Computer Worm Known As ' Code Red '

Which tool and application were used to exploit the identified vulnerability on the targeted Microsoft® Windows 2003 XP server?

After initial intrusion malicious software is installed on victim host that is re-ferred as RAT (remote access Trojan). RAT takes the responsibility to connect with attacker and regularly performed the actions that instructed by attacker. At this intruder take the full command and control (C2) over target host. The fact is that the initial connection is established by victim host, not by the attacker [6]. This will happens mainly for two reasons: (i) organizations firewall usually allows the connections initialized by internal hosts, and (ii) this will help the attacker to not to detected easily. Because intrusion detection systems [7] can easily detect the extremely suspicious activity such as downloads from outside hosts.

UPnP Internet servers were found to have remotely exploitable unchecked buffers that would allow, in principle, remote malicious hackers. Microsoft Windows is vulnerable to a buffer overflow, caused by improper bounds checking by the Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) service. By sending a specially-crafted HTTP request, a remote attacker could overflow a buffer and execute arbitrary code on the system with elevated privileges when combined with another exploit. Unused Internet servers and services should not be left running if they are not actively needed, for this reason this port should be closed until needed.

The most common operating system, Microsoft Windows is used to connect the systems to the internet and hence contains various vulnerabilities. Internet Explorer, MS-SQL, file serving and message processing services are the most commonly exploited services of the operating system. There is no operating system that does not contains vulnerabilities and exposures and cannot be targeted by the hackers and viruses. The vulnerabilities in Windows are more popular because of the huge number of machines running it. (Zibstev

Each year there are many attempts to illegal gain entry into networks by attackers to steal information. Some attacks are designed to steal information while other may be to attack a system to cause damage or disrupt services. Attack can happen from anywhere in the world due to the internet and networks. A person from China can hack into an American network or such Stuxnet virus attack on Iran nuclear power plan which thought to be from Israel or United States but it is unsure where the virus originated from. According to Merkow & Breithaupt (2006), viruses caused the greatest financial loss over other computer crimes, (p 142). Worm is a type of virus which replicates and can easily infect a machine and then spread out across the network by using transport features of the computer or network.

Dougherty, C., Householder, A., & Houle, K. (2002). Computer attack trends challenge Internet security. Computer, 35(4), 0005-7.

Computers have become part of our daily complex lives; we depend heavily on computers to help break our complicated lives down. Most people now prefer to do things the digital way and so does companies. Most of trading (buying and selling) is now online which requires computers. In order to satisfy our hunger for digital living, there is a need for technology called the operating system to carry out the activities we require our computers to do. Computers and technology come in different forms and sizes and due to the capitalistic nature of our economy everyone is allowed to come up with their own form of computer and even the technology to run it. In recent years’ companies have gained interest doing business digitally and since software have become easier to write or code, it is also vulnerable- easy for programmers to access and exploit called hacking. Hackers are unapproved clients who break into a technological framework, change or decimate data, frequently by introducing hazardous malware without the insight and assent of the host company. Companies are now at risk of losing much more than money by doing business the digital way. It is in this view that the Security Exchange

System/application attacks fall within three categories: denial or destruction, alteration, and disclosure. This paper will cover some common system/application domain vulnerabilities: unauthorized physical and logical access to resources, weaknesses in server operating system and application software, and data loss.

In this era of globalization and cut-throat world of competition, it is virtually impossible to do business without using the internet and web applications. Internet gets used for processing the credit card or debit card sale and even for using to save the data of customers to the merchant’s database for future reference and to send promotional offers to the previous and patron customers. And on the other hand, hackers are trying their best to get the data stored on the merchant’s server by spoofing

Two of the common known attacks on computing systems are the deployment of computer viruses and malware.

The botnets have appeared on Internet from early 1990 and were developed to P2P bots after 2000 [11]. Most recently, they have moved to HTTP bots. Bot armies initially appeared as IRC and their capacity has matured since.

By the year of 2016, investments in online security are expected to reach $86bn (Contu et al, 2012). Although this might seem a large sum of money, it is considered necessary since there is an increase in online risks from all over the world. Professional hackers develop malware on a global scale and on a 24/7 basis. Hackers have five objectives when spreading malware over the Internet: to infect/distribute, to steal, to persist, to control and for intelligence (Morris, 2010).

The greatest area of vulnerability and potential for damage or data loss of web applications and

The internet is a medium that is becoming progressively important as it makes information available in a quick and easy manner. It has transformed communications and acts as a global network that allows people to communicate and interact without being limited by time, boarders and distance. However, the infrastructure is vulnerable to hackers who use the system to commit cyber crime. To accomplish this, they make use of innovative stealth techniques for their malicious purposes in the internet.

Many types of computer virus has been spreading in computers since 1960. The first a computer virus discovered in 1970 and called The Creeper virus on Arpanet browser (anon, 2013)