Internet activists are often times a section of people whom meet in the cyber world and collectively deny customers from accessing corporate web sites. The intention of these internet activists is often denial of service. While the intentions of ”traditional” hackers are not just denial of service but stealing valuable insider information and data, internet activists only try to disrupt service.
Organizations these days should guard against cyber-attacks on their web sites by having a very structured security policy. It is not just enough to have a secure infrastructure setup as a one-time effort but continuous monitoring is necessary to ensure no security breach takes place. A well configured intrusion detection system is the first step to ensuring a network that is constantly monitored. Firewalls, constantly updated antivirus programs, frequent and prompt software updates in addition to penetration testing could help organizations falling target to outsider attack.
While organizations deal with trying to keep their business up and running through their websites, activists work hard trying to disrupt the offerings provided by these organizations to their customers. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are a major means of unsettling a business. A DDoS attack often begins with setting up an attack network. The attackers use tools like Nmap and Nessus and find vulnerable machines which become secondary targets using which the attack on the victim is launched from. While organizations cannot prevent attackers from using these secondary targets certain mitigation strategies like load balancing, throttling or dropping requests are security countermeasures that could be applied to address such concerns.
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... process should include questions about the location of servers on which the data gets stored. This is important because significant legal implications would exist depending on the country the data is housed in. Also, the questions about who would manage the data and in which locations, identity access and privacy controls would have to be discussed about. Data encryption techniques that are used by the prospective providers would lead to a good deal of confidence in selecting a provider. Questions on data segregation will need to be asked as well. This would ensure that other clients of the same provider have their data segregated and separated out. The cloud provider should also be asked details about its disaster recovery and business continuity plans. Service Level Agreements (SLA) should be well detailed and documented to avoid confusion and provide clarity.
The Ted Talk presented by Catherine Bracy took the word hacking to another level. A new way of looking at a hacker. A hacker meaning much more than a teen behind a computer trying to steal information. The points she brought out is that reaching out to the people can get things done and strengthen relationships between people and an organization and through that relationship both parties are more stable and content. Bracy expressed her experiences with hackers in a government and citizen view, but this can also be applied to personal and
Murdoch, S. J., & Roberts, H. (2013). Internet Censorship and Control [Guest editors' introduction]. IEEE Internet Computing, 17(3), 6-9. doi:10.1109/MIC.2013.5
Watch Guard Fireware has a firewall based IPS the can detect and block of attacks in the proxy policies. When enabling Firebox, this will protect the network from any kind of attack especially zero day threats from the outside world. Also, the IT staff should use a signature-based Intrusion prevention system to that is good for maintaining efficiency and performance protection on the network. Using my suggestions will prevent any more threats in the future for these web servers on the college’s
Modern scholars have in the recent decades engaged in the controversial debate on the actual classification of the group Anonymous. Some scholars classify the group as trolls while other associates it with hackers groups. As defined, hackers are individuals or groups that search and exploit the computer system weakness (Messmer 65). In most instances, hackers engage in discouraging and unappealing activities for multiple reasons including challenging the existing systems, protesting against the prevailing rules and regulations, and for profit making. On the other hand, trolls are groups of individuals who engage in the process of sowing discord on the internet through instigating arguments that aim at upsetting community members and leaders (Keith 11). Trolls are also popular for posting off-topic, extraneous, and inflammatory information on the internet. Although hackers and trolls are the main actors in the current threatening cyber crimes, the two groups have varying reasons for abusing the existing technology. Moreover, despite the existence of detailed and intensive strategies to address the two groups of crime, the actors have been outshining the global policy implementers and formulators in numerous occasions (Messmer 65). However, based on the available evidence, the Anonymous group is more of a hacker group than a troll group.
System have to be constantly updated to prevent new types of attacks. Also, different layers of security have to be employed so as to increase the fortification of the network system against possible breach. In a case where a system has been breached, awareness should become the next priority as this can still help prevent the loss of data depending how soon detection can occur. In all security measures, human error has always been identified as a great risk. To minimize this, security training is encouraged not just for security personals but for everyone who uses a
In 1980, James Anderson’s paper, Computer Security Threat Monitoring and Surveillance, bore the notion of intrusion detection. Through government funding and serious corporate interest allowed for intrusion detection systems(IDS) to develope into their current state. So what exactly is IDS? An IDS is used to detect malicious network traffic and computer usage through attack signatures. The IDS watches for attacks not only from incoming internet traffic but also for attacks that originate in the system. When a potential attack is detected the IDS logs the information and sends an alert to the console. How the alert is detected and handled at is dependent on the type of IDS in place. Through this paper we will discuss the different types of IDS and how they detect and handle the alerts, the difference between a passive and a reactive system and some general IDS intrusion invasion techniques.
