Computer Security

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Computer Security

• http//www.csc.uvic.ca/csc100

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What is Computer Security?

• Ideas?
• Generally concerned with making computer systems
  more secure
• Two viewpoints
• Users protecting themselves
• Making better computer systems

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Security

• Security is about making things more secure
• the state of being free from danger or injury
  (wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn)
• Trying to minimize/eliminate crime
• What is computer crime?

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Computer Crime

• What is it?
• Text Any crime accomplished through knowledge
  or use of computer technology
• Violation of laws vs. violation of ethics
• But whos laws? Whos ethics?

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Computer Crime Examples

• Phishing/Spoofing/Identity Theft
• Malware (Malicious Software)
• Viruses/Trojans/Worms
• Spyware
• Denial Of Service (DoS) attacks
• Electronic Trespassing
• Spam?
• CBC made a great documentary

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Identity Theft

• Old crime, new life
• Example of a Social Engineering Attack
• Hackers clip
• Stealing of personal information
• Often done by Phishing.
• Spam clip

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Computer Crime Examples

• Phishing/Spoofing/Identity Theft
• Malware (Malicious Software)
• Viruses/Trojans/Worms
• Spyware
• Electronic Trespassing
• Denial Of Service (DoS) attacks
• Spam?
• CBC made a great documentary

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Malware

• Malicious Software
• Typically three categories
• Viruses
• Worms
• Trojan Horses

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Computer Viruses

• Software
• Code hidden inside another program
• When program run, virus propagates (copies
  itself) to
• Another program
• Another computer

I think computer viruses should count as life. I
think it says something about human nature that
the only form of life we have created so far is
purely destructive. We've created life in our own
image. -- Stephen Hawking
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Worms

• Similar to a virus, but self-contained
• Is a program by itself rather than a part of one
• Does not need separate program to be executed
• Travels independently over network
• Reproduces until host out of memory

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The Original Trojan Horse

• Trojan horses are named after Homers Iliad story
  of Greeks gifting a huge wooden horse to Troy
  that housed soldiers who emerged in the night and
  attacked the city.

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Trojan Horses

• Program appears to perform useful task
• Game, spreadsheet, editor
• Meanwhile it does something else without the
  user's knowledge

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So What Do They Do?

• Logic bomb
• executes when specific conditions occur
• Erase files, change data, etc.
• Keystroke logger
• Allow remote control of your machine
• Bot-nets
• MyDoom example
• First identified at 8am EST on January 26, 2004
• By end of day MyDoom is responsible for 1 in 10
  e-mail messages on the global Internet

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Computer Crime Examples

• Phishing/Spoofing/Identity Theft
• Malware (Malicious Software)
• Viruses/Trojans/Worms
• Spyware
• Denial Of Service (DoS) attacks
• Electronic Trespassing
• Spam?
• CBC made a great documentary

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Denial Of Service (DoS)

• Also Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks
• an attempt to make a computer resource
  unavailable to its intended users (Wikipedia)
• Done by directing a large volume of network
  traffic at a particular site/host/server

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Bot-Nets

• A collection of compromised machines (typically
  by worms/viruses/etc) that perform a DDoS attack
• Spam video clip

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Computer Crime Examples

• Phishing/Spoofing/Identity Theft
• Malware (Malicious Software)
• Viruses/Trojans/Worms
• Spyware
• Denial Of Service (DoS) attacks
• Electronic Trespassing
• Spam?
• CBC made a great documentary

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Electronic Trespassing

• Sometimes called hacking
• a Hacker refers to a type of computer hacker who
  is involved in computer security/insecurity,
  specializing in the discovery of exploits in
  systems (for exploitation or prevention), or in
  obtaining or preventing unauthorized access to
  systems through skills, tactics and detailed
  knowledge (Wikipedia)
• Hacking vs Cracking

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What Can We Do?

• Ideas?
• See page 404 of text for some good tips

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SabotageHow do I protect myself?

• Do security patches
• Use anti-virus software
• Update the virus definitions
• Remember Free is not always free
• Spyware
• Use strong passwords
• Use firewalls
• Encrypt wireless network
• Use better software
• Back up your data!!

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An Example

• Show Royal Bank E-mail.

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For More Info On Security

• Steve Gibson is a computer security expert and
  produces a weekly podcast on various computer
  security topics
• They can be found at
• http//www.grc.com/SecurityNow.htm