Assignment on Cyber Security

Assignment on Cyber Security

Answer to Question 1

Factors relating Cyber-Security, Cyber-Trust and Web-based Applications

The three key factors that relate the study of the given articles and chapters 1, 2 and 3 are as follows:

Vulnerability

Attack Tools Widely Available and Easy to Use

The Virtual Nature of the Crime

Vulnerability

Vulnerability is the weakness or flaw in computer security which allows a hacker or attacker to gather key information. As a result of vulnerability, Cyber-Security, Cyber-Trust and Web-based Applications become a target of cyber crime. In the rush to benefit from the Internet, many organizations often overlook engineering practices and technology that enhance security (Amoroso, 2007). Likewise, the pace of innovation presses on software developers, while the introduction of new products inevitably introduces new security vulnerabilities. At the same time, security holes continue to be found in previous releases of computing and communications products that may still be in widespread use (McQuade, 2009). Typically, when these vulnerabilities are discovered, the vendor will quickly assess the nature of the problem and issue a patch that corrects the security flaw.

The availability of the patch is announced via mailing lists and on websites with the intent that all system administrators using the product will quickly install the patch to correct that particular security vulnerability. In practice, this occurs unevenly and at any given time it is likely that the patch was not installed on many computers and networks, leaving them vulnerable to a problem the vendor patched several months, or even years, before (Saadawi et al. 2011). Moreover, it is not uncommon for the patch itself to have bugs, thereby creating new problems while trying to fix an old one. At the same time, security holes continue to be found in previous releases of computing and communications products that may still be in widespread use. In the end, the presence of a large number of vulnerable computers and networks provides many options for cyber crime and hence the system lacks security and trust.

Attack Tools Widely Available and Easy to Use

In this modern era, hacking and attacking on confidential information through viruses has become a norm. Various examples of recent past prove this fact. Recent hacking of VeriSign Inc is the prime example. The company that provides safe internet data to half of the world got hacked itself and confidential information was stolen. Significantly, all that the cyber criminal needs in order to engage in cybercrime is a personal computer and modem connected to the Internet; there are no significant equipment-related “barriers to entry” for engaging in cybercrime. Today's intruder can choose from a menu of easily obtainable, increasingly sophisticated and automated attack tools. By using an automated scanner, cyber criminals can quickly and easily discover vulnerable computers that are connected to the Internet.

Then they need only look at the specific nature of the vulnerability and select a script to exploit it in order to break into the computer. Once the break-in has occurred, a cyber criminal can use the compromised computer as a ...