Computer's Security And Ethics

2012. Another year of technology-based era. The present Era that commonly connotes to "Modernization" that has become enormous through the influx of many inventions. Likely of these inventions are the the ones that are common today, computers. From past centuries the computer has become developed more and more. Until the works and the cleverness of man had lead to the invention of the other side of technology. The Chaotic side. The Epidemic spread of viruses, worms, technology attacks and etc.



Virus, I definitely heard that term back when I was elementary. When someone of our classmate have said " Oh! that computer might have a Virus that's why it is loading slowly". Hearing those words made my brain puzzled and confused. Many questions had already pop up to my mind and the most common one is "What's a Virus?"


  Virus


  As far as my knowledge goes, Virus, specifically a computer virus is a disruption on accessing files and informations. However based on research, virus is technically defined as computer program attaches itself to a file, making it to spread from one computer to another, leaving damages as it travels. It acts also like a Human virus, it can be worst and be more severe: some may cause only mild annoying effects while others can ruin your hardware or software itself. Executable file, that's where the virus attaches to, which means the virus may exist on your computer but it actually cannot infect your computer unless you run or open the malicious program. Examples of Virus: ILOVEYou virus, Brain Virus, Lehigh Virus..etc.

According to IT and Computer Information Books:

• The word virus itself is a Latin for “poison”. ( Denning P.(1990).Computers Under Attack)
• Is a malicious program that has to be run to propagate in order to make damages and infections to other programs or files. (Pites P. (1992).The Computer Virus Crisis)
• It can spread out throughout that may destroy files, system software and even operating system. (Shelly G., et. al(2006). Discovering Computers

Worm. If there are worms in the world of science there's a worm in the world of computers A worm here is similar to a virus by design and is considered to be a sub-class of a virus. Worms spread from computer to computer, but unlike a virus, it has the capability to travel without any human action.The biggest danger with a worm is its capability to duplicate itself on your system, so rather than your computer sending out a single worm, it could send out hundreds or thousands of copies of itself, creating a huge devastating effect.


According to IT and Computer Information Books:

• A program that run through a system, changing small bits of codes/ data whenever it can get admit. (Pites P. (1992).The Computer Virus Crisis)
• Is a executable file that duplicates itself repeatedly, for example in a network or memory, using up resources and possibly shutting down the computer or network. (Shelly G. , et. al (2006). Discovering Computers) 

Trojan Horse. A very familiar term that reminisce us in Greek Myths Of Trickery. The Trojan Horse, at first glance will appear to be useful software but will actually do damage once installed or run on your computer.  Some Trojans are designed to be more annoying than malicious or they can cause serious damage by deleting files and destroying information on your system. Trojans are also known to create a backdoor on your computer that gives malicious users access to your system. Unlike viruses and worms, Trojans do not reproduce by infecting other files nor do they self-replicate.


According to IT and Computer Information Books:

• it hides w/in a legitimate program.A certain condition triggers the Trojan Horse. (Shelly G. , et. al (2006). Discovering Computers) 
• a generic name for penetration method that includes hidden codes. It is possible to put a Trojan Horse into asystem that would , for example simulated log-on messages.familiar kinds of Trojan Horse in microcomputers are freeware or shareware program.(Pites P. (1992).The Computer Virus Crisis) 

Honeypot. Such a sweet term to hear to but in computer world its way different. In computer terminology, a honeypot is a trap set to detect or in some manner counteract attempts at unauthorized use of information systems. Generally it consists of a computers, data, or a network site that appears to be part of a network, but is actually isolated and monitored, and which seems to contain information or a resource of value to attackers.


According to IT and Computer Information Books:

• Is a vulnerable computer program that sets up to entice an intruder to break  into it.  (Shelly G. et al, (2007). Discovering Computers) 
• It allows companies to learn how intruders are exploiting their network and also their network(Shelly G. et al, (2007). Discovering Computers) 

 Botnet is a collection of compromised computers connected to the Internet (each compromised computer is known as a 'bot'). When a computer is compromised by an attacker, there is often code within the malware that commands it to become part of a botnet. The "botmaster" or "bot herder" controls these compromised computers via standards based network protocols such as IRC and http.









Spoofing. From the word itself, it connotes "false and fraud". It is a known process of deception by which an unauthorized person causes a transmission or message to appear to come from an authorized user in order to gain privileged access to computer or network resources. IP spoofing, an integral element of many types of network attacks, involves creating TCP/IP packets that use false addresses, perhaps stolen from others.


According to IT and Computer Information Books:

• a technique that intruders use to make their network or Internet transmission appear true to a host computer or network.  (Shelly G. , et. al (2006). Discovering Computers) 
• IP spoofing occurs when an intruder computer fools a network into believing and IP address having so called trusted source.   (Shelly G. , et. al (2006). Discovering Computers)   

Denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) or distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS attack). Just directly saying attack and denial it can be defined from unavailability. It  is an attempt to make a computer or network resource unavailable to its intended users. Perpetrators of DoS attacks typically target sites or services hosted on high-profile web servers such as banks, credit card, payment gateways, and even root nameservers


According to IT and Computer Information Books:

• an assault whose goal is to disrupt Internet access such as the Web/ e- mail. (Shelly G. , et. al (2006). Discovering Computers) 

Back Door.Seeing this compound word, we can highly guess that it something like a hidden disadvantage from a advantage. It is a means of access to a computer program that bypasses security mechanisms. A programmer may sometimes install a back door so that the program can be accessed for troubleshooting or other purposes. However, attackers often use back doors that they detect or install themselves, as part of an exploit.  For example, Nimda gained entrance through a back door left by Code Red.


According to IT and Computer Information Books:

• a set of instructions or program that allow users to bypass security controls when having program access to network or computer.(Shelly G. , et. al (2006). Discovering Computers) 
• Perpetrators often install back door or modify an existing program to include a back door to continue access  the computer remotely w/o using the user's knowledge.(Shelly G. , et. al (2006). Discovering Computers) 

Firewall. Sighting this one word only will directly made an idea of something like a shield. Definitely, it   is a device or set of devices designed to permit or deny network transmissions based upon a set of rules and is frequently used to protect networks from unauthorized access while permitting legitimate communications to pass.Many personal computer operating systems  include software-based firewalls to protect against threats from the public Internet.


According to IT and Computer Information Books:

• a software or a hardware that protects a network's resources from intrusion by users on another such as the Internet.(Shelly G. , et. al (2006). Discovering Computers) 
• all networked and online computer users should implement firewall/ solution.(Shelly G. , et. al (2006). Discovering Computers) 

Payload .From the word itself, it seems like ironical because there's more deeper meaning of it.  (sometimes referred to as the actual or body data) is the cargo of a data transmission. It is the part of the transmitted data which is the fundamental purpose of the transmission, to the exclusion of information sent with it solely to facilitate delivery.


According to IT and Computer Information Books:


is the destructive event or prank the program is intended to deliver.(Shelly G., et. al(2006). Discovering Computers)