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How threats spread |
The Internet is unique, as it is neither owned by anyone, nor does it have any geographical boundary. Anyone can access or post data on the Internet.
However, this convenience is the very reason that hackers and cyber offenders are able to cause harm and pain to individuals or companies using the Internet. The diverse nature of the Internet is also the reason why many cyber-offenders escape detection and punishment.
Hackers place viruses and other malicious programs on Internet sites. Sometimes these programs are disguised as freeware and at other times they are hidden in scripts that run automatically when you open a webpage or an email. These programs can execute dangerous actions on your computer, including modifying the system registry, stealing personal data, and installing more malicious software.
Using network technologies, hackers can attack remote PCs and company servers. These attacks can cause parts of your system to malfunction or could provide hackers with complete access to your system and personal information.
Credit card usage, internet banking, and other electronic monetary transactions over the internet have made cyber-offence more attractive to offenders.
Your intranet is your internal network, specially designed for handling information within a company or a home network. An intranet is a unified space for storing, exchanging, and accessing information for all computers on the network. This means that if one computer on the network is infected, the others run the risk of infection too. To avoid such situations, both the network perimeter and individual computers must be protected.
Many computers have e-mail clients installed on them. Malicious programs exploit the features of these clients, like address book, to further spread themselves or other malicious programs. Oblivious to the fact, the user on an infected computer might send infected e-mails to friends or coworkers who in turn send more infected e-mails. Sometimes these programs infect business and personal documents and transmit them without a userÆs knowledge. These documents then infect other people and the viruses spread through email chains.
Junk e-mails and spams also increases the load on mail servers, eating up bandwidth and filling up mailboxes. They also waste productive time and can cause financial harm.
Hackers have begun using mass mailing programs and social engineering methods to convince users to open e-mails or click a link to a certain website. Hence spam filtration capabilities should not only stop junk mail, but should also help encounter new types of online scans, such as phishing.
Removable media (floppies, CD-ROMs, and USB flash drives) are widely used for storing and transmitting information.
When you open a file that contains malicious code from a removable storage device, you can damage data stored on your computer and spread the virus.