Internet and Cyber Security Notes

Cyber Attacks Definitions

  • Pretexting: Deceiving by pretending to be someone else.
  • Phishing: Obtaining unauthorized access to data via email.
  • Spoofing: Impersonating someone else.
  • Sniffing: Intercepting computer communications.
  • Usurping: Invading a computer system and replacing legitimate programs with unauthorized ones, disrupting services.
  • Malware: Encompasses Viruses, Worms, Trojan Horses, Spyware, and Adware.
    • Virus: A computer program that replicates itself, consuming computer resources.
    • Worms: Viruses that propagate themselves using the Internet or other computer networks.
    • Spyware/Adware: Invade your computer and capture keystroke information. Spyware does so maliciously, while Adware reports activity for targeted ads.
    • Beacons: Tiny files that gather demographic information. This info is sold and creates a profile of likes and habits.
    • Lotame Solutions specializes in Beacons.
    • Bot: A term for the family of Viruses, Worms, Trojan Horses, Spyware, and Adware.
    • Bot herder: An individual or organization that controls the Bots.
      • The North Korean Army is allegedly responsible for most bots in the US since 2009.
      • The Chinese Army is another primary source of Bots.
    • Honeypots: False targets for criminals to attack.

Electronic Counter-Measures

  • Firewalls
  • Encryption
  • Additional Passwords
  • Antispyware/anti-adware software
  • Backups/ RAID, off site backup storage

The Internet

  • A worldwide collection of networks that links millions of businesses, government agencies, educational institutions, and individuals.
  • Originated as ARPANET in September 1969 with two main goals:
    • Allow scientists at different physical locations to share information and work together.
    • Function even if part of the network were disabled or destroyed by a disaster.
  • ARPANET consisted of 4 main computers at 4 locations (UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, Stanford Research Institute and the University of Utah).
    • Each computer served as a host.
    • A host, more commonly known as a server, provides connections and services to other computers on a network.
  • By 1984, ARPANET had over 1000 individual computers linked as hosts.
  • Today, millions of hosts connect to the internet.

Internet Connections

  • Wired connections: A computer or device physically attaches via a cable or wire to a communications device.
    • Cable Internet service
    • DSL (digital subscriber line)
    • Fiber to the Premises (FTTP)
  • Wireless connections: Computers without a communications device can use a wireless modem hooked to USB port using a cellular connection.
    • Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity)
    • Mobile broadband
    • Fixed wireless
    • Satellite Internet Service
  • Additional connections:
    • A cybercafé is a location that provides computers with Internet access, usually for a fee.
    • A hot spot is a wireless network that provides Internet connections to mobile computers and devices (e.g. McDonalds).
    • An Internet service provider (ISP) is a business that provides individuals and organizations access to the Internet free or for a fee.
  • Bandwidth represents the amount of data that travels over a network.
    • A cable connection usually has a higher bandwidth than a wired bandwidth.
    • AT&T provides a wired connection and Charter or Spectrum or Comcast provide a cable connection.

Domain Names and the DNS

  • TLDs (Top-Level Domains) are used in the lookup process of a Domain Name.
  • Process:
    • User types in Samford.edu in their Web Browser (Bing, Safari, Internet Explorer).
    • The Browser looks in search history to see if the domain name has been used recently.
    • If so, it picks up the IP address from the tracking cookies.
    • If not, the browser goes to the internet Domain Name Server (DNS) and looks up the IP address.
  • DNS divides the directories into groups based on TLDs so the browser only has to look in the .EDU section for Samford.EDU.

World Wide Web (WWW)

  • WWW is the collection of Web sites and the Internet is the wire and routers that connect us to the WWW.
  • Definitions:
    • The World Wide Web (WWW), or web, consists of a worldwide collection of electronic documents (webpages).
    • A website is a collection of related webpages and associated items.
    • A web server is a computer that delivers requested webpages to your computer.
    • Web 2.0 refers to websites that provide a means for users to share personal information, allow users to modify website content, and provide applications through a browser.

