Real and Cyber World Threats

The problem experienced by the Wayward Pines Public Library of having one of their public access computers (PAC) becoming a zombie member of a Botnet army is not an isolated one.

Malware refers to any computer program that is designed to do things that are harmful to or unwanted by a computer's legitimate user.

Since the onset of the first packet switching event that many believe to be beginning of the internet, no other technology besides the printing press has ever transformed the ability to deliver information. Although the internet is used by a large percentage of the civilized world, few Americans realize how vital cyberspace is to our national infrastructure. Today, we are faced with even more threats although it has been a recognized problem since 2009, when President Barrack Obama said “The cyber threat is one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation. It’s also clear that we’re not as prepared as we should be, as a government or as a country (Obama, 2009).” Every industry that operates in the United States is dependent on the internet for some aspect of their business. Commerce, transportation, financial institutions, military, as well as industrial control systems are all interconnected. This interconnectedness has created vulnerabilities within their infrastructure that have increasingly become targets of terrorists, script kiddies, foreign governments and hackers of all types.

Malware, or “malicious software”, has taken different forms and names for years. Spyware and viruses are just a few of the common titles attributed to this devastating means of cyber attack, the main purpose of which is to ultimately compromise a rival's computer infrastructure. State-sponsored attacks have typically been perpetrated by means of malware. Spear-phishing is one particularly popular means of malware, where by a target is fooled into opening a corrupted email or file, only to unwittingly download a compromising piece of malware onto their computer (XX). Once this malware is installed, control of the computer is placed in the hands of the hacker, allowing them to hack other networks while proving impossible to track down (XX18). China has been a prime culprit for spear-phishing attacks, often following current events to target respective dignitaries. For instance, the 2010 G20 Summit saw thousands of spear-phishing campaigns against officials, with email titles labelled in relation to the Summit itself (XX). Countless departments, institutions, and governments have fallen victim to spear-phishing campaigns, at the count of millions of dollars and priceless information

Cyber crimes, as defined by dictionary.com, are criminal activity or a crime that involves the internet, a computer system, or computer technology. Cyber Crimes may occur all over the globe, but the scene of the crime shares one common location, the internet. Law Enforcement has been tasked with bringing an end to this digital dilemma and they have started by going to war. The war on Cyber crimes is a term used to designate the efforts of Law Enforcement to go against these sly criminals. There are many different forms of these crimes, such as some come in forms of scams and others are ushered in by hackers. The shocking part is the statistics that come along with these crimes and the amount of money that

The Internet has changed and advanced modern society in unimaginable ways since its conception. Banks, transportation, entertainment, and even power and sewer systems are now controlled and operated through the Internet. This has allowed major improvements to society as a whole. Power is now delivered more reliably, many people can now access their banking information remotely from their phones, shopping can be done completely from the comforts of the home, as well as many other amazing things. All of these things are convenient and helpful, but have exposed American citizens and infrastructure to the new threat of cyber based attacks. These attacks can be directed at American institutions or to the general population. I believe that the threat

Malware. The use of malware in cyber-attacks against businesses are increasing. Malware is software that is intended to compromise computers and computer systems. Malware can be introduced into systems through a variety of methods, which include phishing emails and visiting compromised websites.

Ransomware, malicious software or applications that make threats both idle and actual towards users of a particular application or service. This malicious software demands the targeted user and or entity to pay an enormous sum of money in return for the release of their personal documentation and or records back to them. These forms of attacks occur frequently in the United States and across overseas as well. The primary targets of some of the most recent attacks are primarily hospitals and personnel management offices as well as public record entities as well. There have been a total of 53,000 ransomware attacks in March

The purpose of this research paper is to investigate the huge problem that the world is facing when it comes to malware and the infection of the world’s large smart phone community. In the world today there are over 7 billion phones that is at risk, I will be looking to identify some of the threats. We will also tackle the issue of combating the attacks of malware. Malware can be very costly and dangerous to the everyday person. Apple machine was once thought to safe from malware and viruses; however, the security of the Apple that was perceived by most has come to a halt. Earlier this year in January, a new tech support scam found its way onto iMacs and MacBook’s, and froze the user’s system by repeatedly opening iTunes. The installed malware

Malwares are mischievous programs crafted to agitate or forbid normal operations to gather selected information which may lead to loss of privacy through

The name Malicious Code (Malware) Prevention Plan uses a strategy of defense in depth using operational, human, and technical controls for effectiveness. Used properly, the technical controls available to the TVA organization (TVAO) is effective in stopping a majority of malicious code threats. However, the trusted insider normally has the access needed to turn a threat into an operational risk. As to external threats, the TVAO can expect a continued pattern of organized criminal involvement and international espionage to continue to target the weakest link in the security chain: the human.

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).

To understand the business of malware, one must understand how malware has evolved in the past twenty-five years. Malware, which includes all kinds of malicious software, was originally created to show the weaknesses of computers. The first type of malware, created in 1986, was a virus called “Brain.A. Brain.A was developed in Pakistan, by two brothers - Basit and Amjad. They wanted to prove that PC is not secure platform, so they created virus that was replicating using floppy disks” (Milošević). Even today malware is still used to check the security of machines.

First we need to understand that we are the first line of defense against any type of cybercrime and need to become more proactive in helping ourselves. While there are laws in place that are being constantly revised to protect our information; for the most part they only help after the fact. The average user doesn’t have proper software setup on their home PC’s to protect their information, and even when they do they don’t keep it up-to-date. There are several very good services available for either free or a very reasonable cost such as antivirus software, adware/spyware protection, and firewall software that will help keep our information from being obtained directly from our very own computer. Once we have these items in place, it becomes as just important to configure them properly and keep them up-to-date so these programs can catch all the newest ways the criminals use to try and get around them.

Cybercrime has become a fast growing concern for the 21st century as businesses, institutions and individuals grow into an interconnected web of computer networks. Online business transactions, along with the sharing of personal information, are vulnerable to a host of disasters that can reap economic and social havoc. Some sources say that today, cybercrime costs more than $1.0 trillion to society--Global Industry Analysts, Inc. forecasted the world cyber security market to reach $80 billion by 2017 (Gale, 2011).