B - Cyber Security Flashcards
Hacking
Unauthorised access to a computer system. Covered by the Computer Misuse Act 1990
Why are systems attacked?
Fun, financial gain, industrial espionage, personal attacks, hacktivism (hacking for activism)
Types of Hackers
Black Hat - a hacker with malicious intent, Grey Hat - a hacker with neither malicious or heroic intent, White Hat - a hacker with heroic intent to stop other hackers
Types of threat to a computer system
Unauthorised access, virus, worm, botnet/DDoS attack, rootkit, trojan, ransomware, spyware
Virus
A computer program or part of a computer program that can make copies of itself and is intended to prevent the computer from working normally
Worm
a harmful computer program that can copy itself and spread across a number of connected computers
Botnet
A group of computers that are controlled by software containing harmful programs, without their users’ knowledge
DDoS
Distributed Denial of Service: an occasion when a computer network or website is intentionally prevented from working correctly, by a botnet sending lots of data at once.
Rootkit
A type of malware designed to give hackers access to and control over a target device. Most rootkits affect the software and the operating system.
Trojan
A computer program that has been deliberately designed to destroy information, or allow someone to steal it.
Ransomware
Software designed by criminals to prevent computer users from getting access to their own computer system or files unless they pay money.
Spyware
Software that collects information about how someone uses the internet, or personal information such as passwords, without the user knowing about it
Social Engineering
Manipulating people so that confidential information can be found out.
Why does social engineering work?
Most people want to do the right thing, and this is why it works. In a recent study, 60% of unauthorised USB drives were mounted to a computer and used in a controlled environment.
Types of Social Engineering
Phishing, pharming, shoulder surfing, tailgating, baiting, pretexting
Internal Threats
dodgy websites, portable storage, stealing/leaking data, disclosure of data, overriding security, downloads
Why do Internal Threats happen?
accidents or employee choosing to attack a business
impacts of an Internal Threat
short term (data loss/downtime, lost sales), long term (reputation damage, financial loss)
Firewall
set of rules that filter suspicous network packet from remote networks
Hardware Firewall
Sits between an external network and an internal connection - like a LAN and the internet - as a first line of defence.
Software Firewall
On a system - like a computer - to filter network data in and out. Secondary protection, which uses an ACL to block certain data.
Types of Device Hardening
security patches, anti-virus, firewalls, user permissions, closing ports, encryption
