Unit Five

Information and
Computer Security
Definition:
Security
 Security is the quality or state of being secure. It can be a freedom
from danger (which is related to safety) or a freedom from fear or
anxiety.
 Security also means protection and measures taken to guard against
sabotage, crime, attack or escape.
 A painting Computer security is the protection of computer systems
and information from harm, theft and unauthorized use.
 There are various types of computer security, which is widely used to
protect personal and organizational valuable information.
 Types of Computer Security
 Information security: is securing information from unauthorized access,
modification and deletion
 Application security: is securing an application by building security features to
prevent from cyber threats.
 Mobile and computer security means securing a handheld devices and
standalone machine by keeping it updated and patched.
 Network security is done by securing both the software and hardware
technologies.
 Cyber security: means protecting computer systems which communicate over the
computer networks
 Principals of Computer Security
 Computer security is mainly concerned with three main areas. These are

 Confidentiality,

 Integrity and

 Availability,

which are abbreviated as CIA. Sometimes CIA is also called as the security
requirements triad.
 Principals of Computer Security
 Computer Confidentiality is ensuring that information is available only to the
intended audience. This often means that only authorized users and processes should
be able to access or modify data. In other words, this involves protecting the
information from a third party having unauthorized access. A concept related to this is
privacy, which focuses on protecting personal data.
 Integrity means that data can be trusted. It should be maintained in a correct state,
kept so that it may not be wrongly changed and should be correct, authentic and
reliable.
 Availability is ensuring that the information is available to authorized users whenever
they require it. This means keeping systems, networks and devices up and running
 Computer security threat
 Computer security threats can come both from internal and external sources.

 Internal threats are those threats emerging within an institution, company

or business

 external threats are from outside.

 Both internal and external factors can be caused by environmental (i.e.

natural) as well as human and technical (i.e manmade/artificial) factors.

 Computer security threat
 Computer security attacks can also be

 Malicious, which are harmful or

 Non-malicious or have no damaging effect.

 The attack can also be

Accidental that is committed due to mistake or

An unintended action or intentional, which means the attacker commits

the attack with a deliberate intention.
 Natural Threat in Computer Security
 There are many computer security threats happening due to natural

causes. Natural hazards such as

 Earthquakes,

 Flooding or lightning storms(stricks) can lead to fires,

 Extreme temperatures and

 Electric shocks to your computer, causing potential physical damage

and loss of data.

 Artificial Threat in Computer Security
 The vast majority of computer security threats are manmade and happening

through the devices and networks that we are using.

 Computer security threats change their nature and methods with a change in the

technology.

 With the recent development on Internet-based services, the majority of manmade

security threats come through the Internet as a platform, i.e. they come through

network connectivity

 The attack on computer security is also widely referred as cyber-attack

 Artificial Threat in Computer Security
 The prefix cyber, both in cyber-security and cyber-attack and as well
cyberspace refers to computers and computer networks. Cyber-attacks are
classified in different ways.

 The main types of cyber-attacks:

5. Eavesdropping
1. Denial of service (DoS)
6. SQL injection
2. Malware attack
7. Password attack
3. Man in the middle
4. Phishing 8. Social engineering
 Artificial Threat in Computer Security
 Malware attacks such as Trojan horses, worms and virus were in existence
since there is file sharing through portable device.

 Malware stands for malicious software.

 Denial of services (DoS), phishing, SQL injections and password attacks are
popularized with the dominance of the Internet as a service platform.

 Cyber attacks can also combine psychological and technological attacks

particularly in the case of man-in-the-middle, eavesdropping and social
engineering attacks.
 Malware Attacks
 Trojan horse: A code that takes over the system to steal and damage
everything on the system. Trojan horse is the type of malware that
downloads onto a computer being disguised or masked as a legitimate
program.

 Virus: A malicious code that gets into the computer program by replicating
to change its functioning. Melisa virus is a common one that spreads itself
in the system without acknowledging the user. Some people also refer to it
as rootkit.

 Key logger: They work by recording the movement on the keyboards and
mostly steal passwords and accounts’ details.
 Malware Attacks
 Worms: An independent program that infects the computer system through
network devices

 Adware(Advertising software): are various pop-up advertisements that show

up on your computer or mobile device. Adware has the potential to become
malicious and harm your device by slowing it down, hijacking your browser
and installing viruses and/or spyware.

 Botnets: The word botnet is formed from the words robot and network. Cyber
criminals use special Trojan viruses to breach the security of several users’
computers, take control of each computer and organize all the infected
machines into a network of bots that the criminal can remotely manage
 Malware Attacks
 Spyware: A secret program that tracks all the movements of the user
secretly and then uses that information against them.

 Ransomware: This malware locks the files and data on the system and
threatens to delete them if not paid the ransom.
 Denial of Service(DoS)
 A denial-of-service (DoS) attack is a security threat that occurs when an
attacker makes it impossible for legitimate users to access computer
systems, network, services or other information technology (IT) resources.