Web Browsing

  • A browser is an application that enables users with an Internet connection to access and view webpages on a computer or mobile device.
  • A home page is the first page that a website displays.
  • Desktop browsers typically support tabbed browsing

Web Address Components

  • Protocol: A standard that brings uniformity to a process.

Searching the Internet

  • A search engine is software that finds websites, webpages, images, videos, news, maps, and other information related to a specific topic.
  • A subject directory classifies webpages in an organized set of categories, such as sports or shopping, and related subcategories.

Steps to Selecting a Web Page

  • Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) will provide you with access to the Internet and an IP address. For Mac and PCs the ISP will be ATT.Net or Charter.net locally
  • Load your Browser For Mac, click on Safari and for PC click on Internet Explorer.
  • In the Universal Resource Locator (URL) type the name of a search engine For MAC or PC it can be Yahoo.com or Google.com The actual name is http://www.yahoo.com
    • Protocol Host name Domain name
  • The Domain Name Server (DNS) will translate the Domain name to an Internet Protocol (IP) Number that corresponds to the Domain Name address (location of the Web site on the WWW).
  • Your computer IP address is communicated through the Internet from your location through your router and modem to the ISP central office, for ATT, through the internet to the IP location and the website is connected to your computer. The website homepage appears on your screen and you are now using their search engine for your WWW lookups.

Definitions

  • A subject directory classifies webpages in an organized set of categories, such as sports or shopping, and related subcategories. This can assist you in searching.
  • A graphic is a digital representation of non-text information. Graphic formats include BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, and TIFF.
  • An info-graphic is a visual representation of data and information, designed to communicate quickly, simplify complex concepts, or present patterns or trends

Other Internet Services

  • Email is the transmission of messages and files via a computer network.
  • An email program allows you to create, send, receive, forward, store, print, and delete email messages.
  • An email list is a group of email addresses used for mass distribution of a message
  • Instant messaging (IM) is a real-time Internet communications service
  • A discussion forum is an online area in which users have written discussions about a particular subject
  • VoIP (Voice over IP) enables users to speak to other users over the Internet
  • FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is an Internet standard that permits file uploading and downloading to and from other computers on the Internet. Many operating systems include FTP capabilities.
  • An FTP server is a computer that allows users to upload and/or download files using FTP.
  • Netiquette is the code of acceptable Internet behavior

Internet Service Providers (ISPs)

  • When you connect to the internet you are actually connecting to an Internet Service Provider (ISP).
  • 3 functions of ISP
    • provides you with an internet address
    • serves as a gateway to the internet and
    • pays for your access service
  • 3 ways you connect to the internet
    • Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)
    • Cable Modem and
    • Wi- Fi
  • All three require that the digital signal be converted to an analog signal and the device that does the conversion is called a MODEM(Modulator/Demodulator).

Protocols

  • Device to device communication over the internet are facilitated using Protocols
  • 5 levels of protocol from the client (that’s you) to the internet
    • Computer to wireless or Ethernet switch … IEEE 802.3 or 802.11
    • Switch to modem 802.3 or 802.11
    • Modem to ISP Internet Protocol (IP)
    • Over the Internet Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)
    • Internet Application level protocol HTTP (HyperText Transport Protocol) or SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) or FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
  • IP Address identifies a particular device on the internet.
    • IP addresses can be on the public internet or private intranet (on the public internet these addresses are controlled world-wide by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)) or they can be on the private intranet within the LAN.
    • An IP address is a 16 digit number for the device (e.g. 6165,3193,2123,2253) that has an associated ICANN name called the Domain Name. IP stands for Internet Protocol so they are Internet Protocol addresses.
  • The Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is an address on the internet. It consists of the protocol (e.g. HTTP://) followed by the domain name (e.g. Google.com).
  • VPN (virtual Private Network) creates the appearance of a private point to point connection.
  • LAN Local Area Network is a network consisting of a series of clients connected through a router wifi/router to a server in close proximity to the clients.
  • WAN Wide Area Networks are designed to support networking separated over miles apart.
  • The internet is the connectors and routers and servers that connect you to the World Wide Web.
  • The World Wide Web is the collection of web sites that provide information to the client.