Monday, February 2, 2015

Effects of security breaches in computers



A school in Hampshire, England was the victim of a breach in information security
On March , 2011. Thousands of personal records were exposed after a student hacked
into the school’s systems.  The attack was immediately reported to the schools information
commissioners office, and as a consequence, the headmaster of the school must announce a
public apology to the victims of the attack. According to the (ICO), details of nearly 20,000
individuals were put at risk during the attack, 7,000 of which were students. Files hacked
from the schools website included medical information about students as well as information
about parents and teachers. The way the student hacked the schools website and
administrative systems was made easier because a staff member used the same password to
access both the schools website, and its administrative systems. The school stated that it
had advised the staff to avoid using duplicate passwords but didn’t enforce this policy. The
goal of the hacker was to gain unauthorized access to the schools records ad detailed personal
information of other students. The cause of the attack stemmed from school staff members
disregarding a computer password policy. Although it is more difficult to remember multiple
passwords, David Emm, a senior security researcher, offered a solution. A password manager
application, which creates and memorizes all passwords and stores them behind a single
password was suggested by Mr.Emm.  Unfortunately, security breaches are becoming a
major problem across the world because of using duplicate passwords. In my opinion,
the attack of the Hampshire school could’ve been avoided if their pre-existing password
policy had been strongly enforced by the school. The other way I think this attack could’ve
been avoided would’ve been by having the school staff members be required to have some
type of background involving computer security.

Computer privacy risks



The first computer privacy risk that I’ll write about are pop-ups. Pop-up ads are          
forms of online advertising. These ads open automatically and often try to convince
you to give away personal information. The way these ads access your computer is by
using java script applications that open a new browser window. Pop ups are generally
not a severe hazard unless you give away your personal info to the pop-up. The main goal
of pop-up ad is to retrieve your personal information by offering free software or programs.

The second computer privacy risk I’ll cover is Adware. Adware are the advertisements
Which appear in pop-up windows and banners. Clicks on the ad produce monetary pay
offs for the software producers. The Adware will access your computer by regular web
surfing. If a user were to download a peer to peer file, the file could contain Adware and
infect your computer. The ads begin to show up after the program files are loaded onto your
system. The adware poses a severe risk if it is malicious, credit card numbers and passwords
could be transmitted to someone who has the intent to steal from others. Adware tries to
accomplish stealing your personal info such as what I just listed above.

The third and final computer privacy risk to cover is Spyware. This is a program that
attaches itself to your operating system. Spyware can suck the life out of your computers
processing power. Spyware accesses your computer by clicking on pop-up windows, installing
a software package, or agreeing to add functionality to your web browser. The goal of spyware
is to track your internet habits, nag you with sales offers, and generate traffic for their host
website. The severity of spyware is usually not extreme and generally will just slow down the
processing power of your computer.

 Source for Spyware-
 Coustan, Dave.  "How Spyware Works"  16 February 2005.  HowStuffWorks.com. <http://computer.howstuffworks.com/spyware.htm>  25 April 2014.
 Source for Adware-
Strickland, Jonathan.  "10 Worst Computer Viruses of All Time"  26 August 2008.  HowStuffWorks.com. <http://computer.howstuffworks.com/worst-computer-viruses.htm>  25 April 2014.
 Source for Pop-ups-
Strickland, Jonathan.  "How Pop-up Blockers Work"  13 September 2007.  HowStuffWorks.com. <http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/basics/pop-up-blocker.htm>  25 April 2014.