{"id":93912,"date":"2021-05-21T09:00:04","date_gmt":"2021-05-21T03:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/data-flair.training\/blogs\/?p=93912"},"modified":"2021-05-06T17:56:23","modified_gmt":"2021-05-06T12:26:23","slug":"computer-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/data-flair.training\/blogs\/computer-security\/","title":{"rendered":"Computer Security Tutorial"},"content":{"rendered":"

The technology evolution has led to endless opportunities for people to grow. They can enjoy all sorts of benefits with just a click. But with this, they have become very vulnerable as well.<\/p>\n

All the information about a person or an organization is easily accessible in cyberspace. Many organizations have already encountered cyber threats due to easy access and less cybersecurity.<\/p>\n

This is mainly because of three contributing reasons. The first is easy access to hacking tools on the internet. Second, the end-users can use very high-speed technology for processing.<\/p>\n

And lastly, the manuals for hacking are also just a click away, leading to curiosity in younger minds. This is why cybersecurity is very important in the modern age.<\/p>\n

And this is for everyone and not just large companies with confidential information and sensitive data. Anyone as an individual can also face consequences if proper cybersecurity measures are not taken.<\/p>\n

The main components of the computer that needs protection are – hardware, software, and firmware. Now we will see how cybersecurity is relevant to us, what kind of threats we are prone to and how we can overcome it.<\/p>\n

What is Computer Security?<\/h3>\n

Protecting computers from malicious programs, theft and misuse refers to computer security. This process is to prevent and detect these harmful threats to the computer system. All companies have their own computer security protocol.<\/p>\n

Potential Losses due to Security Attacks<\/h3>\n

1. Losing Data<\/h4>\n

Most of us use computers every day and store our files on them. This may include information about your work and personal life. Hackers can access all this and steal your data for unethical purposes.<\/p>\n

2. Computer Resource Corruption<\/h4>\n

The attackers can also access all the programs and software on the device making them corrupted. The user may end up losing all their work and might struggle to use the same software in the future as well.<\/p>\n

3. Reputation loss<\/h4>\n

The users save all their personal information on their devices. This makes it easy for the hackers to know everything about them and then misuse that information to ruin their reputation. Many companies have been a target of such scams where their official account hacking led to falling in their goodwill.<\/p>\n

4. Identity theft<\/h4>\n

Many times hackers may steal personal information to steal the user’s identity. They will act as the users in the public domain misusing their identity for unethical purposes.<\/p>\n

Different Elements in Computer Security<\/h3>\n

1. Confidentiality<\/h4>\n

The major focus of cybersecurity is on confidentiality. The idea is to protect information from a third party and allow only authorized access. For example – email chats are end-to-end encrypted but a hacker\u2019s access to them compromises confidentiality.<\/p>\n

2. Integrity<\/h4>\n

The trustworthiness of the data and protection from unauthorized users refer to integrity. Data integrity and cryptography are the two main elements of integrity. Origin and authentication of data is data integrity and cryptography is what protects it.<\/p>\n

3. Availability<\/h4>\n

The accessibility of the resources at the time of the need refers to availability. Only users with authority can access it and the rest receive a denial. For example, the bank employees can see the data with proper authentication id preventing hackers to break in.<\/p>\n

Why Do Users Get Attacked?<\/h3>\n

\"Reasons<\/a><\/p>\n

1. Information Theft and Manipulation<\/h4>\n

Manipulating the confidential information of an organization is a very common threat today. Hackers do it for personal gain or financial gain and many times even sell it in the black market.<\/p>\n

2. Damaging the Reputation<\/h4>\n

In case of personal issues, hackers try to blackmail users by ruining their information in the domain. Cyberbullying is a very common example of this.<\/p>\n

3. Business Disruption<\/h4>\n

The competition in the market often turns unhealthy. If the organization is doing well, many people try to scam and fraud to gain profits in their name. This is mainly to ruin their goodwill and damage it for the long run.<\/p>\n

4. Financial Loss<\/h4>\n

Just like above, hackers also use organization\u2019s data to hinder their profit-making process. They will misuse the information in such a way that the user faces some financial loss.<\/p>\n

5. Achieving Military Objectives<\/h4>\n

In case of rivalry between the nations, hackers try to steal the political information of the country and use it for propaganda against them. This includes secrets and confidential information about the country.<\/p>\n

6. Creating Chaos and Disruption<\/h4>\n

A lot of times hackers break into systems just to hinder the functioning of an organization. Like terrorists, they try to gain control over the government\u2019s data to create problems in the nation by using confidential information.<\/p>\n

7. Demanding Ransom<\/h4>\n

Hackers also try to get ransom by exploiting users, this is either through their personal information or blocking their access to servers.<\/p>\n

8. Propagating Religious Beliefs<\/h4>\n

Using confidential information to increase prejudice in the country is also very common. Hurting religious sentiments to fuel political agendas is also something hackers do via the internet.<\/p>\n

Types of Cyberattacks<\/h3>\n

\"Types<\/a><\/p>\n

The threats by cyber-security have three folds –\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

1.Targeting systems for financial gain or disruption<\/span><\/p>\n

2.Political action to gather information<\/p>\n

3. Cyberterrorism to cause panic and fear<\/p>\n

The main types of cyberattacks are –<\/p>\n

1. Denial of service (DDoS)<\/h4>\n

This kind of attack restricts access by the user to a system or a server. The hackers usually fill up the server with meaningless traffic leaving the users in a problem.<\/p>\n

The resources are accessed together by the hacker leading to a jammed server. In this case, even the administrator cannot access the resources.<\/p>\n

2. Malware Attack<\/h4>\n

a. Trojan horse<\/b> – A code that takes over the system to steal and damage everything on the system.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

b. Virus <\/b>– A malicious code that gets into the computer program by replicating to change its functioning. Melisa virus is a common one that spread itself in the system without acknowledging the user. Some people also refer to it as rootkit.<\/span><\/p>\n

c. Keylogger <\/b>– They work by recording the movement on the keyboards and are mostly to steal passwords and accounts details.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

d. Worms <\/b>– An independent program that infects the computer system through network devices like W32.Alcra.F. T.<\/span><\/p>\n

e. Adware <\/b>– An advertising software to spread malware.<\/span><\/p>\n

f. Botnets <\/b>– A malware network to infect computers without users\u2019 acknowledgment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

g. Spyware <\/b>– A secret program that tracks all the movements of the user secretly and then uses that information against them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

h. Ransomware <\/b>– This malware locks the files and data on the system and threatens to delete them if not paid the ransom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Man in the middle<\/h4>\n

This type of attack includes intercepting communication between the people and then stealing data from their conversation. Open wifi networks are the most common place where this kind of attack takes place.<\/p>\n

4. Phishing<\/h4>\n

This works on the idea of setting a bait to scam people. This may be to get money or any other personal information.<\/p>\n

Lottery scams, job scams, etc . are few common examples of phishing. Platforms like emails, text messages, social media, and more are where these messages come from.<\/p>\n

5. Eavesdropping<\/h4>\n

This is like spying as hackers will monitor the system traffic and all the movements of the user on the system. This can be by – Email monitoring, website monitoring, and seeing your download history.<\/p>\n

6. SQL injection<\/h4>\n

This is when an attacker injects an unauthorized input into the SQL statement. But this is only possible on websites where hackers can access the database using your id and password.<\/p>\n

7. Password attack<\/h4>\n

Many hackers try to get your password by –\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n