The Threat of Online Security : How Safe Is Our Data

Nowadays, online security has become an enormous concern to people surfing the Internet and to people who are conducting business on the world wide web. Online security threats have continue to increase in number and sophistication ways due to the many people online via dedicated broadband connections and some folks remain online 24 hours a day. In addition, they propagate faster and more difficult to detect. We have all heard reports of and been affected by online viruses spread through emails, online business scams, online identity theft, and online sexual abuses. So, online security really refers to many aspects of out new online world.

Types of Online Security Threats

Computer Viruses and Worms
Everybody has heard about computer viruses and worms that can infect our PC and wreak havoc on our operating system or files, but very few of us have completely escaped from these forms of online threats. New forms of these threats emerge every day. These viruses and worms are insidious little programs that can take control of our system or email service and cause great annoyance if not damage.

Computer virus is a kind of malicious software written intentionally to enter a computer without the user's permission or knowledge, with an ability to replicate itself and thus continuing to spread. Some viruses do little but replicate others can cause severe harm or adversely affect program and performance of the system. Most common types of viruses are Resident Viruses which will permanent dwells in the RAM memory, Boot Virus which will affects the boot sector of a floppy disk, Macro Virus which will infect files that are created using certain applications or programs that contain macros, Polymorphic Virus which will encrypt or encode themselves in a different way every time they infect a system, and so on.


Meanwhile, computer worm is a self-replicating computer program. It uses a network to send copies of itself to other nodes (computer on the network) and it may do so without any user intervention. Unlike a virus, it does not need to attach itself to an existing program. Worms almost always cause at least some harm to the network, if only by consuming bandwidth, whereas viruses almost always corrupt or devour files on a targeted computer.

Source:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/129972


Spyware
Spywares began to show up on the Internet round about 1995, when the term was used to talk about hardware used for spying on other computers.

Today, Spyware attacks are becoming the most common online security threat that faced by most internet users. A Spyware is a software that installs on our computer via the Internet without our knowledge or consent. What is worse, is that the software will often record our activity in the Internet, record our personal information, take over some or a lot of our bandwidth on the Internet that making our Internet connection slow, direct us automatically towards websites where we might find oursleves downloading even more viruses and spywares and also divert advertising related revenues to another third person.

Personal details like bank account and credit card details especially those who are a user of e-banking facilities can become extremely vulnerable. These personal details can be used for identity theft purpose as well.

There are many means for a spyware to get into our computer. Sometimes, these spywares are part of some softwares which are available for download on the Internet. This is called 'piggybacking'. The spyware comes bundled up with the software and when we install the software, the spyware install itself on the computer. Usually, spyware are part of shareware programs that are available on the Internet.

Source:http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci214518,00.html


Identity Theft
Identity theft is a serious crime affecting millions of people a year and accounting for the loss of billions of dollars every years as well. It occurs when someone uses our personal identifying information such as our name, social security number, or credit card information to pretend as us. The identity thief does this for his own personal gain at the expense of his victim.


An identity thief may use our information to:

• Open a new credit card, phone, or utilities account in our name and then run up the bills without paying by them.
• Open a bank account and write bad cheques in our name, apply for a loan in our name, or use our bank information to drain our account.
• File a fraudulent tax return or apply for government benefits in our name.

There are several ways that identity theft will happen towards the online users. For example, Phishing, this is when online user was contacted via email or phone by someone that asking them to "verify" specific information related to their credit card, pay pal or bank account. The other examples are that stealing mail, computer viruses, intercepting data from insecure networks or sites, data breaches at companies that have your information, and so on.

Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_theft


Computer Hacking
Computer hacking is basically an alteration of computer hardware and software in order to accomplish a goal which is outside of the creator's original purpose. Computer hacking is both art and science for the people who try to break into protected or unprotected networks.


Generally, hackers tend to steal personal information, change a corporation's financial data, break security codes to gain unauthorized network access, or conduct other destructive activities. Computer hacking invariably involves some degree of infringement on the privacy of others, breaching the network security, and thus causing damage to confidential files, web pages or software. In addition, it may also involve downloading or alteration of files through unauthorized access.

Basically, there are 3 types of hackers. A white hacker is the one who breaks security for non-malicious purpose. These purposes may range from testing the security system, to finding the major loopholes in the network. The second category includes the black hat hackers, who generally subvert computer security without authorization, with the help of viruses and various other hacking tools. These hackers use technology for vandalism, credit card fraud or identity theft. The third category includes grey hat hackers, whose domain of work lies mid-way between black hat and white hat hackers. They are ambiguous ethics and work on the borderline of legality.

Source:http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-computer-hacking.htm


Gumblar
Gumblar is a complex new malware attack which is making way into certain websites and setting infection records. It carries a dangerous payload and attacks by injecting malicious JavaScript codes into certain components of the targeted websites. An online user can become a victim of the attack simply by visiting one of the infected pages.

Once the website becomes vulnerable, the malware makes changes in the user's access credentials and the site can then be accessed by the attacker even after the user has changed passwords. The malicious code is difficult to detect as its scripts are altered from site to site and even from page to page. So, it stop the administrators from automatically searching out and deleting the scripts.

Source:http://www.v3.co.uk/vnunet/news/2242317/gumblar-attack-explodes-web


Trojan Horse Virus
A Trojan Horse virus is a common yet difficult to remove computer threat. It works by hidding within a set of seemingly useful software programs. Once executed or installed in the system, this type of virus will start infecting other files in the computer.

A Trojan Horse virus is also capable of stealing important information from the user's computer. It will then send this information to Internet servers designated by the developer of the virus. The developer will then be able to gain a level of control over the computer through this Trojan virus.

A Trojan Horse virus can spread in a number of ways. The most common means of infection is through email attachments. Once the user open the attachment, the Trojan Horse virus immediately infects the system and performs the tasks. Another method is via chat software such as Yahoo Messenger and Skype. Moreover, it also can spread by sending copies of itself to the people in the address book of a user whose computer has already been infected by the virus.

Source:http://antivirus.about.com/b/2006/05/31/whats-a-trojan-horse-virus.htm


4 Cardinal Rules

"How safe is our data?", this must be the most common question that will pop up in all online users' mind. Based on the 6 types of online security threats that we have discussed above, here are 4 cardinal rules that we must follow in order to protect our data being safe from all these threats.

Rule 1 :
ALWAYS keep your anti-virus software up-to-date.

Rule 2 :
NEVER open an email attachment unless you know what it is, even if it is from someone that you know and trust.

Rule 3 :
NEVER give out personal information, credit information or password in chat rooms or in emails and do not provide credit card information online unless you can verify that the site is a secure site.

Rule 4 :
NEVER download executable files from untrusted sources. These files often contain damaging spyware or adware, and they can also contain other forms of malicious programs.

Source:http://www.massachusetts.edu/SecurityAwareness/12basicrules.html