Page 26 - DCAP309_INFORMATION_SECURITY_AND_PRIVACY

Information Security and Privacy

Notes 8. Spam may use techniques “.......................” spam, which uses legitimate news headlines to
trick recipients into opening spam emails.
9. The ....................... refers to spam emails to trick recipients into clicking on a link to an
insecure website and provide details considering the website as genuine one.
10. The spammers organize zombie computers into small groups called ‘.......................’.
11. ....................... is an attack method to deny the access to webpages of a website or network
to the legitimate users.
12. ....................... involves the interception of data packets by a computer successfully
pretending to be a trusted server/resource.



Caselet US Drones Hit by Virus

merica’s remote controlled kill machines, the Predator and Reaper drones which
fly hunt missions over Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen, have been hit by a
Acomputer virus and network specialist can’t seem to get rid of it.
The virus has infected Creech Air Force base in Nevada from where the robotic machines
fly globally, Los Angeles Times reported. But, media report said so far the virus hasn’t
hindered global missions of the drones and there’s been no leak of classified information.
The infection, first reported by Wired magazine two weeks back is allegedly logging
pilots’ every keystroke as they carry out the missions.
The virus has remained on the drones’ computer system despite multiple efforts to remove
it. “We keep wiping it off, and it keeps coming back... We think it’s benign,” Wired
magazine reported.
“Military network security specialists aren’t sure whether the virus and its so-called
‘keylogger’ payload were introduced intentionally or by accident; it may be a common
piece of malware that just happened to make its way into these sensitive networks,” the
magazine said.
The specialists don’t know exactly how far the virus has spread. Something is going on,
but it has not had any impact on the missions overseas.
Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/article2520670.ece

2.4 Classification of Threats and Assessing Damages

Any kind of asset that is not working optimally and is mission-critical or essential to the
organization, such as data that are not backed-up, is called a vulnerability, while anything
imperfect is called a weakness. Any kind of counter measure that becomes fairly automated
and meets the expectations of upper management is called a control, and there are many types
of controls in a computer security environment, as well as threats, some of which are given
below:

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