Networks and the Internet have become increasingly essential for business success and for daily operations, and the possibility of intrusion by hackers and criminals is a growing threat. Internet-borne viruses, hacker threats, and rapidly evolving security technology have left many companies bewildered about how to keep their business safe as more processes are moved to the Web. As techniques behind corporate espionage and hacking become more complex, network administrators must be sure that no avenue of attack on their network is left exposed and that they are alerted if someone does break in.
This paper will discuss some of the different types of Internet attacks companies have to guard against including Trojan horses, denial of service attacks, and viruses. This paper will also look at some of the different types of security tools and standards that can be used to defend against these attacks such as firewalls, cryptography, digital certificates.
Internet Vulnerabilities.
Trojan Horses.
Trojan horses are an increasingly popular instrument for intruders to use. A Trojan horse is an apparently useful program containing hidden functions that can exploit the privileges of the user running the program. A Trojan horse is able to do things that the program user did not intend to happen and many times does not know is happening. In most cases, Trojan horses rely on users to install them, but they can be installed by intruders who have gained unauthorized access by other means. Once an intruder has installed a Trojan horse, it relies on other users running the Trojan horse to be successful.
Most Trojan horses are installed because users were tricked' into installing them usually by enticing or frightening the user. For example, a Trojan horse might arrive in an e-mail described as a computer game. Once the user installs the game and starts playing it, the Trojan horse is able to take other action, such as sending sensitive information to the attacker, while the user is left totally unaware.