Data breaches happen every day in today’s connected world. As a business owner it’s important to educate yourself about the risks. If you’re new to IT or just need to educate yourself, here are six common hacking terms defined so you can have an informed discussion with your security team.
- Denial of Service (DoS) – DoS attacks are used to make resources unavailable by flooding a network or website with rapid requests that can’t be serviced locking users out of the network or crashing the website.
- Dictionary Attack – This is a more sophisticated form of the brute force password attack where randomly generated passwords are attempted in order to break password security.
- Logic Bomb – A logic bomb is triggered by a specific event or sequence of events. Hacked computers are loaded with software that is waiting for a specific event, or combination of events, to begin their attack. The best example is the Michelangelo virus which was programmed to attack millions of computers on March 6, 1992.
- Malware – Malware, or malicious software is software that is designed to disrupt a computer or network with malicious intent. One recent malware attack was the CryptoLocker attack, which encrypted data on any infected computer and then attempted to extort a payment for the key to unlock the encryption code.
- Phishing – This is the most common type of attack. Examples are those emails from international lotteries that tell you you’re rich but only if you take steps like filling out your bank information or mailing a check to pay “taxes” on your winnings. Often pretending to be an email from a friend whose computer was infected by a virus that hijacks their address book.
- Zero-Day Attack – A common term, a zero-day attack is the use of an undetected flaw in an app or operating system that is exploited to gain access or control a system’s resources. Zero-day refers to the fact that it’s the day on which the attack was first identified.
IT threats change almost every day. Regardless of your industry, it’s critical to stay on top of IT trends and stay informed to reduce your risk. If you’re not sure how to go about securing your company’s network or print environment give us a call and we’d be happy to answer any questions you may have.
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