Week 4

Computer and Network

Security
Module Description
 Module Learning Objectives

• Identify some of the factors driving the need for

network security
• Identify and classify particular examples of attacks
• Define the terms vulnerability, threat and attack
• Identify physical points of vulnerability in simple
networks
• Compare the symmetric and asymmetric encryption
systems
• Explain the characteristics of hybrid systems.
 History of Computer Security

• 1945

Rear admiral Grace Murray

Hopper finds a moth among
the relays of a Navy computer
and calls it a “bug.”

She later creates the term

“debugging.”
• 1964

AT&T starts monitoring toll calls to catch “phone

freaks,” or “phreakers,” who obtain free phone calls
by the use of tone-producing “blue boxes.” The
monitoring ends in 1970, resulting in 200
convictions.
• 1972

John Draper, A.K.A. “Captain Crunch,” discovers that

free phone calls can be made with the use of a blue
box and a plastic toy whistle that comes in Cap’n
Crunch cereal boxes.

The whistle duplicatesa 2600-hertz tone to unlock

AT&T’s phone network.
• 1979

The first computer “worm” is created at “

Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center".

The program is meant to make computers

more efficient, but later hackers modify
worms into computer viruses that destroy
or alter data.
• 1983

Fred Cohen, a University of Southern California

doctoral student, comes up with term “computer
virus.”

• 1986

The first PC virus, “the Brain,” is created. The Brain,

however is not destructive, and the creators
included their contact information with it.
• 1988

A worm is uploaded to ARPANET (Advanced

Research Projects Agency Network), the ancestor of
the Internet, disabling about 6,000 computers by
replicating itself and filling their memory banks.

Robert Morris, who created and unleashed the virus

out of boredom, received three years’ probation and a
$10,000 penalty.
• 1995

Concept, the first Microsoft Word-based virus, spreads

worldwide using macro commands. The virus is spread by
opening an infected Word document.

• 1998

“Solar Sunrise” occurs when hackers take control of over 500

government, military, and private computer systems.

Authorities eventually learn that two California teenagers

coordinated the attacks.
• 2000

Hackers use computers at the University of California-Santa

Barbara to crash Amazon, Yahoo, eBay, and other
websites by flooding their sites with trac.

• 2001

The Code Red worm causes $2 billion in damage by

infecting Microsoft Windows NT and Windows2000 server
software. The virus attempts to use all infected computers to
attack the White House website simultaneously, but the
worm’s code is deciphered in time and the attack is blocked.
• 2005

Users of computers infected with Poison Ivy find their

computers remotely controlled via the virus. The remote
access trojan is used to attack not only personal computers,
but chemical and defense companies as well.

• 2006

Between 469,000 and 1 million computers are infected by

the Nyxem virus, which overwrites files on the third of every
month. The virus is spread by email attachments and targets
files with extensions such as .doc, .xls, .ppt, .zip, .pdf, etc.
• 2007

The Storm Worm virus (actually a trojan) is sent to

unsuspecting individuals via emails with headlines about a
recent European days disaster. Within three of its release the
virus accounts for 8% of all infections.

• 2010

Stuxnet, a virus created for industrial and economic attacks,

is discovered. The worm targets systems used to run nuclear
power plants and water facilities and is so large and complex,
estimates suggest it was developed by the U.S. or Israeli
governments and took more than 10 years to develop.
• 2014

One dozen Russian hackers steal more than 1.2

billion matching passwords and usernames, and
over 500 million email address. The heist is
accomplished using viruses to test and exploit
vulnerabilities in websites’ SQL code.
 Computer Security

• Computer security is the process of preventing and

detecting unauthorized use of your computer.

• Prevention measures help you to stop unauthorized

users (also known as "intruders") from accessing
any part of your computer system.

• Detection helps you to determine whether or not

someone attempted to break into your system, if
they were successful, and what they may have
done.
 Data Security

• Data security is the practice of keeping data

protected from corruption and Unauthorized
access. The focus behind data security is to
ensure privacy while protecting personal or
corporate data.
 Information technology security

Information technology security is the process

of protecting computers, networks, programs
and data from unintended or unauthorized
access, change or destruction.
Why should I care about computer security?