Implement a system Intrusion Detection/Prevention System (IDS/IPS): - Make the investment in an IDS/IPS to distinguish and prevent potential system dangers. sensors ought to be circulated all through the system, with a specific focus on general society untrusted section. Take alerts very seriously.
According to Lineberry (2007), organization spends a significant amount of money on information technology budget on computer security with firewalls, vaults, lock, biometrics and more can be pierced by attackers by going after the untrained and uninformed employees, (Lineberry, 2007). Employees need to be trained on cyber security awareness. They should be familiar with ways hackers will try to get into the network by uses of viruses, spam emails to spread viruses, social networking and more. If the organization has an open internet for employees to research items on the internet, inform them on what to look for in the search that could lead to a harmful site. For an example, the title of the page could be what they are looking for but the web address linked to it could be completely different. Monthly newsletters on current trends in cyber security awareness could help keep employees informed such as last month there been an increase in social engineering attacks and expected to be more this month, it keeps employees on a look out. The employees should also be informed who their IT people are and what they will not ask for over the phone such as password information. A yearly refresher course would help either by an online training or by having training conference. Process should be put in place by policies on dealing with
My expedition into cyber-communism began when I read Brock Meeks' "Hackers Stumble Toward Legitimacy"[1]. The article addressed a recent hackers' convention.
The ability of the attackers to rapidly gain control of vast number of Internet hosts poses an immense threat to the overall security of the Internet (Staniford, Paxson & Weaver, 2002). Once compromised, these hosts can not only be used for massive Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, but also steal or corrupt great quantities of sensitive information by confusing and disrupting the network in more subtle ways (Honeynet, 2005).
Lastly, the application layer (Layer 7) supplies services to application procedures and threats are static passwords and SNMP private community strings (Holl, 2003). Organization will need to enforce encryption to limit the exposure of personal information, ensure that patches are installed for applications, patching and is performed on all network and hardware devices, hardening of operation system and implements secure authentication methods (Baker & Wallace, 2007). Additionally, a quality anti-virus is utilized on workstations, servers and other devices connected to the organization IT infrastructure. All types of attackers discussed in this paper are applicable. Black hat hackers and cyber terriorist will control exploit vulnerabilities in networks and application systems that are not properly patch as well as malware writer
Within the last decade, the internet has proven to be the most efficient way to complete tasks in today’s society. Every major business in today’s society relies on the internet to conduct business. Though the internet is a useful tool, our reliability on it opens up the door for cyber-attacks that can be detrimental to business as a whole. One example of a cyber-attacks that have recently started becoming more prevalent are DDoS attacks. Recently, DDoS attacks have been a rising issue for businesses owners who run their own servers, such as video game companies and other high profile web servers, including banks and other credit card payment gateways.
In Gabriella Coleman’s article, “Hacker Politics and Publics,” she describes a theoretical example of hacktivism: “If the copyright industries use digital rights management (DRM) to control their digital content, then the response of hackers is not just to crack DRM but to initiate a robust protest movement to insist on their right to do so” (Coleman 515). Through this example, Coleman communicates that hacker culture aims to defend individual rights, like the right to redistribute content they bought. As Coleman explains earlier in the essay, hackers achieve this goal by exercising the power of the individual in protesting the shortcomings of the mainstream through the act of hacking. In stark contrast with the indie artists that indie traditionalists describe, hackers, as viewed by Coleman, communicate their agenda not through art but through technological dissonance and digital
Wray, S. (n.d.). Electronic Civil Disobedience and the World Wide Web of Hacktivism: A Mapping of Extraparliamentarian Direct Action Net Politics Retrieved from http://switch.sjsu.edu/web/v4n2/stefan/
A cyber crime called 'Bot Networks', wherein spamsters and other perpetrators of cyber crimes remotely take control of computers without the users realizing it, is increasing at an alarming rate. Computers get linked to Bot Networks when users unknowingly download malicious codes such as Trojan horse sent as e-mail attachments. Such affected computers, known as zombies, can work together whenever the malicious code within them get activated, and those who are behind the Bot Networks attacks get the computing powers of thousands of systems at their disposal.