Cyber Security

Cyber Security

1. Key Terms

   • Unauthorised Access
     • This refers to someone gaining entry without permission to an organisation’s system, software or data. This achieved by exploiting a security vulnerability
   • Cyber Security
     • refers to the range of measures that can be taken to protect computer systems, networks and data from unauthorised access or cyber attack.
   • Attack
     • An attack is a deliberate action, targeting an organisation's digital system or data
   • Threat
     • external
       • caused outside the organisation
     • internal
       • caused by an incident inside an organisation
     • is an incident or action which is deliberate or unintended that results in disruption, downtime or data loss

2. Hackers

   • Black hat
     • Is someone who tries to inflict damage by compromising security systems
   • White hat
     • Is someone who works with organisations to strengthen the security of a system
   • Grey hat
     • Is someone who does it for fun and not with malicious intent

3. Types of threats

   • Malware
     • Worm
       • Worms get around by exploiting vulnerabilities in operating systems and attaching themselves to emails. They self replicate at at tremendous rate using up hard drive space and bandwidth, overloading servers
     • Virus
       • A piece of malicious code that attaches to a legitimate program. it is capable of reproducing itself and usually capable of causing great harm to files or other programs on the same computer
     • Malicious software this is an umbrella term given to software that is designed to harm a digital system, damage data or harvest sensitive information
     • Trojan horse
       • Users are tricked into downloading it to their computer. Once installed the Trojan works undercover to carry out a predetermined task.
     • Rootkit
       • Designed to remotely access and control a computer system without being detected by security software or the user.
     • Ransomware
       • Encrypts files stored on a computer to extort/demand or steal money from organisations
     • Spyware
       • Is secretly installed to collect information from someone else's computer
     • Adware
       • Automatically shows adverts such as popups.
     • Keyloggers
       • spyware that records every keystroke made on a computer to steal personal information
     • Distributed Denial-of-Service attack (DDoS attack)
       • flooding a website with useless traffic to inundate and overwhelm the network
     • Bot net
       • Bots take control of a computer system, without the user’s knowledge. A botnet is a large collection of malware-infected devices (zombies). An attacker (‘bot herder’) chooses when to ‘wake’ the zombies to perform an attack.

4. Social Engineering