5.6 safe computing

PII- personally identifiable information

information about an individual that identifies, links, describes them. such as SSN, age, race, phone number, medical info, financial info, biometric data

viruses

executable program that gets installed (usually unintentionally) and harms the user and its computer

phishing

send large amounts of fake email to trick people into sending confidential information. people log into fake accounts and give personal data that allows hackers to get into their real accounts

keylogging

use of a program to record every keystroke made by a computer user in order to gain fraudulent access to passwords and together PIL

Rouge access point

wireless access point that gives unauthorized accesses to secure networks

malware

general name for programs that try to affect your computer

multifactor authentication

method of computer access control in which a user is only granted access after successfully presenting several separate prices of evidence to an authentication mechanism (usually at least 2 of the following)

cryptography

the art of writing or solving codes

encryption

scrambling or changing a message to hide the original content

decryption

process of unscrambling a message to make it readable

key

longer key makes for more difficult decryption. most sited currently use 256 big keys. as computers get faster keys must grow. standard key length is now 256 bits.

symmetric encryption

uses the same secret key to encode and decode messages. requires face to face meeting to agree on key

public key (asymmetric) encryption

uses 2 different keys: one for encryption (public key) and another for decryption (private key)

how do virus get on a computer

1. fake install- deception about programs purpose (often disguised as security update)

2. software vulnerability- security backdoor exists

what type of damage can a virus do an your computer

1. steal or delete files

2. control programs

3. allow remote operation

DDOS- distributed denial of service

hacks overwhelm the website with too many requests (its “distributed” when the attack comes from multiple computers)

bot net

network of infected computers

zombie computers

infected computers

ways to avoid being hacked

1. strong passwords

2. check for authentic web addressed

3. install system security updates often

4. don’t install software you don’t trust

firewall

limits the kinds of connections outsiders can make to your computer

BUGS

errors in software. any program can have them. security bugs can crash your computer and allow spy software to collect what you type. software developers try to prevent and fix them with “updates” but updates are not always available quickly and users don’t always update the software

what makes a message too hard to crack

too many possibilities to compute in a reasonable amount of time

security protocols

SSl & TLS security protocols in use of any time you see HTTPS and or lock icon