Attacks, Concepts and Techniques

This chapter covered the ways that cybersecurity professionals analyze what has happened after a cyberattack. It explains security software and hardware vulnerabilities and the different categories of security vulnerabilities.

The different types of malicious software (known as malware) and the symptoms of malware explained. Some of the malware that was discussed included viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, adware, and others.

The different ways that attackers can infiltrate a system was covered, including social engineering, Wi-Fi Password Cracking, Phishing, and vulnerability exploitation. The different types of denial of service attacks were also explained.

Blended attacks use multiple techniques to infiltrate and attack a system. Many of the most damaging computer worms like Nimbda, CodeRed, BugBear, Klez and slammer are better categorized as blended attacks. When an attack cannot be prevented, it is the job of a cybersecurity professional is to reduce the impact of that attack.

If you would like to further explore the concepts in this chapter, please check out the Additional Resources and Activities page in Student Resources.