Cyber Terrorism And Cyber Attacks

Penetration testing is the attempt to identify security weaknesses within the IT infrastructure of an

What are the differences and what are the similarities? Outline the steps for a penetration test.

3.1.6 Vulnerability testing: by conducting vulnerability tests allows the organization to see if the system can be penetrated and if there are any weak areas in the system. If vulnerabilities are found this allows the organization time to fix the problem.

* Suggest three (3) penetration testing methods that you would use for a small day care business. Provide a rationale to support your response. Note: The day care is located in the heart of downtown, currently uses a Website, databases, file servers, printers, both wireless (802.11x) and Ethernet access to the Internet, and card readers for physical entry for its employees.

Essentially, performing a penetration test on a web application or web server, prior to implementation, is critical to exposing and/or correcting any existing security flaws. In fact, such penetration testing is critical to ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability (CIA) of a given web application or service. Also, penetration testing should be performed on a regular basis, or whenever a given web application or service is modified, in order to detect any possible security vulnerabilities and/or flaws.

Network-Based Scanner helps detect critical vulnerabilities for example mis-configured firewalls, risks associated with vendor-supplied software, vulnerable web servers, and risks associated with systems administration and network.

Tomorrow’s terrorist may be able to do more damage with a keyboard than with a bomb (National Research Council1). The United States Department of States defined terrorism as: “…premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents.” Terrorism not only occurs on the real life today but also on the internet. As the technology rapidly developed, there is an increase in the usage of internet, the threat comes along the way. Due to the occurrence of internet terrorism-generating fears to the public, the term “Cyberterrorism” was coined by Barry Collin in the 1980’s (Cyberterrorism Defined). The definition of cyberterrorism differs from various legal systems and government

To simulate the actions taken by an internal intruder that has access to the system already.

While strong security standers are necessary, they must be tested from time to time to evaluate their effectiveness. This is where vulnerability assessments come into play; by performing penetration testing on current systems/networks, security risks can be identified and addressed before cybercriminals are able to take advantage of them (Database Security,

Security audit is a measurable technical assessment of a system. Penetration test is a part of security audit. At the end of security audit process, there will be report-generated use for future reference and mitigation plan if

Attacks on physical systems: In current days, only organizations are facing the security threat is not the case, even laptops and mobiles are entrusted with the most sensitive of information about the organization. These devices, whether they are company property or personally owned, often contain company documents and are used to log on to the company network. More often than not, these mobile devices are also used during conferences and travel, thus running the risk of physical theft. The number of laptops and mobile devices stolen per year is ever on the increase. Another threat affecting physical security is that of unprotected endpoints. USB ports and DVD drives can both be used to leak data and introduce malware on the network. A USB stick that is mainly used for work and may contain sensitive documents, becomes a security risk if it is taken home and left lying around and other members of the family use it on their home

2014)”, there are six phases of the penetration testing process. The six phases are pre-engagement interactions, intelligence gathering, threat modeling, vulnerability analysis, exploitation, post-exploitation and reporting.

In order to properly answer the question posed we must first define what cyber-war and cyber-terrorism are. The Oxford Dictionaries defines cyber-war as “The use of computer technology to disrupt the activities of a state or organization, especially the deliberate attacking of communication systems by another state or organization:” Although there is no dictionary definition of cyber-terrorism, The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has defined it as “the use of computer network tools to shut down critical national infrastructures (e.g., energy, transportation, government operations) or to coerce or intimidate a government or civilian population.” The author defines cyber terror as “the intimidation of civilian enterprise through the use of high technology to bring about political, religious, or ideological aims, actions that result in disabling or deleting critical infrastructure data or information.”

Penetration testing is when a company pays a specialist to try and break into their network and relay back to them any vulnerabilities they may find. Now

Prevalent to the current trend now is the dependency of the society on Information technology and communication systems. Every aspect of human life is one way or the other linked and controlled by information technology tools. The importance of information technology cannot be over emphasized as its unavailability could lead to a form of disaster or the other. Pivotal infrastructures like finance, healthcare, education and security are driven by information technology. However, information technology and its benefits are accompanied by vulnerabilities and risks that can be exploited by people with the necessary technical skills. Individuals like ‘Hackers’ and ‘Cyber Terrorist’ can cause disruption to information systems, commit financial fraud and also attack computers and networks. These attacks and disruptions could result to violence against people and properties. In some cases, death, serious injuries and severe economic loss could occur as a result of these attacks.