Computer Security Threats

Exploit

An exploit is a piece of software, a chunk of data, or sequence of commands that takes

advantage of a bug, glitch, or vulnerability in order to cause unintended or unanticipated

behavior to occur on computer software, hardware, or electronic devices. This often refers

to things like gaining control of a computer system or allowing privilege escalation or a

denial-of-service attack.

Buffer Overflow

Buffer overflow is an anomaly where a program, while writing data to a buffer, overruns

the buffer’s boundary and overwrites adjacent memory. This is a special case of violation

of memory safety. Buffer overflows can be triggered by inputs that are designed to execute

code, or alter the way the program operates. This may result in erratic program behavior,

including memory access errors, incorrect results, a crash, or a breach of system security.

Thus, they are the basis of many software vulnerabilities and can be maliciously exploited.

Cross-Site Scripting

Cross-site scripting (XSS) is a type of computer security vulnerability typically found in

Web applications that enables attackers to inject client-side script into Web pages viewed

by other users. An XXS vulnerability may be used by attackers to bypass access controls

such as the same origin policy.

Cross-Site Request Forgery

Cross-site request forgery, also known as a one-click attack or session riding and

abbreviated as CSRF or XSRF, is a type of malicious exploit of a web site whereby

unauthorized commands are transmitted from a user that the web site trusts. Unlike XSS,

which exploits the trust a user has for a particular site, CSRF exploits the trust that a site

has in a user’s browser.

Password Cracking

In cryptanalysis and computer security, password cracking is the process of recovering

passwords from data that has been stored in or transmitted by a computer system. A common

approach is to repeatedly try guesses for the password. Another common approach

is to say that you have “forgotten” the password and then changing it. The purpose of

password cracking might be to help a user recover a forgotten password, to gain unauthorized

access to a system, or as a preventive measure by system administrators to check

for easily crackable passwords.

Rootkit

A rootkit is a malicious software designed to hide the existence of certain processes or

programs from normal methods of detection and enables continued privileged access to

a computer. Rootkit installation may be either automated or when an attacker installs it

once they have obtained root or administrator access. Obtaining this access is a result of

direct attack on a system. Once installed it becomes possible to hide the intrusion as well

as to maintain privileged access. Like any software they can have a good purpose or a

malicious purpose. Rootkit detection is difficult because a rootkit may be able to subvert

the software that is intended to find it.

Trojan Horse

A Trojan horse is a stand-alone malicious program that does not attempt to infect other

computers in a completely automatic manner without help from outside forces like

other programs and human intervention. The term is derived from the Trojan Horse

story in Greek mythology. Others rely on drive-by downloads in order to reach target

computers.

Trojan may allow a hacker remote access to a target computer system. Once a Trojan

has been installed on a target computer system, a hacker may have access to the computer

remotely and perform various operations, limited by user privileges on the target computer

system and the design of the Trojan. Popular Trojan Horses include Netbus, Back

Orifice, Schoolbus, Executor, Silencer, and Striker.

Keylogging

Keylogging is the action of tracking (or logging) the keys struck on a keyboard, typically

in a covert manner so that the person using the keyboard is unaware that their actions are

being monitored. There are numerous keylogging methods, ranging from hardware- and

software-based approaches to electromagnetic and acoustic analysis.

Spoofing Attack

A spoofing attack is a situation in which one person or program successfully masquerades

as another by falsifying data and thereby gaining an illegitimate advantage.

ARP Spoofing

ARP spoofing is a computer hacking technique whereby an attacker sends fake ARP

messages onto a LAN. ARP spoofing may allow an attacker to intercept data frames on

a LAN, modify the traffic, or stop the traffic altogether.

IP Spoofing

IP spoofing refers to the creation of IP packets with a forged-source IP address, called

spoofing, with the purpose of concealing the identity of the sender or impersonating

another computing system.

E-mail Spoofing

E-mail spoofing is e-mail activity in which the sender address and other parts of the

e-mail header are altered to appear as though the e-mail originated from a different source.

Because core SMTP does not provide any authentication, it is easy to impersonate and

forge e-mails.

Web Site Spoofing

Web site spoofing is the act of creating a web site, as a hoax, with the intention of

misleading readers that the web site has been created by a different person or organization.

Normally, the spoof web site will adopt the design of the target web site and sometimes

has a similar URL. Another technique is to use a “cloaked” URL. By using domain

forwarding, or inserting control characters, the URL can appear to be genuine while

concealing the address of the actual web site.

Packet Sniffer

A packet sniffer is a computer program or a piece of computer hardware that can intercept

and log traffic passing over a digital network or part of a network. As data streams flow

across the network, the sniffer captures each packet and, if needed, decodes the packet’s

raw data, showing the values of various fields in the packet, and analyzes its content

according to the appropriate RFC or other specifications.

Session Hijacking

Session hijacking is the exploitation of a valid computer session to gain unauthorized

access to information or services in a computer system. In particular, it is used to refer to

the theft of a magic cookie used to authenticate a user to a remote server. It has particular

relevance to Web developers, as the HTTP cookies used to maintain a session on many

Web sites can be easily stolen by an attacker using an intermediary computer or with

access to the saved cookies on the victim’s computer.

Posted By Lotfi Ben Taleb

Tunisian Blogger obsessed with technology news and innovations around the world. contact me

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