Chapter 10 - Security and Privacty

Cybercrime

• Criminal activity on the Internet

• Most types of crimes existed before computers, but technology has made them easier to commit and therefore more widespread

Cyberbullying

• Computer harassment between minors

Cyber-harassment

• Computer harassment between adults

  • Harassers use email, text messages, IMs, and social networks to embarass, threaten, or torment someone

Cyber-stalking

• More serious form of computer harassment that includes a credible threat of harm

Spam

• Unsolicited email

  • First spam sent in  the 1980’s by an immigration lawyer

  • Most estimates are that at least half (50%) of all emails sent are spam

  • Spam filters (by default, sends suspected spam messages to a “junk” folder)

  • Finding spammers extremely difficult (normally use botnets to send)

  • ISPs have to keep backup of ALL emails (including spam)

Phishing

• Emails (and IMs) that appear to be from those you do business with (such as your bank, credit card company, or IT administrator), designed to trick you into revealing information (such as passwords)

• Sent out to millions of email addresses

• Spear Phishing – a phishing email (or IM) targeted to a specific individual

• Use scare tactics (like your credit card will stop working or you will be locked out of your email account) to get people to respond… do not do it

Pharming

• Redirects you to a phony website even if you type in the correct address into your browser

• DNS poisoning

Voice Phishing

• Victims are called

• May hear a recording saying to call a number

• May be a live person

• Examples

  • A call from the IRS saying you have unpaid taxes and have to make an immediate credit card payment in order to prevent the police coming to arrest you

  • A “support” person from Microsoft saying they have detected malware on your computer, but if you download certain software, they can remove it

KIdnapping / Grandparents Scams

• A family member has been kidnapped and will be killed unless you pay a ransom… 

• Message may include personal information about you or the family member found by looking at social media channels

• Usually demand ransom be paid very quickly

Other Grandparents Scams

• Grandparent called by an imposter posing as grandchild saying he/she has been in an accident and needs money

• AI being used to mimic voices so they seem very authentic

• Older people targeted as they are more susceptible

• Suggestion: Have a family code word or phrase so that can be asked for to verify a family member is who he or she claims to be

Clickjacking

• Where clicking on a link allows malware to post unwanted links on your page

Clickbait

• A link that teases you with just enough information to get you to click the link, driving traffic to a web page

Share Baiting

• Where users share posts, often without actually clicking them first, which can lead you to believe the links are safe

Computer Fraud

• A scheme perpetrated over the Internet or email that tricks a  victim into voluntarily and knowingly giving money or property

• Many different types

  • Advance-fee scams

  • Shill bidding

  • Fake charities

  • Craigslist scam

Shill Bidd

• Fake bidding to drive up the price of an auction item

Craigslist scam

• Buyer requests shipment before paying

Advance Fee Scam

• Involves promising a large sum of money in return for a small up-front payment

• “Won” lottery, but need to pay a processing fee

• 419 (Nigerian) scam

419 (Nigerian) scam

• Email sent saying help needed to transfer a large sum of money, but once you respond, you are told you have to create an account and deposit money into it before the other money can be transferred

Online Dating Scams

• Meet online through dating apps, social media, etc

• Scammer may create fake social media profiles

• Get person to fall in love with him/her

• Ask for money to travel to meet in person, a medical emergency, etc. 

• Some sites may also be fake, asking you to create a profile to gather your information

Charity Fraud

• Poses as a charitable organization

• Solicits donations for victims of natural disasters, etc. 

• May impersonate actual charity like Red Cross

• May have a fake website

Extortion

• A person is subjected to repeated threats / attacks which will stop with paying of ransom

• Embarrassing photo or info obtained and will be shared unless ransom paid 

• Data on system encrypted and will only be unlocked with paying of ransom (Ransomware)

Pump-and-Dump

• Stock market manipulation scheme

• Buy stock in a company

• Put false information about the company to boost (pump) stock price

• Sell shares (dump) while price is high)

• When people find out the information was false, stock price usually drops

Record Manipulation

• Used to cover up evidence of theft

• Database or other records altered so it appears nothing is missing

• Could be used to cover up embezzlement

• Usually done by employee or other insider with access to company’s system

• To help prevent this, not uncommon for companies to monitor their employee’s computer activities

Salami Slicing / Penny Shaving

• Stealing money repeatedly in extremely small quantities

• Amounts are small in hope that the thefts will go unnoticed

• Example: An employee transferring a single penny from every transaction handled by a bank

• Usually done by employee or other insider with access to company’s system

Identity Theft

• The deliberate use of someone else’s identity

  • Financial identity theft

  • Information gathered by many means

    • Phishing 

    • Hacking

    • Theft (pickpocketing, etc.) 

    • Dumpster diving

  • Better to use credit cards instead of debit cards, since you are not responsible for fraudulent credit cards and purchases

  • Check your credit report one time per year for  free at: annualcreditreport.com

    • All three credit bureaus (Experoan, TransUnion, Equifax)

  • Reporting identity theft: Identitytheft.gov

Financial Identity Theft

• Most common: where someone fraudulently uses your name, Social Security number, or bank or credit card number

Hacking

• The act of gaining unauthorized access to a computer system or network 

• Different types of hackers

  • Sneakers

  • Crackers

  • Grey Hat

Sneakers

• Security experts paid to hack into systems to find security holes

Crackers

• Hack for malicious purposes (theft or vandalism)

Grey Hat

• Hack into systems illegally but not with malicious intent

Hacktivism

• Hacking to make a political statement

Data Breach

• A situation in which sensitive data is stolen or viewed by someone who is not authorized to do so

  • 2017 Equifax data breach resulted in over private records of over 140 million Americans being compromised

  •  Darknet markets (Silk Road is most famous) can be accessed anonymously to purchase illegal items such as guns, drugs, stolen data, etc. 