 Attackers in these types of attacks typically flood web servers, systems or

networks with traffic that overwhelms the victim's resources and makes it
difficult or impossible for anyone else to access them.

 Example: DoS attacks on bank IT infrastructure, for example, could stop

the bank services such as ATM and CBE Birr services.
 Man in the Middle & Phishing
 Man in The Middle: This type of attack includes intercepting
communication between the people and then stealing data from their
conversation.

 Phishing: attacks are the practice of sending fraudulent communications

that appear to come from a reputable source. It is usually performed
through email. The goal is to steal sensitive data like credit card and login
information or to install malware on the victim’s machine. Phishing is a
common type of cyber-attack that everyone should learn about in order to
protect him/herself.
 Eavesdropping
 Eavesdropping: An eavesdropping attack occurs when a hacker intercepts,
deletes or modifies data that is transmitted between two devices.
 Eavesdropping is also known as sniffing or snooping.

 It relies on unsecured network communications to access data in transit.

 It typically occurs when a user connects to a network in which traffic is

not secured or encrypted and sends sensitive business data to a
colleague.
 The data is transmitted across an open network, which gives an attacker
the opportunity to exploit vulnerability and intercept it via various
methods.
 Password Attack
 Password attack Many hackers try to get your password by using different
methods such as
 Dictionary attack where they try different possible passwords from the
dictionary;
 Brute force where they do trial and error to decode the password, but it is
time-consuming;
 Key-logger or tracking movements on the keyboard to get passwords;

 Shoulder surfing, which is a physical observation that people do by looking

over the user’s shoulders;
 The rainbow table, which has pre-computed hash values to find passwords.
 Social Engineering
 Social engineering refers to creating a social situation to get information
from the user like getting a call from the mobile company saying, “Your
device is in danger”.
 Internet Based Cyber Security Attack
 Cyber bullying - is bullying that takes place over digital devices like cell
phones, computers and tablets.
 Cyber bullying can occur through SMS, text and apps, or online in
social media, forums, or gaming where people can view, participate in,
or share content.
 Cyber bullying includes sending, posting or sharing negative,
harmful, false or mean content about someone else. It can include
sharing personal or private information about someone else causing
embarrassment or humiliation. Some cyber bullying crosses the line into
unlawful or criminal behavior.
 Internet Based Cyber Security Attack
 Cyber predators: are people who use the Internet to exploit usually
younger people for sexual and other purposes. Many cyber predators
pretend to be someone else or lie about details about themselves to gain
trust of their victims.

 Posting private information: You may not yet understand social

boundaries. Thus, you may post personally identifiable information online,
for example in your social media profiles that should not be out in public.
 Who is beyond Cyber Security Attack
 Online criminals: These people are good at identifying what can be
appropriated, for example stealing and selling sensitive data or holding
systems and information to ransom.

 Hackers: Individuals with varying degrees of expertise, often acting in an

untargeted way, perhaps to test their own skills or cause disruption for the
sake of it.

 Malicious insiders: use their access to an organization’s data or networks

to conduct malicious activity such as stealing sensitive information to
share with competitors.
 Who is beyond Cyber Security Attack
 Honest mistakes: Sometimes persons like you or staff with the best
intentions just make a mistake, for example by emailing something
sensitive to the wrong email address.

 School pupils or students: Some students simply enjoy the challenge of

putting their cyber skills to the test.
 Potential Losses Due to Security Attacks
The popular impacts of computer security threats are the following.

 Destruction or loss of information: such as destruction of system

components or loss of data due to failure of a hard disk.

 Corruption of information: like unauthorized alteration of files stored

such as adding or reducing student marks stored in a school database
or in a computer used by your homeroom teacher. Posting documents that
the school considers as illegal or unacceptable onto your or the school’s
social media channels (e.g. Telegram or Facebook) is example of
corruption of information.
 Potential Losses Due to Security Attacks
 Theft of services: is an unauthorized use of computer or network
services. Consider, for example, that you have access privilege to the
school Internet service for educational purposes. If you use this privilege
for unrelated purposes such as for online marketing (for promoting goods),
then, it becomes a theft of services.

 Illegal usage: uses the normal function of the system to achieve the
attacker’s behavior for other purpose. For example, dispatching texts of
videos that promote inter-conflict or inter-religious conflict by using
school internet services is an illegal usage, which can be a criminal act.
 Potential Losses Due to Security Attacks
 Disclosure of information: This is dissemination of information to
anyone who is not authorized. For example, schools put warning or letter
of appreciation on noticeboard inside the school to make the case known
to the school community.

 Denial of use: This is covered above as DOS. DoS is an intentional

degradation or blocking of computer or network resources, making it
inaccessible to its intended users.

 Elevation of privilege: uses the weakness of the system to access the

target system. An elevation-of-privilege occurs when an application gains
rights or privileges that should not be available to them.