External Threats To Data Security

Question 1

Brute-force attacks

Answer 1

Automated or manual attempts to gain unauthorised access to secure areas by trying all possible password or key combinations.

Question 2

Denial of service (DoS) attacks

Answer 2

Servers and devices are flooded with too many requests or packets, causing them to crash or become unusable.

Question 3

Botnet

Answer 3

Short for robot network, a hacker will infect a zombie device which they can anonymously control to send spam, for DoS attacks or to mine cryptocurrency.

Question 4

Shoulder surfing

Answer 4

Looking over someone’s shoulder when they enter a password or PIN.

Question 5

Pharming

Answer 5

Cybercriminals install malicious code on your computers designed to redirect website traffic intended for one site, to a fakest official-looking website.
This can be used to harvest personal details from unsuspecting visitors.

Question 6

Man-in-the-middle attack (MITM)

Answer 6

An attacker intercepts communication between the user and server to eavesdrop or alter information.

Question 7

Phishing

Answer 7

Phishing emails or texts redirect a user to a fake website that here they trick the reader into divulging confidential information such as passwords that can be used fraudulently. Phishing phone calls can be used to obtain personal information or passwords.