  • Bitcoins and cryptocurrencies used

Computer Criminals

• Employees / insiders (most common for companies)

  • Many companies monitor their employees (track websites visited, read emails) and it is legal for them to do so

• Grey hat hackers / crackers

• Organized crime

• Terrorists groups

Malware (Malicious Software)

• Spam

• Adware

• Spyware

Spam

• Unsolicited and unwanted email messages

• Over 50% of all email messages are spam

• Spam filters

Adware

• Shows ads in the form of pop-ups and banners

Spyware

• Installed without your knowledge or consent

• Secretly gathers personal information about you

• Examples: keyboard/keystroke logger, browser hijackers

Computer Virus

• Self-replicating malware code

• Uses a host file (program) to infect computers (most common type)

• When the host file is executed, the virus code is activated

  • Copies itself to other program files

  • May do something malicious

• Viruses spread through contact (like biological viruses)

  • Email attachments (most common method)

  • Downloading software from websites

  • USB flash drives

Computer Worm

• Self-replicating malware program that does not need a host file

  • Not the same as a virus

  • A worm is a stand-alone program

  • Spreads itself through networks (like on the Internet)

  • Example: 1988 Internet worm (Morris worm)

Trojan Horse

• A program that appears to be legitimate but is actually malicious

  • Appears to be working normally

  • Behind the scenes, doing something malicious

Logic Bomb

• Malware that attacks when certain conditions are met

• Example: An employee’s name is removed from a company database

Time Bomb

• Malware that attacks on a certain day and time

• Example: On April Fool’s Day

Rookit

• A set of programs that allows someone to gain control over a computer system while hiding the fact the computer has been compromised

• Can be downloaded from the web

Ransomware

• Malware that perpetually blocks access to a victim’s data (by encrypting it) unless a ransom is paid

• Payment usually must be paid in bitcoins since they are nearly impossible to trace

• Example: WannaCry (2017) 

  • Targeted MS-Windows using an exploit developed by NSA (National Security Agency

  • Microsoft had released patches to prevent the exploit, but many sites never installed the patches or were using old Windows versions past their end-of-life

  • Affected over 200,000 computers in 150 countries, including hospitals in England

  • North Korea believed to be behind the attack

Denial-of-Service (DOS) Attack

• An attack that sends so much traffic that it can cripple a server or network

• Example: Sending repeated requests to a web server to overload it and make it unresponsive to legitimate users

• Botnet

Botnet

• A network of computers (called zombies or bots), controlled by a master

  • Can be used to launch (distributed) DOS attacks

  • Can be used to send spam (most common use)

Firewalls

• A device or software that blocks unauthorized access to a network or individual computer

• Most home routers have firewall software… you should activate it

• MS-Windows and Mac OS X have software firewalls

Antivirus Software

• Security software that protects computers against viruses and other malicious software (like trojan horses and worms)

• Needs to be updated often

• Some are free (Avast)

Anti Spyware Software

• Security software used to prevent and remove adware and spyware

Security Suite

• A package of security software that includes a comindiation of firewall, antivirus, and antispyware programs

• Can be expensive

Router

• A device that connects two or more networks together. It uses IP address information to route the data packets it receives to the correct devices. 

• Almost all home routers have firewall software, may need to be configured

• The outside Internet has the public IP address of your router, but within your local area network, each computer has a private IP address

• SSID

• Wireless Encryption

SSID

• The name of a wireless network

  • Should always change this (do not use the default), make it anonymous

  • Can prevent it from  being broadcast (to hide your network)

Wireless Encryption

• Encrypts transmitted data

  • Uses WPA2-PSK (not older options that are less secure)

Passwords

• Typical method for securing access to computer accounts, online accounts, etc. 

• Should use strong passwords (passwords that cannot be guessed or easily cracked)

  • Uses a mixture of upper and lower case letters,numbers, special characters

  • Uses at least 8 characters (the longer the better)

  • Never use common words or personally-identifiable info

• Password managers can be used to generate and store passwords so you do not have to remember them

• Never give your passwords to other people

Two-Factor Authentication

• An account security measure that requires both a password and a verification code to sign in

  • Example: logging into eLearn – after entering your username and password, a verification code is texted to your smartphone or a “push notification” sent to your security mobile app

  • Google and other web sites commonly use as well

Encryption

• Software can be used to encrypt files on your hard drive so they can only be accessed with a password

• Software can be used to encrypt messages sent via email

• When asked to enter personal or credit card info on a web page, make sure it is using the https (not http) protocol

  • TLS (Transport Level Security)

Updating Software

• Software publishers often release updates to their programs, which may address security holes in the programs

• You can configure software to check for updates automatically, or you can search for updates yourself (auto update usually recommended)

• Unpatched systems vulnerable to attack

  • Example: WannaCry ransomware attack exploited security holes in old versions of MS-Windows

• Zero-Day Exploit

Zero-Day Exploit

• An attack that occurs on (or before) the day an exploit is discovered, before the software publisher can fix it

Laws

• Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (1986)

• USA Patriot Act (2002)

• Internet is worldwide; many attacks originate outside the US where US laws do not apply

Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (1986)

• Makes it a crime to access classified information you are not authorized to see

• Has been amended to include other types of cybercrimes

USA Patriot Act (2002)

• Contains provisions for fighting cybercrime

• Allows government to scan emails