Cyber Threats and Security

CYBER THREATS
AND CYBER
SECURITY
UNIT 2 :SESSION 3
SECURITY CONCERN
 With the increase in use of the network for accessing data and
resource sharing, security is becoming a prime concern. The Internet
represents an insecure channel for exchanging information, which
leads to a high risk of intrusion or fraud, such as phishing, viruses,
trojans, worms and more.
MALWARE
The term malware refers to malicious software (programs) designed with the intention to
affect the normal functionality by causing harm to the system, or with the intention of getting
unauthorized access to the system or denying access to legitimate users of computing
resources. A malware may be a virus, worm, Trojan horse.
VIRUS: A virus is a software code that may harm your system by overwriting or corrupting
the system files. A computer virus is similar in action to viruses in our body which replicate
themselves and affect body cells. The affected part is called the infected area. The virus
spreads when an infected file is passed from system to system. Viruses can be harmless or
they can modify or delete data. Opening a file can trigger a virus. Once a program virus is
active, it will infect other programs on the computer.
 WORM: A worm is often received via network, and it automatically keeps on creating
several copies of itself on the hard disk thereby flooding the hard disk. When a worm is
received as an email attachment, it is automatically forwarded to the recipients leading to
network congestion. Thus, a worm may crash the system and entire network. No host
application is required for worms to replicate themselves e.g. Code Red Worm which makes
more than 2,50,000 copies of itself in approximately 9 hours.
 TROJAN HORSE: A Trojan horse or Trojan is a type of malware that is often disguised as
legitimate software. Trojans can be employed by cyber-thieves and hackers trying to gain
access to users' systems. Users are typically tricked by some form of social engineering into
loading and executing Trojans on their systems. Once activated, Trojans can enable cyber-
criminals to spy on you, steal your sensitive data, and gain backdoor access to your system.
 In the late 1990s, Trojan Horse named Sub7 was created which took advantage of security
flaws of earlier version browsers such as Internet Explorer and Chrome to illegally access
the host computer.
EAVESDROPPING
 Eavesdropping is the act of secretly or stealthily listening to the

private conversation or communications of others without their
consent. Eavesdropping is done through telephone lines, cellular
networks, email, and instant messaging.
DENIAL OF SERVICE
 A denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyber-attack in which the

