Threats Regarding The Impact On A Computer

According to Vaughan-Nichols (2015), researchers at a security company known as Qualys discovered a major security hole affecting Linux systems. Known as GHOST, the hole allows hackers to take remote control of a system running Linux without any system IDs or passwords. “This hole exists in any Linux system built with glibc-2.2... The security hole can be triggered by exploiting glibc’s gethostbyname functions. This function is used on almost all networked Linux computers when the computer is called on to access another networked computer…” In other words, GHOST puts Linux systems at serious risk for remote control by attackers because they have a way into the system through a common, frequently used command prompt and once they’re in, they don’t need security

Usually, attackers will take advantage of known vulnerabilities, such as Shellshock, to gain access to areas on computers, websites, databases, etc. that are not permitted. Typically what first needs to happen before an attacker can execute any code is they need to establish a way into the target and find a way to deliver the payload. Malware is the most common delivery tool to gain access to a vulnerable system. Once the target has been infected, the next goal of the attacker is typically to gain “shell” access. In the realm of computer systems, a “shell” is a terminal where commands can be directly entered and executed by the host operating system. With the large amounts of malware spreading throughout the web today, this unfortunately makes unprotected devices an easy target for disaster. What’s even more disturbing is the fact that malware doesn’t need to be implanted on a Shellshock affected system since Bash alone causes the issue. Thus, an attacker has free reign on a machine with little effort and can perform various types of malicious

A threat is defined as a potential cause of an incident that may cause harm of systems and organisation, or data. A potential and obvious threat is someone physically stealing hardware, or data. Physical threats are any incident that could result in the loss or physical damage to a computer system, there are threats that are pretty much unpreventable such as fire, floods, lightening, and earthquakes, and these are all physical threats that are uncontrollable. The humidity in rooms which computers are in does to an extent need to be controlled, if the room is too hot or cold if could have a negative effect on a computer system. There are also human threats such as; vandalism, theft, disruption, accidental or intentional errors.

Utilizing two simple command switches, -O and -v, provided a wealth of information about the host system. Most notably, it listed all of the open ports, protocols, and the operating system of the target system. This quick gathering of information enabled the execution of more detailed commands against specific ports to expose specific vulnerabilities. This information can then be used to address any specific vulnerabilities that are

The next step is to identify the risks, threats and vulnerabilities. Hackers attack from the Internet, failure of hardware or software systems, or network outages are the most common threats. And common vulnerabilities are absence of firewall and antivirus software, absence of update patches, not adequately trained associates etc.

If successful, this script will give the attacker the access to the console of the target OS.

We will first look at some known flaws in Windows 7 and Windows 8. An Information Security Engineer at Google had decided to reveal a flaw that affected two of Microsoft’s newest operating systems that allowed attackers to obtain higher privileges on an unpatched computer. The vulnerability was caused due to an error within the ‘win32k.sys’ when it processes

A firewall can prevent computers being hack or attack. However, if Ethical Hacking is being taught to someone, it is expected that the activity of Ethical Hacking is permitted by the system owner beforehand. Otherwise, such activity will treated as an offence against the law.

As with Malware, there are two different kinds of malware that can threaten a Mac. The first is the virus: malware. It “is capable of infecting a machine without user interaction ”. The second is a Trojan, it relies on tricking the user into downloading, installing and running the malware. Almost

The update for Flash is designed to resolve vulnerabilities that can lead to remote code execution, a critical security flaw that allows an attacker to infect a machine and cause major damage.

In some cases data will be infiltrated, or trade secrets/vulnerabilities will be sold by brokers to the black market!

In the three maintained products the threats and risks are to be identified. Such as the data base securing, user identification, authorizing proper managers, protections from hackers and updated firewalls and less vulnerable software.

used it to show how easy it was to exploit this vulnerability. However, even after this, there is still no real coverage on this exploitation and how to prevent it.

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

Users: This can include social engineering threats, misconfiguration of equipment, and inside threats where employees steal or leak information intentionally.