Transcript Document

Possible threats to
internet users
The Circumstances:
Is It Avoidable?
A risk is taken every time
a computer connects to a network and
starts to communicate with other users,
e.g. private or legal persons or
organizations of any kind. All those who
may potentially use the system.
The Circumstances:
What Is It All About?
As for the Internet, the real risk concerns
merely the internet accounts and the files
stored in the computer. However, an
intrusion of an unknown user may have
serious repercussions in the reality.
Particularly when increasingly significant
parts of both human and corporate lives
become virtualized.
Legal Conditions
 Clinton’s 1995
 No authority
Internet Privacy Act
to control the Internet
worldwide or effective national control
 Legal control vs. personal liberty
 Users, servers and programmers may be
subject to different legal orders
 Legal
rules, their disputability and
interpretations; law awareness
 The law is always ‘one step behind’
Better safe
than sorry?
What You Lose
Being Secured
 Savings
 No
on firewall and antivirus programs
blocked websites
 Received
emails shown in the original form (with all
the images etc.)
 Easier
downloads (new programs or files)
 Easier
connection with new devices
 Easier
work with not standardized coding systems
and alphabets other than the Latin script in the
English version
Why To Attack?
Victim’s Loss
Victimizer's Gain
Privacy loss
Possibilities of more accurate
marketing research
Information loss
Access to restricted information
Money outflow
Money
Password confidence
Can act in the victim’s name
Addiction
Increased demand for their services
(social engineering)
Moral loss
Satisfaction, Money,
Increased demand for their services
Unhealthy lifestyle
None
When You Can Be Attacked
Victim’s Loss
Privacy loss
Information loss
Agents Of Hazard
Any activity in the Internet, especially if
the security measures that you have
taken do not efficiently protect you
Money outflow
Having an internet bank account,
online shopping, advanced fee frauds
Password confidence
Imprudence, fallible security systems
Addiction
Using social networking services,
online gambling, games and shopping
Moral loss
Particular user’s psychological
weaknesses
Unhealthy lifestyle
Spending too much time online
Ways You Can Be Attacked In
Through a Backdoor
For Cross Site Scripting (XSS)
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF)
Code Injection
Facing the
danger…
Wireless Connection Safety
(after USA Today)
If your wireless network is unsecured then you are
highly susceptible to:
 Fraudulent charges on your credit card
 Loans, apartment rentals, and other white collar
crimes in your name
 Wireless network viruses that destroy your
computer and attack your cell phone
Not to mention, with an average cost of $1000 per
victim and 30 hours spent to resolve the situation,
you might as well go work pro bono at a really lousy
job for half a month. Hackers can easily decrypt
wireless
signals
that
contain
much
of the network's information, such as the network's
SSID (Service Set Identifier).
Wireless Connection Safety
(after USA Today)
To avoid it:
1. Change the administrator's password regularly.
2. Limit the strength of your wireless network so it cannot be
detected outside the bounds of your home or office.
3. Turn off SSID broadcasting
4. Don’t rely on WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) Encryption.
Use "Shared Key" authentication and change your key
regularly.
5. Enable MAC Address filtering.
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is the newest and best
available standard in Wi-Fi security. Two modes are available:
Pre-Shared Key and RADIUS. Pre-Shared Key gives you a
choice of two encryption methods: TKIP (Temporal Key
Integrity Protocol), which utilizes a stronger encryption
method and incorporates Message Integrity Code (MIC) to
provide protection against hackers, and AES (Advanced
Encryption System), which utilizes a symmetric 128-Bit block
data encryption. RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In
User Service) utilizes a RADIUS server for authentication
and the use of dynamic TKIP,AES, or WEP.
Email security
Spam definitions:
Unsolicited bulk e-mail (UBE)
Unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE)
Any email message that is fraudulent
Any email message where the sender’s
identity is forged, or messages sent though
unprotected SMTP servers, unauthorized
proxies, or botnets
Zombie spamming
The spam is channelled through your
computer to the outside world, so you
appear to be the sender
Types of spam
Idiotic spam:
 Viagra and sex enhancement
 Weight-los scams
 Get rich quick schemes
Who falls for it = idiots
Content spam
 Games & quizzes
 Personality tests
 “Free” application or content downloads
Who falls for it = all of us
How does content spam work?
How many eyes above?
97,6% get this question wrong
How does content spam work?
SCAM
Advance
fee frauds
„Nigerian spam”
Lottery
win frauds
++NOTIFICATION OF
YOUR LOTTO WINNING+
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
AWARD FINAL
NOTIFICATION
CONGRATULATIONS, YOU
HAVE BEEN SELECTED.
Personal information scams
(PHISHING)
 you receive email messages that
appear to come from a legitimate
company
you are asked to
update or verify your
personal information
scammers then use this
information to commit
identity theft
PHISHING (Adress spoofing)

