Nice Hat!

Whenever we hear the word Cyber Security, we typically associate it with the idea of a hacker. Which in most cases today, is often referred to as "someone who tries to break into computer systems." However, not all hackers break into computers with malicious intentions, but to spot security weakness. Those who have the intention to do harm is often referred to as a black hat, and those with good intentions are called white hats. 

Black hats is what people would often think about when they hear the term hacker. They can inflict massive amount of damage with the wide variety of techniques at their disposal. One form of an attack that a black hat could use is called DDos or distributed-denial-of-service attack. Which is basically where a hacker would take control of a computer by exploiting its weaknesses and making it the head command point. From there, the hacker would then begin to exploit many other computers which would then be referred to as a zombie. All the intruder has to do is send the command, and all of the compromised systems will send flood attacks to the targeted computer. The flood attacks would overwhelm the target with packets or little bits of information, denying the user of any access. This is just one of the many tricks a black hat has under their sleeves. 

On the other hand, white hats or ethical hackers, have the intention to exploit but in order to improve flaws and weakness. A technique that a white hat can use is DNS poisoning. In this attack, the victim is redirected to a different site that looks exactly the same as the intended website. For example, Bob wants to access his bank account and decides to do it online. Little did Bob know, he was re-directed to the hacker's version of bob's bank account. And as he typed in his information, he was simply sending it to the hacker. In order to achieve this attack, the hacker would have had to have changed the IP address or the address that leads to bob's bank account. 

One thing that should be kept in mind is that either of these techniques can be implemented for both good and bad intentions. One can only hope that it is an actual white hat and not a black hat in disguise. 

Works Cited

"365 Computer Security Training." 365 Computer Security Training RSS. Computer-network-security-training,22 Aug. 2010. Web. 30 Jan. 2013.

Rouse, Margaret."White Hat". What Is ? SearchSecurity,June 2007. Web. 30 Jan 2013.

Rouse, Margaret."Black Hat". What Is ? SearchSecurity,June 2007. Web. 30 Jan 2013.

Rouse, Margaret."Distributed Denial-Of-Service Attack(DDos)". What Is ? SearchSecurity,Nov 2010. Web. 30 Jan 2013.

"What Is a Packet? HowStuffWorks.HowStuffWorks,nd. Web.30 Jan 2013

Why Bother?

Well, one might ask, what exactly is Cyber Security and why should I care? As there are many elements and components that make up the field, in an overall view they all basically have the same purpose. And that is to employ safe techniques in order to minimize cyber-attacks.

Nowadays, as technology continues to grow, we become more dependent on cyberspace. In doing so, we face new risks. We face the possibility of identity theft, bankruptcy, loss of data, and so forth through the use of malware. Malware is essentially the computer's version of the flu. But how exactly can we combat against these threats?

There are many techniques and programs that can help combat this. Something as simple as actually turning off one's computer from the start menu, rather than leaving it on sleep or hibernate is good technique to minimize risks. Also allowing for windows to update can improve one's security. Another technique that can be employed is with the installation of an Anti-Virus program.

As there are many approaches on how one can improve their security, there is no guarantee that one can be completely safe. However, we can still execute safe techniques in order to minimize cyber-attacks.

Introduction

For this semester, I will be blogging about Cyber Security and how it can affect us individually. Since I'm going to be blogging about this particular subject, I will go along with the importance of Cyber Security and be under the alias Jonny.

As the weeks go on, I hope to be able to point out things that we do on a daily basis in relationship to the threats it may pose to us. Not only that, but to also bring out more of an awareness to those who have not heard of such threats as a possibility. 

As there are many ways for one with sinister intentions to be able to harm an unsuspecting individual. I hope that not only will we be more knowledgeable, but also more cautious when using the internet even if we are just simply blogging.