The threat of online security: How safe is our data?

The internet is one of the wonders of the world. But it has a dark side, just like a beautiful city that has bad neighborhoods. Online security threats are one of the biggest challenges on the Internet today. Online Security Threats come from the fact that Windows basically records everything you do; most importantly it records the web sites you visit, whether intentionally or not, and keeps copies of all the images and pictures you have viewed, including those on web pages. It is no longer unusual for others to investigate exactly what you have being doing on your computers. Therefore, we need to know what threats are out there before we can be wary of it.

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Threat to your privacy

The internet makes it easy for online criminals to attack your privacy: a

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Accidental Actions

Accidental actions contribute to a large number of computer security risks. This category encompasses problems arising from basic lack of knowledge about online security concepts and includes issues such as poor password choices, accidental or erroneous business transactions, accidental disclosure, and erroneous or outdated software.

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Hacking

Hacking is the act of illegally gaining access to your computer/sites for the sole purpose of destroying, disrupting or carrying out illegal activities on your system. A "hacker" is the person who illegally gains access. Hackers generally look for personal information, such as passwords or credit cards numbers. They may also be trying to use your Internet connection to transit their own material—or they may just be searching at random to see what they can find. However, there are many technologies out there you can use to prevent and detect hacking. A firewall, a program designed to prevent unauthorized Internet users from accessing your system, is the best way to protect your computer from intrusions.

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Wi-Fi eavesdropping

If you use a wireless, or Wi-Fi, network you’ll know that it lets you connect to your broadband internet connection using a radio link with a range of several hundred feet. However, this flexibility has a downside. A more sinister risk is that people can, with the right equipment, spy on you and gain access to your computer over the wireless link.

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Spyware

Spyware doesn’t try to replicate itself like a virus. Instead, it relies on people downloading it mistakenly, often alongside other programs such as peer-to-peer music sharing programs. It causes a range of problems, including:

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º Annoying pop-up adverts.

º Taking over your web browser.

º Scanning your computer for private information like credit card numbers.

º Slowing down your computer and internet connection.

º Downloading viruses.

º Being very difficult to remove.

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Threats to your wealth

Fraud

Fraud is a growing problem online. Conmen are the dot.com entrepreneurs of crime. Common tricks include:

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#Phishing Phishing is an e-mail fraud method in which the perpetrator sends out legitimate-looking email in an attempt to gather personal and financial information from recipients. Typically, the messages appear to come from well known and trustworthy Web sites. Web sites that are frequently spoofed by phishers include PayPal, eBay, MSN, Yahoo, BestBuy, and America Online. If you suspect phishing, do not reply to the e-mail or respond by clicking on a link within the e-mail message.

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Identity theft

Online identity theft comes in many forms and involves the use – by someone else – of your computer and/or the information on it. Some identity thieves use an array of techniques known as social engineering to try to manipulate you into performing certain actions or divulging confidential information. Or, they may access sensitive information without you even being aware of their presence. With this information they can, for example:

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º Empty your bank account.

º Max out your credit cards buying stuff for themselves.

º Buy cars on tick, in your name.

º Impersonate you online, for example using your identity in online auctions or e-commerce site.

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Malicious Attacks

Attacks that specifically aim to do harm are known as premeditated or malicious attacks. They can be further broken down into attacks caused by malicious code and those caused by intentional misrepresentation. Misrepresentation is most often seen with regard to on line fraud and identity theft. Notable examples of which include computer viruses and Denial of Service (DOS) attacks.

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# Computer virus

Viruses are small, malicious computer programs that try to infect computers, spreading from one machine to the next. There are four main classes of viruses:

File infectors- imbed themselves into ordinary executable files and attach to other system executables when the file is run.

System or boot-record infectors- infect the first sector on a driver from which the operating system is booted-up.

Macro viruses- infect data files that include scripting "macros."

Multi-part viruses- viruses that use more than one attack method.

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Look for these clues to determine if your computer is infected with malware:

º A sudden increase in pop-up ads,

º A browser that takes you to sites other than those you type into the address box (also called hijacked browser),

º Sudden or repeated changes in your computer’s home page,

º New toolbars or icons,

º Keys that suddenly don’t work,

º Sluggish or slow performance when opening programs or saving files.

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Denial of Service Attacks

It is another form of malicious code, are carefully crafted and executed. It is an attack on website in which an attacker uses specialise software to send a flood of data packets to the target computer with the aim of overloading its resources. it may cause a network to shut down masking it impossible for user to access the sites. Denial of Service Attacks is not new, yet they are growing in sophistication. Traditional DOS attacks usually involve one computer attacking another, but the use of multiple computers in a highly organized attack is known as Distributed Denial of Service Attacks (DDOS) becoming increasingly common. The DDOS attacker strategically builds an army of key players including:

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º one client machine for coordinating the attack;

º three to four host machines, which are battlefields under the attacker's direct control; and

º potentially hundreds of broadcasters, which are the legions that run the code to generate the flood of packets that aaattack a target system

http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci916037,00.html http://www.getsafeonline.org/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=1168 http://www.raymondjames.com/privacy_security/online_threats.htm http://www.bsagovernment.com/downloads/MajorOnlineThreats.pdf