1. What Are Malicious Attacks? Malicious Attacks are any intentional attempts that can compromise the state of your computer. Including but not limited to: – Performance – Data

2. Goals of Attackers 1.Prank 2.Data 3.Access 4.Identity 5.Damage

3. Examples Software Website forgery Social Engineering Keystroke logging Password Cracking

4. Viruses a program that can copy itself and infect a computer without the owner’s knowledge the term “virus” usually refers to all types of malware including viruses, worms, trojan horses, spyware, etc.

5. How they Spread For a virus to spread, the host must be taken to target computer Viruses can be spread via the internet, email, file sharing, instant messaging, a USB drive, etc.

6. Infection To infect a target, the virus must be allowed to execute code and write itself to memory Thus, viruses are often software that attach to a program (such as Microsoft Word) As soon as the Word document is opened, the virus is free to infect target computer

7. History 1971: First identified virus called the Creeper Virus was a self-replicating program 1981: Viruses began to be spread via removable media (floppy disk)

8. Origins Factors that lead to the spread of viruses in the late 1980s: – Use of Personal Computers – Bulletin Boards (download programs) led to the precursor to viruses- trojan horses (program would erase files) – Introduction of floppy disk

9. Examples Viruses show the vulnerability, but also the sophistication of humans 1999: Melissa virus: Microsoft forced to shut down entire system 2000: ILOVEYOU virus 2004: MyDoom worm: infected a quarter million people in one day

10. Phishing - an illegal act where the criminal pretends to be a reputable organization to obtain through trickery the personal information from the victim with the intent of stealing money.

11. Types of Phishing -Link manipulation -Website forgery -Phone phishing -Dumpster diving -Mail theft

12. Main Phishing Technique -Urgency phrases like… -“To restore you bank account…” -“We suspect that you are a victim of identity theft… to confirm…” -“Please help support your local fire department…” -“You account needs to be confirmed… Please follow this lin and login…”

13. Phishing Damages “3.6 million adults lost US $ 3.2 billion in the 12 months ending in August 2007”

14. What can you do? Be aware, ask questions, confirm messages

17. Recent Developments Peer-to-peer viruses Computer espionage Future Attacks

18. Peer-to-peer Viruses 2008 Conficker virus Estimated 15 million computers infected Used peer-to-peer networks to download updated versions of itself Still active today, accepting commands from spammers Peer-to-peer nature essential to its success

19. Computer Espionage Pentagon and CIA have been warning of threat since early 2000s 2008 CIA press release reveals Chinese hacking network targets US Government websites Power grids, banking systems, and other essential services could be at risk, analysts say Some say threat overstated

20. Future Attacks “The only truly secure system is one that is powered off, cast in a block of concrete and sealed in a lead-lined room with armed guards.” – Gene Spafford, Security Expert As long as there are computers, there will be attacks targeting them

21. Malicious Attacks: Prevention Firewalls Email Virus Scanners – Use caution when downloading files – Filtering Spam Avoid Pop Ups Use Trusted Websites Add-ons for Web Browsers

22. Malicious Attacks: Prevention Software – Ad-Aware – Spybot: Search and Destroy – AVG – Norton Antivirus – MalwareBytes Frequently Update Anti-Virus Definitions Files