How It Works - UK (2020-05)

http://www.howitworksdaily.com HowIt Works 025

DID YOU KNOW? Around 91 per cent of cyber attacks begin with email phishing, most of them sent via spam emails

TYPES

OF CYBER

THREATS

There’s a multitude of ways hackers

can carry out their attacks

You know how slow the internet

is when there are too many

people on it? A DDoS attack

swarms a system with traffic,

slowing or completely crashing

it. The hacker will often charge a

ransom to stop the attack.

DDOS

These types of attacks happen

when a hacker implants dodgy

code in a website that you visit.

When you open the website it

gains access to your computer

through your browser.

Drive By

Ever had a spam email? Phishing is an

attempt to get your bank details or other

secret information. Spear phishing is

more targeted at you; it may use your

name or pretend to be from a friend.

Phishing and

spear phishing

This is when a hacker uses your

passwords to gain entry to your

system. They might simply guess your

password or use a brute-force attack

• a program which tries lots of
  combinations really quickly.

Password

at ta c k

This is where a hacker disguises the

origin of their hack as something

trustworthy, so you might think

you’re visiting your bank’s website

when it’s actually a hacker’s fake

website stealing your login details.

IP Spoofing

WATCH FOR

Hackers have got their own artificial helpers –

rogue computer programs called malware

Trojan

LiketheTrojanHorse

in Greek history, this is

code that’s designed to look

likesomethingharmless. Once

downloadedit gives the

hackeraccess to your

systemand

sensitive

files.

Trojan

Spyware

Thislurksonyour

computer, observing the

websites you visit or the sensitive

information you download. It

then transmits that

information back

to a hacker.

Spyware

H

Worm

While a virus

needs you to download

a host – like an infected

word document – a worm

doesn’t. It’s a standalone piece

of code that gets into

your system, often

via personal

emails.

Ransom

wa r e

This is code that stops

your computer operating unless

you give the hacker some

money to unlock your

scrambled

information.

A typeof

computer code that’s

been designed to change a

system’s behaviour, usually to do

something nasty. Like a real-life

virus, they’re also

designed to replicate

and spread

quickly.

Virus

Ransom

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