What is Wifi Eavesdropping ?

What is Wifi Eavesdropping ? 

WiFi eavesdropping is another method used by cyber criminals to capture personal information.
 What it is: Virtual “listening in” on information thats shared over an unsecure (not encrypted) WiFi network.
 What it can do: • Potentially access your computer with the right equipment. • Steal your personal information including logins and passwords.

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What is targeted attack ?

What is targeted attack ?

Emails can be sent using any “from” email address so it’s possible for someone to send me an email that appears to come from (e.g.) Joe and from a cobourginternet.com address that doesn’t exist.
 In most cases, they will guess the name of the person or use a generic name like “reception”.
 If they work at it, they can find out the name of a worker at your company and use their name.
 So now you are getting an email from someone you know at a legitimate looking address.
 There are security measures (DKIM) that are now more common to make sure that the email does in fact come from the address it claims to be from and these are implemented on all Cobourg Internet sites as well as major email suppliers like Gmail and Yahoo.
 (But maybe the clever Chinese can spoof this too!) You might even reply to the sender by email saying “Did you send this – is it OK to open?” They reply saying “yes”.
 Then once an innocent looking document is opened, you have a hidden program on your computer that can “have its way with you”! It will likely steal personal data and send all your important files back to China.
 It may be months before you find out. You might discover it over coffee when you ask the “sender” “Why did you send me that?” Their blank look and denial tells you you’ve been hacked.
 The best defense here is to be aware and be careful plus don’t belong to a big corporation or a government agency. These hackers don’t spend much effort chasing the little guys.

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What is snooping ?

 What is snooping ?

This is when someone looks through your files in the hopes of finding something interesting whether it is electronic or on paper.

 In the case of physical snooping people might inspect your dumpster, recycling bins, or even your file cabinets; they can look under your keyboard for post-It-notes, or look for scraps of paper tracked to your bulletin board.
 Computer snooping on the other hand, involves someone searching through your electronic files trying to find something interesting.

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What is ransom ware ?

What is ransom ware ?

 

What it is: Ransom ware is a type of malware that restricts access to your computer or your files and displays a message that demands payment in order for the restriction to be removed.
 The two most common means of infection appear to be phishing emails that contain malicious attachments and website pop-up advertisements.
 What it can do: There are two common types of ransomware: • Lockscreen ransomware: displays an image that prevents you from accessing your computer • Encryption ransomware: encrypts files on your systems hard drive and sometimes on shared network drives, USB drives, external hard drives, and even some cloud storage drives, preventing you from opening them Ransomware will display a notification stating that your computer or data have been locked and demanding a payment be made for you to regain access.
 Sometimes the notification states that authorities have detected illegal activity on your computer, and that the payment is a fine to avoid prosecution. What you can do: Do not pay the ransom. These threats are meant to scare and intimidate you, and they do not come from a law enforcement agency.
 Even if you submit payment, there is no guarantee that you will regain access to your system. If your computer has been infected (i.e. you are unable to access your computer or your files have been encrypted), contact a reputable computer technician or specialist to find out whether your computer can be repaired and your data retrieved. In order to lessen the impact of a ransomware infection, be sure to regularly back-up your data with a removable external storage drive.
 Its possible that your files might be irretrievable; having an up-to-date backup could be invaluable.

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What is password attack ?

What is password attack ?

Password attack An attacker tries to crack the passwords stored in a network account database or a password-protected file.
 There are three major types of password attacks: a dictionary attack, a brute-force attack, and a hybrid attack.
 A dictionary attack uses a word list file, which is a list of potential passwords.
 A brute-force attack is when the attacker tries every possible combination of characters.

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What is junk mail ?

What is junk mail ?

You get an email from someone you don’t know, or an impersonal one from your bank – that includes an attachment, a link or a form to complete.
 The email may have the look of the bank or organization but you were not expecting anything (or maybe you were).
 Typically they say “You were not home when we tried to deliver a parcel” Or “your account has been blocked”.
 There are also the ones we’ve come to recognize as scams like “You have won $5,300,000.”.
 But they are all the same – they want you to click the link or open the attachment.
 Never open any links or attachments from someone you don’t know. Some of these are blocked by anti-virus programs but many are not.
 If you think the email might be genuine, phone and ask the sender using a phone number you find elsewhere (not from the email).
 This is the most common method used to attack individuals.
 A lot of such junk mail gets stopped before you see it by anti-virus measures on the servers but some still gets through.q

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What is interception ?

What is interception ?

This can be either an active or passive process.
 In a networked environment, a passive interception might involve someone who routinely monitors network traffic.
 Active interception might include putting a computer system between sender and receiver to capture information as it is sent.
 From the perspective of interception, this process is covert. The last thing a person on an intercept mission wants is to be discovered.
 Intercept missions can occur for years without the knowledge of the intercept parties.

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