What is a malicious attack?
In terms of computing, a malicious attack can be any physical
or electronic action taken with the intent of acquiring,
destroying, modifying, or accessing a user’s data without
permission.
Physical attacks typically mean either the theft of hardware
storing personal/confidential information or the destruction of
said hardware.
Electronic attacks (the focus of this presentation) involve
unauthorized access or unauthorized modification of the
user’s computer.
Unauthorized Access
The attacker accesses the victim’s data by acquiring
the victim’s password
People sometimes pick easy to guess passwords
(unless they take C@CM)
People sometimes write down their passwords on
paper or tell their friends
Attackers can write a password generator
The password may be acquired through spoofing or
phishing (defined in later slides)
Types of malicious attacks
Viruses
Worms
Trojan horses
Logic bombs (a.k.a. Time bombs)
Trapdoors
Phishing/Spoofing
Virus – a program capable of
copying itself to another. Viruses
usually steal/destroy data, but a
very small majority are simply
pranks.
Worm – a type of virus
that does not need
human aid to proliferate.
Usually worms will
spread via networks or
the Internet.
Trojan – a type of virus
that disguises itself as a
legitimate program.
Logic bombs (Time Bombs)
pieces of code that remain inactive until a certain event specified
by the attacker occurs; then the bomb renders the system
inoperable.
Trapdoors – a
code placed within
the system that
allows a third party to
bypass system
security at any
convenient time.
Phishing – using a fake website to steal personal
information
Spoofing – similar to phishing, except the dummy
object is now a log-on screen that asks for a user name
and password that gets passed on to the attacker.
History of malicious attacks
First viruses distributed through infected floppy disks, originally
caused by programming errors
1982 – Logic bomb used in the “Trans-Siberian Pipeline incident”
1984 – Fred Cohen first uses the term “computer virus”
1986 – First “Trojan Horse” appears (PC-Write Trojan, disguised as
PC-Write v. 2.72)
1999 – First e-mail virus appears (Melissa)
2001 – Worms first appear
Why are malicious attacks
worth the worry?
Billions of dollars of damage are caused each
year by malicious attacks.
Countless people have lost important data and
even their identities due to a malicious attack.
Malicious attacks can also make their way into
computers at the workplace, possibly
jeopardizing businesses.
Challenges with combating
malicious attacks
- the complexity and time needed for sufficient
software to combat the different types of
viruses and attacks
- the rapid changes in viruses
- New hackers and evolving methods for hacking
and guessing at passwords
How to prevent becoming a
victim
•Education
•Adequate software
•Computing habits
Education
subscribe or read monthly a website or newsletter that
tells about new threats
(Ex. Yahoo!
Newshttp://news.yahoo.com/fc/tech/computer_viruses
Yahoo news gives a run down of on issues relevant to
malicious attacks and provides info as to how handle
issues that may arise .
Educate family members or others that may use your
computer or network
Software
- install a personal
firewall to prevent
unauthorized access
- install spyware and
Trojan Horse/antivirus protection
- Install more then one
type of protection
Safe Computing habits
Always update: Updates fix problems that may exist within programs.
Use Windows Update to find updates on a regular basis.
Computer basics and beyond.com suggest more explicitly the following :
-> Keep your hard drive clean with Disk Cleanup and run Disk
Defragmenter periodically (once a month) to consolidate your files.
-> Backup important files often to protect data loss. Read Windows XP
Backup Made Easy and Back Up Basics. If a file is important, save it in
multiple places (off your pc).
-> Make sure to disconnect your computer from the Internet when you
aren't using it.
-> Use strong passwords (Password Generator), change them often and
always change passwords after infection cleanup
Passwords
Use this website to check and see if your password is strong
enough. A strong password is one more line of defense you have
to use against attackers .
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/fraud/passwords/checker.aspx
6 steps to build a strong password:
1) The strongest passwords look like a random string of
characters to attackers. But random strings of characters are
hard to remember.
2) Make a random string of characters based on a sentence that is
memorable to you but is difficult for others to guess. Think of a
sentence that you will remember,
Example: "My son Aiden is three years old”
Turn your sentence into a password
Use the first letter of each word of your memorable sentence to
create a string, in this case: "msaityo".
3) Add complexity to your password or pass phrase
Mix uppercase and lowercase letters and numbers. Introduce
intentional misspellings.
For example, in the sentence above, you might substitute the
number 3 for the word "three", so a password might be
"MsAi3yo".
4) Substitute some special characters
Use symbols that look like letters, combine words, or replace
letters with numbers to make the password complex.
Using these strategies, you might end up with the password
"M$8ni3y0.”
5) Test your new password with Password Checker
Password Checker evaluates your password's strength as you
type.
6) Keep your password a secret
Treat your passwords with as much care as the information that
they protect.
More Safety Tips
- Use multiple virus scanners (just in case one particular scanner
misses certain viruses).
- Do not open junk mail, or e-mail from unknown sources.
-Check file extensions of attachments. The most dangerous attachments include
executable files (.exe, .bat, .com) and script files (.vbs). Also, be wary of files with macro capabilities
(like .doc and .xls). Generally, picture files (.jpg, .gif, .bmp, .png) and plain text (.txt) are safe, but be
careful nonetheless.
- Scan e-mail attachments and downloaded files for viruses
- For those who still use floppy disks, viruses cannot copy itself onto a
write-protected floppy disk. Therefore, keep them write-protected if
possible
Sources
Bhaskar, Krish. “Threats.” Computer Security: Threats and Countermeasures. Oxford: NCC
Blackwell Ltd, 1993. 1-13. Print.
Bocij, Paul. The Dark Side of the Internet: Protecting Yourself and Your Family from Online
Criminals. Westport: Praeger, 2006.
DeFrancesco, Angela. “Network Attack Modeling and Simulation.” Carnegie Mellon
Information Networking Institute 2005-20 (2005): 1-104.
“Tales of Trojan Horses.” SmartComputing.com. Smart Computing, February 2003.
<http://www.smartcomputing.com/editorial/article
.asp?article=articles/archive/l0902/03l02/03l02.asp>. 27 September 2009.
“Logic Bomb.” Wikipedia.com, 11 August 2009. <http://en.wikipedia
.org/wiki/Logic_bomb>. 27 September 2009.
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/fraud/passwords/create.aspx (Microsoft online safety)
http://www.computerbasicsandbeyond.com/tutorials/prevent_attacks.html (Computer
Basics & Beyond: Preventing malicious attacks)
News.yahoo.com