• We use computers for everything from banking and

investing to shopping and communicating with
others through email or chat programs.

•  Governments, military, corporations, financial

institutions, hospitals and other businesses collect,
process and store a great deal of confidential
information on computers.

• Transmit that data across networks to other

computers.
• With the growing volume and sophistication of
computer and network attacks.

• ongoing attention is required to protect sensitive

business and personal information, as well as
safeguard national security.

• During a Senate hearing in March 2013, the

nation's top intelligence officials warned that
information technology attacks and digital spying
are the top threat to national security, eclipsing
terrorism.
Who would want to break into my computer at home?

• Intruders (also referred to as hackers, attackers, or

crackers) may not care about your identity.

• they want to gain control of your computer so they

can a use it to launch attacks on other computer
systems.

• Having control of your computer gives them the

ability to hide their true location as they launch
attacks.
• Even if you have a computer connected to the
Internet only to play the latest games or to send
email to friends and family, your computer may be
a target.

• Intruders may be able to watch all your actions on

the computer, or cause damage to your computer
by reformatting your hard drive or changing your
data.
Coals of Computer security (security principles)
• Integrity
Assurance that the information is authentic and complete.
Integrity is the principle of protecting information against
improper modification.

• Confidentiality
The information must just be accessible to the authorized
people.
Confidentiality is the principle of protecting information from
disclosure to unauthorized entities.
Access control, and cryptographic encryption of data over a
network or on a storage device are common techniques for
achieving confidentiality.
• Availability
Assurance that the systems responsible for delivering,
storing and processing information are accessible when
needed, by those who need them.

• Reliability
Computers should work without having unexpected
problems

• Authentication
Guarantee that only authorized persons can access to
the resources
 Computer security concepts

Passive Attack
attempts to learn or make use of information from the
system but does not affect system resources.

Two types of passive attacks are:

 Release of message contents
 Traffic analysis.
• Active Attack
Modification of the data stream or the creation of a false
stream

Four types of active attacks

 Masquerade
 Replay
 Modification of messages
 Denial of service.
• Computer security risk
A computer security risk is any event or action that
could cause a loss of or damage to computer
hardware, software, data, information, or processing
capability.
 

• Computer crime
Any illegal act involving a computer generally is
referred to as a computer crime.
• Cracker
A cracker is someone with extensive computer knowledge
who accesses a computer or network illegally , someone
whose purpose is to destroy data, steal information, or
other malicious action

The general view is that, while hackers build things,

crackers break things.

• Cyber terrorist
A cyber terrorist is someone who uses the Internet or
network to destroy or damage computers for political
reasons.
• Rootkit
 A rootkit is a program that hides in a computer
and allows someone from a remote location to take
full control of the computer.
 Types of Security

• Network Security
• System and software security
• Physical Security

• Network security
Network security refers to any activities designed to protect
your network. Specifically, these activities protect the
usability, reliability, integrity, and safety of your network and
data.

Effective network security targets a variety of threats and

stops them from entering or spreading on your network.
• Physical security
Physical security is the protection of personnel,
hardware, programs, networks, and data from
physical circumstances and events that could cause
serious losses or damage to data.

This includes protection From fire, natural disasters,

burglary, theft, vandalism, and terrorism.
 Hackers

• In the computer security context, a hacker is

someone who seeks and exploits weaknesses in a
computer system or computer network. “a clever
programmer“.

•  Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of

reasons, such as profit, protest, challenge or
enjoyment.
 Type of computer hackers

• White hat hacker

The term "white hat" refers to an ethical computer

hacker, or a computer security expert, who
specializes in hack testing to ensure the security of
an organization's information systems.

White hat hacker breaks security for non-malicious

reasons, perhaps to test their own security system .
Black hat hacker
 
• Black hat hacker known as crackers or dark-side
hackers. someone violating computer or Internet
security maliciously or for illegal personal gain.
 
 
Gray hat hacker
• A gray hat hacker is a combination of a black hat
and a white hat hacker.