Today, many people rely on computers to do homework, work, and create or
store useful information. Therefore, it is important for the
information on the
computer to be stored and kept properly. It is also
extremely important for people on
computers to protect their
computer
from data loss, misuse, and abuse.
For example, it is crucial for
businesses to keep information they have secure so that hackers can’t
access the information. Home users also need to take means to make sure
that their credit card numbers are secure when they are participating in
online transactions. A
computer security risk is any action that could
cause lost of information
, software,
data, processing
incompatibilities, or cause damage to
computer hardware, a lot of
these are planned to do damage. An intentional breach in
computer
security is known as a
computer crime which is slightly different from a
cypercrime.
A
cybercrime is known as illegal acts based on the internet
and is one of the FBI’s top priorities. There are several distinct
categories for people that cause cybercrimes, and they are refereed as
hacker, cracker, cyberterrorist, cyberextortionist, unethical employee,
script kiddie and corporate spy. The term hacker was actually known as a
good word but now it has a very negative view. A hacker is defined as
someone who accesses a
computer or
computer network unlawfully. They
often claim that they do this to find leaks in the
security of a
network. The term cracker has never been associated with something
positive this refers to someone how intentionally access a
computer or
computer network for evil reasons. It’s basically an evil hacker. They
access it with the intent of destroying, or stealing information.
Both
crackers and hackers are very advanced with network skills.
A
cyberterrorist is someone who uses a
computer network or the
internet to
destroy
computers for political reasons. It’s just like a regular
terrorist attack because it requires highly skilled individuals,
millions of dollars to implement, and years of planning. The term
cyperextortionist is someone who uses emails as an offensive force. They
would usually send a company a very threatening email stating that they
will release some confidential information, exploit a security leak, or
launch an attack that will harm a company’s network. They will request a
paid amount to not proceed sort of like black mailing in a since.
An
unethical employee is an employee that illegally accesses their
company’s network for numerous reasons. One could be the money they can
get from selling top secret information, or some may be bitter and want
revenge. A script kiddie is someone who is like a cracker because they
may have the intentions of doing harm, but they usually lack the
technical skills. They are usually silly teenagers that use prewritten
hacking and cracking programs. A corporate spy has extremely high
computer and network skills and is hired to break into a specific
computer or
computer network to steal or delete data and information.
Shady companies hire these type people in a practice known as corporate
espionage. They do this to gain an advantage over their competition an
illegal practice.
Business and home users must do their best to protect
or safeguard their
computers from security risks. The next part of this
article will give some pointers to help protect your
computer. However,
one must remember that there is no one hundred percent guarantee way to
protect your
computer so becoming more knowledgeable about them is a
must during these days. When you transfer information over a network it
has a high security risk compared to information transmitted in a
business network because the administrators usually take some extreme
measures to help protect against security risks.
Over the internet there
is no powerful administrator which makes the risk a lot higher. If your
not sure if your computer is vulnerable to a computer risk than you can
always use some-type of online security service which is a website that
checks your computer for email and Internet vulnerabilities. The
company will then give some pointers on how to correct these
vulnerabilities. The Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination
Center is a place that can do this. The typical network attacks that
puts computers at risk includes viruses, worms, spoofing, Trojan horses,
and denial of service attacks. Every unprotected computer is
vulnerable to a computer virus which is a potentially harming computer
program that infects a computer negatively and altering the way the
computer operates without the user’s consent. Once the virus is in the
computer it can spread throughout infecting other files and potentially
damaging the operating system itself.
It’s similar to a bacteria virus
that infects humans because it gets into the body through small openings
and can spread to other parts of the body and can cause some damage.
The similarity is, the best way to avoid is preparation. A computer
worm is a program that repeatedly copies itself and is very similar to a
computer virus. However the difference is that a virus needs o attach
itself to an executable file and become a part of it. A computer worm
doesn’t need to do that I seems copies to itself and to other networks
and eats up a lot of bandwidth. A Trojan Horse named after the famous
Greek myth and is used to describe a program that secretly hides and
actually looks like a legitimate program but is a fake.
A certain
action usually triggers the Trojan horse, and unlike viruses and worms
they don’t replicate itself. Computer viruses, worms, and Trojan horses
are all classifies as malicious-logic programs which are just programs
that deliberately harms a computer. Although these are the common three
there are many more variations and it would be almost impossible to
list them. You know when a computer is infected by a virus, worm, or
Trojan horse if one or more of these acts happen:
? Screen shots of weird messages or pictures appear.
? You have less available memory then you expected
? Music or sounds plays randomly.
? Files get corrupted
? Programs are files don’t work properly
? Unknown files or programs randomly appear
? System properties fluctuate
Computer viruses, worms, and Trojan horses deliver their payload or
instructions through four common ways. One, when an individual runs an
infected program so if you download a lot of things you should always
scan the files before executing, especially executable files. Second, is
when an individual runs an infected program. Third, is when an
individual bots a computer with an infected drive, so that’s why it’s
important to not leave media files in your computer when you shut it
down. Fourth is when it connects an unprotected computer to a network.
Today, a very common way that people get a computer virus, worm, or
Trojan horse is when they open up an infected file through an email
attachment. There are literally thousands of computer malicious logic
programs and new one comes out by the numbers so that’s why it’s
important to keep up to date with new ones that come out each day. Many
websites keep track of this.
There is no known method for completely
protecting a computer or computer network from computer viruses, worms,
and Trojan horses, but people can take several precautions to
significantly reduce their chances of being infected by one of those
malicious programs. Whenever you start a computer you should have no
removable media in he drives. This goes for CD, DVD, and floppy disks.
When the computer starts up it tries to execute a bot sector on the
drives and even if it’s unsuccessful any given various on the bot sector
can infect the computer’s hard disk. If you must start the computer for
a particular reason, such as the hard disk fails and you are trying to
reformat the drive make sure that the disk is not infected.
or "Menu"
icon,
which is located near the top-right side of the browser window and then
click History.
,
which is located near the top-right side of the browser window and then
click History.
. In the search box, type 
