Network Security

Computer security is a very important matter, the encryption of information has gotten stronger with the creation of more advanced algorithms.  “Computer security is the prevention of unauthorized computer access, including viewing, changing, or destroying a computer or data” (Vahid, F., & Lysecky, S., 2017). Then there is security breach, which is any kind of unauthorized access to a user’s personal computer or information, from unapproved access to personal emails, to getting in someone else social media and posting unwanted messages. Computers can be vulnerable to many forms of cyber-attack; in this paper I’ll be discussing computer viruses and password cracking.

A computer virus is any type of malicious written piece of code or program designed to change the intended functionality of a computer system. Much like a human virus like the flue, a computer virus is usually created to jump from host to host in order to gain more influence and information. Computer systems are vulnerable to viruses due to their own nature, a computer is designed to follow any type of instructions that are fed to it through a block of code or program, making it open to attacks. Some of the symptoms are “frequent pop-up windows, changes to the home-page, frequent crashes, usually slow computer performance, unusual activities like password changes” (Frulinger J., 2019). An antivirus software is the most common and popular way for users to combat and prevent computers viruses, although it is important to note that in some occasions a virus could get through. Another way to prevent your computer to get infected is by being careful where you click, always be aware of suspicious emails and links.

Password cracking is another form of a cyber-attack, although is not necessary always a criminal activity, most of the time it is. Computer systems are vulnerable to these type of attacks since malicious hackers can always try to acquire a user’s password through different types of password cracking methods. Upon successfully acquiring a password, a hacker can always have access to that user’s personal or banking information, can access emails, social media accounts, among many other things, and perform unwanted activities. Passwords used to be stored as plain text, which made it very easy for hackers to access and acquire them. Now days, most websites use a technique called hashing in order to create a layer of security for their stored passwords. The technique is to “take a password and run it through a one-way encryption cipher, creating what’s known as a hash” (Jancis M., 2020). This hash is a combination of characters which are completely different from the password, so if a hacker is able to acquire it, this information would be useless to him. The hash gets stored in the server, and whenever the user inputs the correct password, it gets turned into a hash and compared to the one in the server giving authorization to the user. However, there are techniques to reverse these hash characters into the actual password, this is why as Mr. Jancis puts it, “the best defense against password cracking is using a strong password” (Jancis M., 2020).

References

Frulinger J., (2019). Viruses explained: How they spread and 5 signs you’ve been infected.

        Retrieved from https://www.csoonline.com/article/3406446/what-is-a-computer-virus-how-they-spread-and-5-signs-youve-been-infected.html

Jancis M., (2020). Most popular password cracking techniques: learn how to protect your privacy

        Retrieved from https://cybernews.com/best-password-managers/password-cracking techniques/

Vahid, F., & Lysecky, S. (2017). Computing Technology for all. Retrieved from

        zybooks.zyante.com/