Sec 280 Week 4 Assignment

Computer Threats and Security

When it comes to working on a network, security is one of the most important aspects to consider. Computer threats are relentlessly inventive and are evolving and adapting every day. A threat can be anything that has the potential to cause some kind of damage to a computer system. They come in the forms of viruses, Trojan horses, phishing, spyware, and so many more. However, for every threat there are mitigation methods to lessen the threat and potential harm. Security also comes in various forms such as antivirus software, firewalls, antispyware, and many more.

Viruses are one of the most common and talked about security threats around. A virus is software that infects a computer without the permission or knowledge of the owner. Viruses can spread in many ways whether it’s thorough email, removable media like flash drives or CDs, or really any transmission over the internet or a network. Viruses carry a very high level of danger as they can reformat your hard disk, delete important files, some may even take up memory and cause erratic system behavior or even completely crash it. Another commonly known threat is the Trojan horse. Names after the Trojan horse from Greek mythology it works very much the same way concealing itself as a legitimate action. What Trojans often do is install what is called a “backdoor program” or a secret entrance to your computer used by a hacker. These can cause a variety of problems including corrupting files, erasing data, installing other malicious programs, etc. Phishing is another common threat used today. Phishing is when a fake web page is made that looks just like the real page. The hacker will try to make you think this is the real thing by sending you a disguised email that leads to the phished site and make you input your user name and password. They collect the user names and passwords to access sensitive info such as bank accounts or credit card information. We all know the risks involved...