CNC - Risks (Lesson)

Cybersecurity Risks

Introduction

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Using a computer with internet access poses security issues which we call cybercrime. Cybercrime involves at least one computer and at least one computer network.  

In this module we will look at cybercrime, what it is, how to recognize it, and how to keep our information safe.

Cybercrime is a worldwide crime knowing no borders. In 2008, the Strategic Alliance Cyber Crime Working Group was formed to assist with detecting and stopping the growing number of cybercrimes in the world. As internet service has expanded worldwide, so has the opportunity to cause harm to others.

With this in mind, let's look at various types of cybercrime, both those that can affect many people at the same time and those that will affect our computers.

Cybercriminals are people who wish to do you or a company or organization harm by destroying access to the internet, its services, or destroying or accessing information on computers. A cybercriminal could be located anywhere in the world. A computer connected to the internet is vulnerable to being hacked. The crime may be as innocent looking as an email to a virus on your computer. Finding the culprit, the cybercriminal, the hacker, requires intensive work, so much so that major agencies around the world share information in order to determine who is behind the attack and their ultimate motive.  The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Security Agency (NSA) are two organizations which look intently at cybercrime.  Click here for the NSA’s Cybersecurity page Links to an external site. and here for the FBI’s cybersecurity page Links to an external site..

Before we get started, let’s learn about cybercrime.

Cybersecurity and Crime

Attacks by cybercriminals occur in two ways --

  • Front door attacks are attacks through email, web browsing or downloads.  These type attacks are called frond door attacks because an action is required by a user to invoke the crime.  All that is required for a front door attack is that when you run a program it runs with all your rights and privilege.   In other words, if you can delete one file, you can delete all your files.  If you can send one email, you can send thousands of emails.
  • Back door attack are attacks that target vulnerabilities in server software that is running on your computer.  Server software is software that listens for requests that arrive over the networks and attempts to satisfy these requests.  Print servers and web servers are examples.  Another example could be your operating system. Operating systems make requests.

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