Sec 280 Week 4 Case Study

SEC 280

9-26-15

Week 4 Case Study

Eric Layne

Computer Security Threats and Attacker Techniques

Computers are used in almost everything today. From checking your email to how the car you drive operates, computers either assist in or completely run the operations of these activities. More and more people are staying connected to the world and the internet through pcs, tablets, or smartphones. Mobile devices seem to run the world and continue to incorporate more applications on a daily basis. The more convenient these devices make everyday tasks to complete, the more personal information and identification they use and require to store. Because of this, the threat of viruses, identity theft, and data breach has increased exponentially, and has become much more appealing to hackers and attackers to try to gain access to this information. Here we will discuss the types of threats known to computers, and identify some of the techniques and programs an attacker may use to gain access to your computer or device and ultimately your personal and private information.

First let us identify the types of security threats known on a personal computer. There are several types of methods used to gain information and/or access to computers by attackers. In my research, I discovered an article listing 28 different types of security threats to computers. This is staggering, and I am certain there are more being developed every day. Here is a list of these 28 types of threats and a brief description of each one:

1. Trojan. Trojan is one of the most complicated threats among all. Most of the popular banking threats come from the Trojan family such as Zeus and SpyEye. It has the ability to hide itself from antivirus detection and steal important banking data to compromise your bank account. If the Trojan is really powerful, it can take over your entire security system as well. As a result, a Trojan can cause many types of damage starting from your own computer to...