Imagine opening up an email attachment or an online utility bill. All of a sudden, a notice appears informing you that you need to pay a ransom in order to unlock your computer files. Alarmed, you try to click on all of the files on your computer – but you just can’t open them. What […]
Definition of the Day: Rat in the Browser AttackWeb Security Terms Defined: Rat in the Browser Attack (RitB) A Rat in the Browser attack (RitB) is a variant of the Man in the Browser (MitB) attack where a Trojan is injected into the browser. The trojan becomes an invisible middleman to a web browsing session. Commonly used in bank account hacking, a Rat […]
Definition of the Day: ATM SkimmingATM skimming is like identity theft for debit cards and it comes in two major forms, ancient and modern. The ancient (as in a few years ago) occurs when thieves use hidden electronics to steal the personal information stored on your card and record your PIN number. That’s why skimming takes two separate components to […]
Definition of the Day: Man in the Browser AttackImagine this scenario: You’ve logged into your bank account to transfer funds and make payroll. You enter the temporary 9-digit code from the electric Fob your bank issued to secure online transactions. But, your bank account is empty! You’re a victim of cyber theft. Cyber-attacks that manage to grab and use your Fob code from […]
Definition of the Day: DDoS AttacksA DDoS attack is the shortened form of a Distributed Denial of Service attack. Also known as a Distributed Network Attack, DDoS attacks exploit the physical limitations of a website’s server architecture such that the website doesn’t function and/or is totally inaccessible and broken. This is one of the oldest and simplest forms of web […]
Definition of the day: RiskwareThere’s a saying, ‘Guns don’t kill people, people do.’ So it is with riskware. ‘Riskware doesn’t hack people, people do.’ Riskware is the name given to legitimate software that can be used for hacking purposes if it is exploited by malicious hackers. Basically, any software that can remotely use the machine, delete, block, disrupt networks […]
Definition of the Day: PornwarePornware, as you have likely already surmised, is the name of a class of programs that find, download and display pornographic material on a device. It can be both legitimate and malware. Like adware the difference lies in whether or not the software was willingly downloaded and installed. Illegitimate uses of pornware will often automatically […]
Definition of the Day: AdwareWhat is AdWare The term adware is used to describe programs that personalize and display advertisements on your computer via your web browser an through free apps or software programs. In addition, much adware today also does things like collect usage data for online marketing purposes (via web beacons) and redirect your search requests to […]
Definition of the Day: Warhol WormAmerican pop artist Andy Warhol famously said, ‘In the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.’ He never knew that his words would be used to name a class of computer worms that could shut down the entire internet. Self replicating worms are a major security problem because they are capable of spreading themselves […]
Definition of the Day: PharmingPharming is a derivation of the hacking technique of host file redirection. It is targeted at a broad swath of potential victims. (Think phishing + farming = pharming.) This hack redirects an innocent internet user to a fake clone of a website where the user then unknowingly gives high risk information to the hacker. Finding […]