machine or network resource becomes unavailable to its users by
temporarily or indefinitely disrupting services.
 Denial of service is typically accomplished by flooding the targeted
machine or resource with superfluous requests to overload systems
and prevent requests from being fulfilled. A DoS attack is like a
group of people crowding the entry door of a shop, making it hard
for legitimate customers to enter.
PHISHING
 Phishing refers to the act of stealing a user's personal information
through fraud mails. These emails either entail personal information
through embedded forms or contain links to the web page that may
prompt you to provide this information. Information attempted to be
stolen may include bank account number, debit/credit card number,
passwords or any other valuable data.
CYBER CRIME
Cybercrimes are the crimes related to the misuse of computers or the Internet such as theft, fraud, and forgery. The IT act
defines cybercrime as an unlawful act where in the computer is either a tool or a target or both. Some of these crimes are
mentioned below:
 CYBER BULLYNG: Harassment or bullying inflicted through the use of electronic or communication devices such as
computer, mobile phone, laptop, etc.
 CYBER STALKING : Use of electronic communication by a person to follow a person or attempts to contact a person
to foster personal interaction repeatedly despite a clear indication of disinterest by such person.
 ONLINE JOB FRAUD: An attempt to defraud people who need employment by giving them a false hope/ promise of
better employment with higher wages.
 PHISHING: To seek personal information like Customer ID, Net Banking password, ATM PIN, OTP, Card expiry date,
CVV etc. through a phone call.
 SMISHING: Smishing, or SMS phishing, is the act of committing text message fraud to try to lure victims into revealing
account information or installing malware. Similar to phishing, cybercriminals use smishing, the fraudulent attempt to
steal credit card details or other sensitive information, by disguising as a trustworthy organization or reputable person in
a text message.
 SIM SWAP SCAM: Getting a new SIM card against a registered mobile number.
 CREDIT CARD (OR DEBIT CARD) FRAUD: An unauthorized use of
another's credit or debit card information for the purpose of purchases or
withdrawing funds from it.
 IDENTITY THEFT : Dishonestly making use of the electronic signature,
password or any other unique identification feature of any other person.
 SPAMMING: Persuading a recipient to buy a product or service, or visit a
website via email, SMS, MMS where he can make purchases.
 RANSOMWARE: The victim is asked to pay the demanded ransom to get his
device decrypts.
NETWORK SECURITY TOOLS AND SERVICES
Since the Internet has emerged as a prime tool for sharing resources and accessing data, an
exponentially growing number of users are using it with both good and bad intentions. Everyone
accessing the Internet needs to be aware of the security issues and take protective measures to
address the same.
 NETWORK LAYER SECURITY: TCP/IP protocols may be secured with cryptographic
methods and security protocol like Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) .
 FIREWALLS: A firewall can be defined as a special type of network security device or a
software program that monitors and filters incoming and outgoing network traffic based on a
defined set of security rules. It acts as a barrier between internal private networks and external
sources (such as the public Internet).
 The primary purpose of a firewall is to allow non-threatening traffic and prevent malicious or
unwanted data traffic for protecting the computer from viruses and attacks. A firewall is a
cybersecurity tool that filters network traffic and helps users block malicious software from
accessing the Internet in infected computers.
 ANTIVIRUS: Anti-virus is software that aims to protect your
system against malicious and potentially unwanted programs. It is
responsible for detecting these malicious programs by searching
them and removing them to keep the system protected. The software
operates by maintaining a database of malware definitions, which are
automatically updated. It searches for any malicious program by
scanning the files against the stored malware definitions for a match.
In case of a match, they are declared as potentially harmful, and are
disabled and removed depending upon anti-virus software settings.
 PASSWORD MANAGERS: A password manager is a software application that helps a
user store and organize passwords. Password managers usually store passwords encrypted,
requiring the user to create a master password; a single, ideally very strong password
which grants the user access to their entire password database from top to bottom.
 CYBER LAW: Cyber laws are the laws for systematic use of e-resources, for example, e-
business, and services as a measure against illegal cyber-crime. Various cyber laws have
also been enacted to prevent cyber-crimes and take action against those involved in such
crimes. These laws define the action that would be taken against people committing the
offences. For cyber security, an amendment in IT Act 2000 named Information Technology
Amendment Act,2008 was also introduced. The act also defines offences and penalties for
cyber-crime.
 Cyber police are responsible for detecting such crimes and taking the necessary measure
against it according to the IT Act.
Protective Measures while accessing Internet
 Never click on a suspicious link specified on a web page or send through a mail for which you are not
sure about its authenticity.
 Make sure that passwords are strong and are changed frequently. Passwords are the means for
authenticating users, thereby allowing access to networked systems. Weak passwords have smaller
length and use a small subset of possible characters, and thus, are subjected to be cracked easily. One
should also avoid setting obvious passwords such as names, mobile numbers, or date of birth.
Passwords should be strong, having long length and including characters such as numbers and
punctuation signs.
 Neverdisclose personal information such as date of birth, home address, personal phone number,
account details, passwords, credit and debit card details, work history details.
 Reportphishing issues to the concerned authorities or at cybercrime.gov.in. In case of unsolicited
mails, mark them as spam mails.
 Security of the communication made over the Internet can be indicated by the
security of protocol being used. Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTPs) is a
secure version used for communication between client and host on the Internet. So,
ensure that all communications are secure, especially online transactions. The
security of the website can be ensured if there is a padlock on the left side of the
address bar. It indicates that the website has a SSL (Secure Socket Layer) digital
certificate issued by a trusted party which ensures and proves the identity of the
remote host.
 Ensure that the web browser being used for accessing the web is updated and is
secure. For example, chrome browser is up to date, if the security patch indicated by
three dots on top right corner are grey in color. Green, orange and red color security
patches indicate that browser update is available for two, four and seven days
respectively.
 Be selective while making friends on the social networking site. Do not send or
accept friendship requests from any unknown user. Also, trust the authenticity of a
message only if you are sure about its origin (sender).
 Do not post any offensive content on social networking site as it may lead to a
criminal action against you.
 Beware before spreading any kind of a rumour as it may be treated as a cyber-crime.
 If someone is harassing or threatening you, take snapshot of it as a proof, and block
the person. Also, report the incident to the site administrator.
 Use updated antivirus and firewall, secure browsing, and password management
techniques.
 Make sure that the website address is properly spelled. Because there may be two
websites with almost the same name, one being a phishing website.
 Delete cookies periodically. A cookie is a small piece of information
about the client browsing a website. On receiving a request from a
client, the server records the client information such as domain name
and registration id on the server site in the form of a file or a string.
The server sends this cookie along with the response requested by
the client. At the client side, the browser stores this cookie received
from the server in a directory called cookie directory. By obtaining
access to these cookies, hackers may gain unauthorized access to
these websites. Thus, cookies should be deleted occasionally along
with the temporary files stored on our system during web browsing.

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CYBER THREATS

 Eavesdropping is the act of secretly or stealthily listening to the

 A denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyber-attack in which the

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