COMPUTER SECURITY - PART 1
Also known as cybersecurity or IT security, is the protection of
information systems from theft or damage to the hardware, the software, and to
the information on them, as well as from disruption or misdirection of the
services they provide. It includes controlling physical access to the hardware,
as well as protecting against harm that may come via network access, data and
code injection, and due to malpractice by operators, whether intentional,
accidental, or due to them being tricked into deviating from secure procedures.
The field is of growing importance due to the increasing reliance on
computer systems and the Internet in most societies, wireless networks such as
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi - and the growth of "smart" devices, including
smartphones, televisions and tiny devices as part of the Internet of Things.
Because a antivirus and a password is not the only things that matters
Other no related media but interesting:
VULNERABILITIES AND
ATTACKS
A vulnerability is a system susceptibility or flaw. Many
vulnerabilities are documented in the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures
(CVE) database. An exploitable vulnerability is one for which at least one
working attack or "exploit" exists.
To secure a computer system, it is important to understand the
attacks that can be made against it, and these threats can typically be
classified into one of the categories below:
Backdoors: A backdoor in a computer system, a cryptosystem or an algorithm,
is any secret method of bypassing normal authentication or security controls.
They may exist for a number of reasons, including by original design or from
poor configuration. They may have been added by an authorized party to allow
some legitimate access, or by an attacker for malicious reasons; but regardless
of the motives for their existence, they create a vulnerability.
Denial-of-service attack: dos (Denial of service) attacks are designed to make a machine or
network resource unavailable to its intended users. Attackers can deny service
to individual victims, such as by deliberately entering a wrong password enough
consecutive times to cause the victim account to be locked, or they may
overload the capabilities of a machine or network and block all users at once.
While a network attack from a single IP address can be blocked by adding a new
firewall rule, many forms of Distributed denial of service (ddos) attacks are
possible, where the attack comes from a large number of points – and defending
is much more difficult. Such attacks can originate from the zombie computers of
a botnet, but a range of other techniques are possible including reflection and
amplification attacks, where innocent systems are fooled into sending traffic
to the victim.
Direct-access attacks: An unauthorized user gaining physical access to a computer is most
likely able to directly copy data from it. They may also compromise security by
making operating system modifications, installing software worms, keyloggers,
covert listening devices or using wireless mice.
Even when the system is
protected by standard security measures, these may be able to be by-passed by
booting another operating system or tool from a CD-ROM or other bootable media.
Disk encryption and Trusted Platform Module are designed to prevent these
attacks.
Eavesdropping: is the act of surreptitiously listening to a private conversation,
typically between hosts on a network. For instance, programs such as Carnivore
and narusinsight have been used by the FBI and NSA to eavesdrop on the systems
of internet service providers.
Even machines that operate as a closed system
(i.e., with no contact to the outside world) can be eavesdropped upon via
monitoring the faint electro-magnetic transmissions generated by the hardware;
TEMPEST is a specification by the NSA referring to these attacks.
Spoofing: is a fraudulent or malicious practice in which communication is
sent from an unknown source disguised as a source known to the receiver.
Spoofing is most prevalent in communication mechanisms that lack a high level
of security.
Tampering: describes a malicious modification of products. So-called
"Evil Maid" attacks and security services planting of surveillance
capability into routers are examples.
Privilege escalation: describes a situation where an attacker with some level of
restricted access is able to, without authorization, elevate their privileges
or access level. So for example a standard computer user may be able to fool
the system into giving them access to restricted data; or even to "become
root" and have full unrestricted access to a system.
Phishing: is the attempt to acquire sensitive information such as usernames,
passwords, and credit card details directly from users. Phishing is typically
carried out by email spoofing or instant messaging, and it often directs users
to enter details at a fake website whose look and feel are almost identical to
the legitimate one. Preying on a victim's trusting, phishing can be classified
as a form of social engineering.
Clickjacking: also known as "UI redress attack or User Interface redress
attack", is a malicious technique in which an attacker tricks a user into
clicking on a button or link on another webpage while the user intended to
click on the top level page. This is done using multiple transparent or opaque
layers.
The attacker is basically "hijacking" the clicks meant for
the top level page and routing them to some other irrelevant page, most likely
owned by someone else. A similar technique can be used to hijack keystrokes.
Carefully drafting a combination of stylesheets, iframes, buttons and text
boxes, a user can be led into believing that they are typing the password or
other information on some authentic webpage while it is being channeled into an
invisible frame controlled by the attacker.
Social engineering
Social engineering aims to convince a user to disclose secrets such
as passwords, card numbers, etc. By, for example, impersonating a bank, a
contractor, or a customer.
My own recommendations:
- Never open a suspect email
- Never download a file with suspicious files and sender
- Never buy anything in a random page, always use secure websites and if you have to more if for your own safety (like amazon, ebay, newegg, etc.)
- Never trust a FREE gift from a website, even suscriptions, banners, adds, commercials, etc.
- Free is no always FREE, in most of the cases we have to pay some price for things we have (lost data, virus, burned PC, broken laptop, etc.)
- Try to avoid all porn websites and download free software, has exploits and malicious content behind the HTML
Keep this in mind:
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