Cybersecurity
Below are eleven common types of cyber attacks. You'll also find a brief explanation of encryption and decryption.
CYBER ATTACKS
Phishing
Scam that imitates legitimate companies to attain users' information, such as passwords and credit cards.
Brief Explanation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TRR6lHviQc
Network-Travelling Worms
Self-replicating programs, similar to traditional viruses, that "tunnel" their way into new networks to inflict harm. As such, they require no user input.
Maladvertising
The modification of legitimate advertisements to spread malicious software to unsuspecting users. This can be done by digitally "breaking into" a advertising company or by paying the advertising company to insert malicious code into the advertisements.
Man-in-the-Middle
An attack that operates between a connection of the user and a company that impersonates the company. These attacks often aim to steal sensitive user information.
Password attack
An attack to steal users' passwords to access their online accounts. While anybody can conduct a brute-force guessing attack, many attackers use dictionary attacks, rainbow tables, or hybrid attacks.
Denial of service attack
Denies users' access to networks by overwhelming the network with traffic. This makes the network servers unable to communicate with authentic users through the internet.
Malware
Any software that harms computers' ability to function properly. They "invade, damage, or disable computers" of all sorts, whether it be your laptop, phone, or even your car.
Unpatched Software
Software with unfixed vulnerabilities that may be exploited. Attackers with malicious intent may gain unauthorized access to accounts or find ways to steal valuable information.
Botnet Attack
A distributed denial of service attack (DDoS) where a network of bots attack a domain providing company. By attacking and overloading the company's servers, internet traffic towards the domain will no longer be able to reach it's destination.
Viruses
A malicious, self-replicating program that requires users' input. It "attaches" onto an application and gains the required permissions when the user installs the application.
Trojan HORSE
A program that acts as a harmless application/file. By convincing the user to install it, the Trojan horse gains the permissions to open a "backdoor" for malicious software.
ENCRYPTION AND DECRYPTION
Encryption is the process of transforming data into code that cannot be read by an unauthorized entity. The cyber attacks described above seek to circumvent the encryption of your data by either overwhelming a related system or fooling a user into granting access.
Decryption is the process of transforming unreadable encrypted data into its readable original form. If a user falls victim to a cyber attack, the attacker may be able to decrypt the user's data and gain unauthorized access.
MORE INFO: https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/33949/htg-explains-what-is-encryption-and-how-does-it-work/
