An incident or action which
is deliberate or unintended
that results in disruption,
down time or data loss.
Internal
Caused by an incident
inside an organisation.
External
Caused outside the
organisation.
Attack
Is a deliberate
action, targeting an
organisation's
digital system or
data.
Cyber Security
Refers to the range of
measures that can be
taken to protect
computer systems,
networks and data
from unauthorised
access or cyberattack.
Unauthorised Access
Refers to someone getting entry
without permission to an
organisation's system, software
or data. This achieved by
exploiting a security
vulnerability.
Hacker
Is someone who seeks
out and exploits these
vulnerabilities.
3 types of hacker
White
Working with
organisations to
strengthen the
security of a system.
Grey
Do it for fun and
not for malicious
intent.
Black
They try to inflict damage
by compromising security
systems.
Reasons for cyber
attacks
Fun/challenge
Hacking be systems
can fun or a challenge.
There is a sense
of achievement
Friends may give
respect for of hacking
achievements.
Financial
gain
Ransoms can be
made to prevent
attacks from
happening.
Ransomware can
be used to encrypt
a computer until
you pay.
A payment is
given to carry
out an attack
on an
organisation.
Disruption
Attacks such as
denial -of-service
stop websites
working.
Viruses can slow
down computers
and delete files.
Information/data
theft
Credit card details are
stolen to gain money.
Company information
may also be stolen.
Personal
attack
Employees that
are unhappy
may attack the
company.
Friends/family may attack each
other if upset over something.
Industrial
espionage
The aim is to find intellectual
property such as designs or
blueprints for products,
business strategies or software
source code.
Malware
malware or Malicious software - an umbrella term given
to software that is designed to harm a digital system,
damage data or harvest sensitive information.
Virus - A piece of malicious code that attaches to a legitimate
programs. It is capable of reproducing itself and usually capable
of causing great harm to files or other programs on the same
computer.
Worm - A self-contain program that is
capable of spreading on its own without
help from humans.
Worms get around by exploiting
vulnerabilities in operating systems and
attaching themselves to e-mails.
Worms self replicate at a tremendous
rate, using up hard drive space and
bandwidth, overloading servers.
Trojan Horse: A type of malware that is
often disguised as legitimate software.
Users are tricked into downloading it onto their computer. Once installed
the Trojan works undercover to carry out a predetermined task. Some of
these tasks include: Backdoor for hackers to use, Installing harmfull
programs and harvesting sensitive data.
Rootkit: A set of tools that give a hacker a high level administrative control, of a
computer.
This can allow the hackers to: encrypt files, install programs, change system
configurations and steal data.
Much like a trojan, rootkits often come bundled with legitimate
software.
Ransomware: Encrypts files stored on a
computer to extort or steal money from
organisations.
Victims must pay a ransom to have the encrypted files unlocked, there is normally a deadline
for the transaction to happen. Bitcoin is usually asked for as a form of payment because it is
hard to trace.
If the payment is not made then the amount demanded may increase or the files
are permanently locked. Ransomware is usually spread through e-mails or
through infected websites.
Spyware: Malicious software secretly installed to collect information from someone
else's computer.
Cyber criminals harvest personal information such as: Passwords, credit card numbers and other
details and e-mail addresses.
With this information they can steal someone's identity, making purchases on there credit cards etc. Spyware
works in the background on someones computer without it being noticed.
Keyloggers: Spyware that records every keystroke made on a computer to
steal personal information.
Botnet-An army of zombie devices that are used to carry out
mass attacks such as e-mailing spam to millions of users.
Distributed denial-of-service attack-Flooding a website with
useless traffic to inundate and overwhealm the network.
Social Engineering
Social engineering involves tricking people into
divulging valuable information about
themselves. Some of the information includes:
passwords, PIN numbers and credit card details.
Phishing - A way of attempting to acquire information, by pretending to be
from a trustworthy source. Examples are email spoofing, fake websites
and spoof phone calls.
Spear Phishing - Involves bespoke emails being sent to well - researched victims.
e.g. where somebody who holds a senior position within an organisation with
access to highly valuable information uses it to target victims.
Blagging - A blagger invents a scenario to engage a
targeted victim in a manner that increases the
chance the victim will divulge information.
For example a blagger might pretend to be a member of the IT
department to inform them something is wrong with your PC and
requires to access to fix the problem.
Shoulder Surfing - Acquiring sensitive information by someone peering over a
persons shoulder when they are using a device. It can also be done from a distance
with the use of technology such as video cameras and drones etc.
Pharming - Involves redirecting people to bogus,
look-a-like websites without realising it has happened.
The objective is to acquire sensitive personal information
or to install malware.
Man in the middle attack - A form of eavesdropping where the attacker makes
and independent connection between two victims and steals information to
use fraudulently.