Phishing is a cyber attack that gathers sensitive information like login credentials, credit card numbers, bank account numbers or other financial information by masquerading as a legitimate site. Personal information like social security numbers, phone numbers and social media account information are also common targets for cybercriminals who perform identity theft. Phishing scams trick victims by using social engineering to create a sense of urgency.
Ransomware is a type of malicious software, or malware, designed to deny access to a computer system or data until ransom is paid. Ransomware spreads through phishing emails, malvertising, visiting infected websites or by exploiting vulnerabilities. Ransomware attacks cause downtime, data leaks, intellectual property theft and data breaches. Ransom payment amounts range from a few hundred to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Payable in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
An information security policy (ISP) is a set of rules, policies and procedures designed to ensure all users and networks within an organization meet minimum IT security and data protection security requirements. ISPs should address all data, programs, systems, facilities, infrastructure, users, third-parties and fourth-parties of an organization.
WannaCry is a ransomware cryptoworm cyber attack that targets computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system. It was initially released on 12 May 2017. The ransomware encrypted data and demanded ransom of $300 to $600, paid in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. WannaCry is also known as WannaCrypt, WCry, Wana Decrypt0r 2.0, WanaCrypt0r 2.0 and Wanna Decryptor.
Domain hijacking is the act of changing the registration of a domain name without the permission of the original owner, or by abuse of privileges on domain hosting and domain registrar systems. Domain name hijacking is devastating to the original domain name owner's business with wide ranging effects.
The dark web is a collection of websites that exist on encrypted darknet, overlay networks that can't be found by search engines or visited with traditional web browsers. Almost all websites on the dark web require special software (like the Tor browser), configurations or authorization to access. One common misconception is the confusion between the dark web and the deep web. The dark web makes up a small part of the deep which, the part of the Internet that is not indexed by search engines.
The Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC or DNS Security Extensions) is a set of Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) specifications for securing certain kinds of information provided by the Domain Name System (DNS) as used on Internet Protocol (IP) networks. DNSSEC provides DNS resolvers origin authentication of DNS data, authenticated denial of existence and data integrity but not availability or confidentiality.
An SSL certificate (or TLS certificate) is a digital certificate that binds a cryptographic key to your organization's details. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) are cryptographic protocols designed to encrypt communication between a server and a web browser. While SSL certificates are installed server side, there are visual cues in the browser that show SSL protection. If SSL is present you may see https:// in the address bar, a padlock, green address bar or a combination of the three.
A man-in-the-middle attack (MITM attack) is a cyber attack where an attacker relays and possibly alters communication between two parties who believe they are communicating directly. This allows the attacker to relay communication, listen in, and even modify what each party is saying. Man-in-the-middle attacks enable eavesdropping between people, clients and servers. This can include HTTPS connections to websites, other SSL/TLS connections, Wi-Fi networks connections and more.
A cyber threat (or cyber security threat) is the possibility of a successful cyber attack that aims to gain unauthorized access, damage, disrupt, or steal an information technology asset, computer network, intellectual property or any other form of sensitive data. Cyber threats can come from within an organization by trusted users or from remote locations by unknown parties.