It makes it easy
for phishers to
create messages
that look like
they came from
a legitimate
source.
PHISHING (Other tricks)
 Obfuscated
links:
Using misspelled versions of the spoofed company's
URL
Including the targeted company's name within an
URL that uses another domain name
Using HTML to present links deceptive
 Popup
windows and frames with
malicious code
 HTML. HTML markup containing invisible
words and instructions helps the message
bypass anti-spam software.
Pharming
 change
the hosts file on the victim’s computer:
changing DNS (Domain name system) server
information
 Redirect
 Bogus
a website’s traffic to another
websites
Other malicious programs
phishers use in their scams:
Key loggers and screen capture Trojans
record and report information to the phisher.
Remote access Trojans turn victims'
computers into zombies
Bots maintain fabricated conversations with
victims in chat rooms or coordinate zombie
networks.
Spyware tracks and records users' online
behavior
Is it possible to stop spam? Probably not -but you can significantly reduce it.
Malware - definiton
Programs designed to harm or compromise
a computer are called malware (as in
malicious software). Malware includes a
wide array of nasty batches of code that
can wreak havoc to your computer or your
network.
Malware
Infectious malware: Viruses, Worms
 Concealment: Roootkits, Backdoors,
Trojans
 Malware for profit: Spyware, Botnet,
Keystroke logging, Dialers

Viruses vs. Worms
viruses and worms, are known for the manner in
which they spread, rather than any other
particular behavior,
 The term computer virus is used for a program
which has infected some executable software
and which causes that software, when run, to
spread the virus to other executable software.
Viruses may also contain a payload which
performs other actions, often malicious,
 a virus requires user intervention to spread,
whereas a worm spreads automatically

Trojan Horses
Trojan horse - a program that claims to do one
thing, but actually either damages the computer or
opens a back door to your system. It invites the
user to run it, concealing a harmful or malicious
payload.
Rootkits and Backdoors
• Once a malicious program is installed on a
system, it is essential that it stays concealed, to
avoid detection and disinfection.
• Techniques known as rootkits allow this
concealment, by modifying the host operating
system so that the malware is hidden from the
user.
Rootkits can prevent a
malicious process from
being visible in the
system's list of processes,
or keep its files from being
read.
Rootkits and Backdoors
A backdoor is a method of
bypassing normal
authentication procedures.
Once a system has been
compromised one or more
backdoors may be installed, in
order. Backdoors may also be
installed prior to malicious
software, to allow attackers
entry.
Malware for profit
More recently, the greater share of
malware programs have been written
with a financial or profit motive in mind.
Spyware

Spyware is computer software that is
installed surreptitiously on a personal
computer to collect information about a
user, their computer or browsing habits
without the user's informed consent.
Spyware
Keystroke logging

Key loggers - programs that record
keystrokes made by a user, allowing
crackers to discover passwords and login
codes.
Dialers

Dialer software dials up a premium-rate
telephone number such as a 0-700 number
and leave the line open, charging the toll to
the infected user.
Botnet

In order to coordinate the activity of many
infected computers, attackers have used
coordinating systems known as botnets. In a
botnet, the malware or malbot logs in to an
Internet Relay Chat channel or other chat system.
The attacker can then give instructions to all the
infected systems simultaneously. Botnets can also
be used to push upgraded malware to the
infected systems, keeping them resistant to antivirus software or other security measures.
Botnet
Botnet- sending e-mail spam





A botnet operator sends out viruses or worms,
infecting ordinary users' computers, whose
payload is a malicious application -- the bot.
The bot on the infected PC logs into a particular
C&C server (often an IRC server, but, in some
cases a web server).
A spammer purchases access to the botnet from
the operator.
The spammer sends instructions via the IRC
server to the infected PCs, ...
...causing them to send out spam messages to
mail servers.
Beyond The Real Threats
 Software
companies may try to take
advantage from average users’ ignorance.
 Little knowledge of the security rules may
provoke paranoid behavior. Imaginary and
real dangers, periodical propagation of
viruses.
 Underestimating the human factor is
much worse than not being fully
protected by the technology.
 Security rules for shared computer users.
References
http://www.scambusters.org/stopspam/ind
ex.html
 http://computer.howstuffworks.com/phishi
ng.htm/
 http://arstechnica.com/security/
 http://computer.howstuffworks.com/zomb
ie-computer1.htm

Thank you for
your attention
Marzena Dasko
 Pawel Poplawski
 Adam Kaminski
