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Common Threats on the Internet

 

Cyberspace, Cybersafe?

 

Surfing the internet can be fun and exciting for just about anyone. Even when it comes to just watching online videos or simply ordering your favorite brand on an online store. It makes us feel safe when just browsing along while obtaining more information. However, are we safe? In reality, there are cyber threats all over the internet. These threats are created by others looking for your personal information or to simply cause your software to run slower than it should be. Luckily, there are a few common online threats that are pretty common and learning more about these can help best protect you from cyber-attacks.

Malware

This type of threat comes out as the most common. They often appear as weird anti-virus pop-ups or a malicious email attachment from a source unknown to the viewer. Cyber attackers use these as they are also the most effective to use against unsuspecting victims. Malware is often used to your machine to operate much slower than designed to and send very precious data to their home base. The five most common of these are the following:

 

1. File Infectors: File Infectors viruses love to attach themselves to your .exe files. You typically gain access to this virus when downloading files from untrusted websites or file share websites. They are already attached to a .exe file before uploading and when you, the user, click on the downloaded file, the virus's code will execute its process.

2. Trojans: Derived from the Trojan Horse, the trojan is a program that can hide in useful programs and almost always has a malicious function. Thankfully, it cannot self-replicate. However, this doesn't mean that it won't give free backdoor access to devious attackers to personalized information.

 

3. Worms: Unlike other forms of malware, worms don't typically attach themselves to any files unless it is through unsuspecting emails. Virus worms tend to travel through your network and computers. Now, that doesn't seem too bad of a thing except when they do this, they are also overloading several networks and email servers that will cause a Denial-of-Service attack within a network.

 

4. Adware: Adware is an annoying software that marketing companies use for advertising banners while any kind of program is running. These are automatically downloaded to your system by surfing the web and will appear as pop-up windows or through a bar that appears on your monitor screen.

 

5. Spyware: This type of malware does exactly the name suggests. It is to spy on your information about you, your computer habits, and browsing habits. Spyware is designed to track everything without you even knowing about it.

 

Phishing

 

Phishing is one of the most advanced forms of online threats currently and growing increasingly common over the years. This form of attack uses its attacks on a social level as it pretends to be the victim in question until they have their victim entrapped. Phishing attackers will then demand valuable information that will wreck victims' lives.

Man-in-the-Middle Attack

This seems to be one of the more creative forms of attacks as it uses a conversation with someone to make the attack. The attacker tracks the person's IP address and then alter the IP address as if the IP address is their own. While the conversation is going on, the victim is unsuspected about any information that may be stolen from them.

Can you be protected?

Protecting yourself can be challenging but important. Sometimes all it takes is having a trusted virus protection software or increased firewall. There are even ways of making your IP address invisible to possible attacks.

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2019-10-19 06:36:30, views: 3645, Comments: 0