1.4 Forms of Attack

Question 1

What are the different forms of attack?

Answer 1

• Malware
• Phishing
• Brute force
• Denial of service
• SQL injection
• Fata interception and theft

Question 2

What is malware?

Answer 2

• Software which is specifically designed to disrupt, damage, or gain unauthorised access to a computer system
• E.g. viruses, trojans, worms, spyware, horses, ransomware, adware, scareware

Question 3

What is phishing?

Answer 3

• The fraudulent practice of sending emails purporting to be from reputable companies in order to include individuals to reveal personal information
• E.g. to find passwords and credit card numbers

Question 4

What is a brute-force attack?

Answer 4

• A trial and error method of attempting passwords and pin numbers. Automated software is used to generate a large number of consecutive guesses
• E.g. By trying every word in the dictionary

Question 5

What is a Denial of Service attack (DoS)?

Answer 5

• Flooding a server with useless traffic causing the server to become overloaded and unavailable

Question 6

What is data interception and theft?

Answer 6

• The unauthorised act of stealing computer based information from an unknowing victim with the intent of compromising privacy or obtaining confidential information
• E.g. To sniff usernames and passwords

Question 7

What is a SQL injection?

Answer 7

A technique used to view or change data in a database by inserting additional code into a text input box, creating a different search string