Threats To Information Security

Threats to
Information Security
One word can describe this picture.
What is information?
• Information is a complete set of data.
• It can be called as processed data.
What is Information Security?
• It is protection of information system and hardware that use,
store and transit the information.
• Security is the quality or state of information.
• Security is always multilayered:
 Physical Security
 Personal Security
 Operations Security
 Communication Security
Physical Security
• Physical security is the protection of personnel,
hardware, software, networks and data from physical
actions and events that could cause serious loss or
damage to an enterprise, agency or institution.
Personal Security
• Personal security is a generally the feeling or state that occurs
after sufficient measures are taken to delay, warn or deter
possible crime In the event of a warning the ability call for
help and prepare to tackle the crime or criminal in a manner
that is Safe is also a consideration. The aim is always to
protect from the risk of physical or material harm that
endangers a person.
Operation Security
• Operational security (OPSEC) is a security and risk
management process that prevents sensitive information
from getting into the wrong hands. Another OPSEC meaning
is a process that identifies seemingly innocuous actions that
could inadvertently reveal critical or sensitive data to a cyber
criminal.
Communication Security
• Communications security (COMSEC) is the prevention of
unauthorized access to telecommunications traffic, or to any
written information that is transmitted or transferred. There are
several COMSEC disciplines, including: Cryptographic security
- encrypts data and renders it unreadable until the data is
decrypted.
Threats of Information Security
• A threat is an object, person, or other entity that represents a
constant danger to an asset.
• The management should ensure that information is given
sufficient protection through policies, proper training and
proper equipment.
• Consistent reviews and better information security can be
provided by recognizing and ranking the threats to the
information.
Types of Threats to information
• Inadvertent acts
• Deliberate acts
• Natural Disaster
• Technical failures
• Management Failures
Inadvertent acts
• These are acts that happened by mistake. They are not
deliberate.
• The attacker does not have any ill will or malicious intent or
his attack is not proven in categories of theft.
• Acts of human error and failure, deviation from service quality,
communication error, are examples of inadvertent.
Deliberate acts
• These acts are done by people of organizations to harm the
information.
• The attackers have a malicious intent and wish to steal or
destroy the data.
• Acts of espionage, hacking, cracking, come under deliberate
acts.
Natural Disaster
• Forces of nature are dangerous because they are unexpected
and come without very little warning.
• They disrupt lives of individuals but also causes damage to
information that stored within computers.
Technical failures
• Technical failures are classified into two types:
1. Technical Hardware failure
2. Technical Software failure
• Technical hardware failure: it occurs when manufacturer
distributes equipment with flaws that may be known or
unknown to the manufacturer.
• Technical software failure: these can cause the system to
perform in an undesirable or unexpected way. Some of these
are unrecoverable while some occur periodically.
Management failure
• Management must always be updated about recent
developments and technology.
• Proper planning must be done by management for good
protection of the information.
• IT professional must help the management in protecting the
information, by helping the management upgrade to the latest
technology.
Malware
• It is any malicious software designed to harm a computer
without the user’s consent.
• Eg. Virus, Worm, Trojan, Spyware.
VIRUS (Vital Information Resource
Under Siege)
• It is a computer program designed to copy itself and attach
itself to other files stored on a computer.
• It moves from a computer to computer through by attaching
itself to files or boot records of disks.
• It can be sent through a network or a removable storage device.
Worm
• Worm is a self replicating computer program that uses a
network to send copies to itself to other computers on the
network.
• It replicates ad eats up the computer storage.
• An example is Voyager worm.
Trojan horse
• They appear to be harmless but secretly gather information
about the user.
• They upload hidden and malicious program on the computer
without the user’s knowledge.
• It does not attempt to inject itself to other files unlike computer
virus.
Spyware
• It secretly monitors internet surfing habits without
user’s knowledge.
• They perform actions like advertising vague products
and changing computer configurations.
• They usually do not replicate themselves.
Protection against malware
• Make sure that you have updated system and antivirus
software.
• Do not use pirated software, or download files from unreliable
sources.
• Perform regular hard drive scan.
• Use licensed software.
Hacking
• Hacking means finding out weakness in a computer or a
network and exploiting them.
• Hackers are usually motivated by profit, protest or challenge.
• Hacker he/she is a person who enjoys the challenge of breaking
into computers without the knowledge of users.
Cracker
• These people crack or remove the protection mechanism of a
computer system.
• Their main aim is to steal or destroy information without the
users consent.
• They are much more dangerous than hackers.
Antivirus
• It is a software used to prevent, detect and remove malware.
• It runs in the background at all times.
• It should be kept updated.
• It runs computer disk scans periodically.

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