giving permission and without the user’s
knowledge at first. A computer virus, once it gets in your
computer, will spread and cause more damage. It will do things
like delete files and corrupt your computer’s operating system and
render it inoperable. Thus it was tagged with the term “virus”
because it acts much the same way as human virus does: it gets in
and spreads throughout the body and causes illness or damage in
some cases. Protection against viruses is available through
anti-virus software.
An offshoot of the computer virus is the computer worm. A computer
worm is much like a virus with the exception that it will find
some perfectly valid executable program on your computer and
attach itself to that program. When the user runs the program, the
computer worm will attack. Computer worms can consume a lot of
network bandwidth while they replicate across a corporate network.
And now for the famous Trojan horse computer threat that derives
its name from the famous story in Greek mythology. What a Trojan
horse does is hide itself in a program that looks like a valid
program but in reality it is not. Trojan horse programs do not
replicate like the viruses and worms do.
All these different types of threat software are known as malware
which is term used to refer to malicious-logic programs. Malware,
as the name implies, does damage to your computer. There are other
variations of worms, viruses, and Trojan horses but we are just
discussing these three for this article. And you should know how
to suspect you have been attacked by one or more these malicious
programs. You should be suspicious that you have been attacked if
your computer shows one or more of these signs:
Programs you use suddenly don’t work like they used to
Files are missing or corrupted
Strange music or sounds are heard on your computer
You start running out of memory for no apparent reason
Strange files show up on your system
System properties begin to change
Popup windows with odd messages and/or images display
The ways in which these malicious programs do their damage or drop
their “bombs” can be one any one of the following:
A user runs a program infected with the virus. This is why virus
scanning software that checks a program before running it is so
important.
A user boots a computer and the virus is installed on the boot
sector. It is recommended that you remove all media files when you
shut down your computer.
A user connects to a computer that is not protected against
viruses on the network (such as accessing a shared drive). So the
user opens a virus-infected file on a shared drive and now the
user’s client computer has the virus.
A user opens up an email attachment that contains an executable
file with a virus. This is why it is so important to not open up
executable email attachments unless you know the sender and the
attachment has been scanned by anti-virus software.
And another big problem with malicious logic programs is that new
ways to implement them are discovered every day. Security websites
try to stay on top of each new malware implementation so that
users can be alert for them. Take basic safety measures to protect
your computer such as installing a good anti-virus package that
gets updated with new malware detection logic automatically. Never
open up suspicious email attachments. Be careful of the internet
sites you visit (i.e., don’t visit Warez sites), and run anti-spyware
programs. Take the media out of any alternate boot devices you
have so that a virus cannot get stored on it and be introduced at
boot time. Finally, stay informed from security websites as to the
latest threats and what to look out for.
Article Source:
http://www.spywaretool.com |
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