Computer security, cybersecurity, digital security, or information technology security is the protection of computer systems and networks from attacks by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, theft of, or damage to hardware, software, or data, as well as from the disruption or misdirection of the services they provide.
Cyberterrorism is the use of the Internet to conduct violent acts that result in, or threaten, the loss of life or significant bodily harm, in order to achieve political or ideological gains through threat or intimidation. Acts of deliberate, large-scale disruption of computer networks, especially of personal computers attached to the Internet by means of tools such as computer viruses, computer worms, phishing, malicious software, hardware methods, and programming scripts can all be forms of internet terrorism. Cyberterrorism is a controversial term. Some authors opt for a very narrow definition, relating to deployment by known terrorist organizations of disruption attacks against information systems for the primary purpose of creating alarm, panic, or physical disruption. Other authors prefer a broader definition, which includes cybercrime. Participating in a cyberattack affects the terror threat perception, even if it isn't done with a violent approach. By some definitions, it might be difficult to distinguish which instances of online activities are cyberterrorism or cybercrime.
Vulnerabilities are flaws in a computer system that weaken the overall security of the system.
A security hacker is someone who explores methods for breaching defenses and exploiting weaknesses in a computer system or network. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, such as profit, protest, information gathering, challenge, recreation, or evaluation of a system weaknesses to assist in formulating defenses against potential hackers.
Cyberwarfare is the use of cyber attacks against an enemy state, causing comparable harm to actual warfare and/or disrupting vital computer systems. Some intended outcomes could be espionage, sabotage, propaganda, manipulation or economic warfare.
EC-Council is a cybersecurity certification, education, training, and services company based in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Jeffrey Carr is a cybersecurity author, researcher, entrepreneur and consultant, who focuses on cyber warfare.
Cyberweapons are commonly defined as malware agents employed for military, paramilitary, or intelligence objectives as part of a cyberattack. This includes computer viruses, trojans, spyware, and worms that can introduce malicious code into existing software, causing a computer to perform actions or processes unintended by its operator.
A cyberattack is any offensive maneuver that targets computer information systems, computer networks, infrastructures, personal computer devices, or smartphones. An attacker is a person or process that attempts to access data, functions, or other restricted areas of the system without authorization, potentially with malicious intent. Depending on the context, cyberattacks can be part of cyber warfare or cyberterrorism. A cyberattack can be employed by sovereign states, individuals, groups, societies or organizations and it may originate from an anonymous source. A product that facilitates a cyberattack is sometimes called a cyber weapon. Cyberattacks have increased over the last few years. A well-known example of a cyberattack is a distributed denial of service attack.
A Master of Science in Cyber Security is a type of postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. This degree is typically studied for in cyber security. What is offered by many institutions is actually called a Master in Strategic Cyber Operations and Information Management (SCOIM) which is commonly understood to be a Master in Cybersecurity. This degree is offered by at least some universities in their Professional Studies program so that it can be accomplished while students are employed - in other words it allows for "distance learning" or online attendance. Requirements for the Professional Studies program include: 3.0 or better undergrad GPA, professional recommendations letters and an essay.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to computer security:
The cyber-arms industry are the markets and associated events surrounding the sale of software exploits, zero-days, cyberweaponry, surveillance technologies, and related tools for perpetrating cyberattacks. The term may extend to both grey and black markets online and offline.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is a government computer security organisation in Ireland, an operational arm of the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. The NCSC was developed in 2013 and formally established by the Irish government in July 2015. It is responsible for Ireland's cyber security, with a primary focus on securing government networks, protecting critical national infrastructure, and assisting businesses and citizens in protecting their own systems. The NCSC incorporates the Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT-IE).
The 2016 Cyber Grand Challenge (CGC) was a challenge created by The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in order to develop automatic defense systems that can discover, prove, and correct software flaws in real-time.
A threat actor, bad actor or malicious actor is either a person or a group of people that take part in an action that is intended to cause harm to the cyber realm including: computers, devices, systems, or networks. The term is typically used to describe individuals or groups that perform malicious acts against a person or an organization of any type or size. Threat actors engage in cyber related offenses to exploit open vulnerabilities and disrupt operations. Threat actors have different educational backgrounds, skills, and resources. The frequency and classification of cyber attacks changes rapidly. The background of threat actors helps dictate who they target, how they attack, and what information they seek. There are a number of threat actors including: cyber criminals, nation-state actors, ideologues, thrill seekers/trolls, insiders, and competitors. These threat actors all have distinct motivations, techniques, targets, and uses of stolen data. See Advanced persistent threats for a list of identified threat actors.
A medical device hijack is a type of cyber attack. The weakness they target are the medical devices of a hospital. This was covered extensively in the press in 2015 and in 2016.
In cybersecurity, cyber self-defense refers to self-defense against cyberattack. While it generally emphasizes active cybersecurity measures by computer users themselves, cyber self-defense is sometimes used to refer to the self-defense of organizations as a whole, such as corporate entities or entire nations. Surveillance self-defense is a variant of cyber self-defense and largely overlaps with it. Active and passive cybersecurity measures provide defenders with higher levels of cybersecurity, intrusion detection, incident handling and remediation capabilities. Various sectors and organizations are legally obligated to adhere to cyber security standards.
Rafay Baloch is a Pakistani ethical hacker and security researcher. He has been featured and known by both national and international media and publications like Forbes, BBC, The Wall Street Journal, The Express Tribune and TechCrunch. He has been listed among the "Top 5 Ethical Hackers of 2014" by CheckMarx. Subsequently he was listed as one of "The 15 Most Successful Ethical Hackers WorldWide" and among "Top 25 Threat Seekers" by SCmagazine. Baloch has also been added in TechJuice 25 under 25 list for the year 2016 and got 13th rank in the list of high achievers. Reflectiz, a cyber security company, released the list of "Top-21 Cybersecurity Experts You Must Follow on Twitter in 2021" recognizing Rafay Baloch as the top influencer. On 23 March 2022, ISPR recognized Rafay Baloch's contribution in the field of Cyber Security with Pride for Pakistan award. In 2021, Islamabad High court designated Rafay Baloch as an amicus curia for a case concerning social media regulations.
A global wave of cyberattacks and data breaches began in January 2021 after four zero-day exploits were discovered in on-premises Microsoft Exchange Servers, giving attackers full access to user emails and passwords on affected servers, administrator privileges on the server, and access to connected devices on the same network. Attackers typically install a backdoor that allows the attacker full access to impacted servers even if the server is later updated to no longer be vulnerable to the original exploits. As of 9 March 2021, it was estimated that 250,000 servers fell victim to the attacks, including servers belonging to around 30,000 organizations in the United States, 7,000 servers in the United Kingdom, as well as the European Banking Authority, the Norwegian Parliament, and Chile's Commission for the Financial Market (CMF).
Capture the Flag (CTF) in computer security is an exercise in which participants attempt to find text strings, called "flags", which are secretly hidden in purposefully-vulnerable programs or websites. They can be used for both competitive or educational purposes. In two main variations of CTFs, participants either steal flags from other participants or from organizers. A mixed competition combines these two styles. Competitions can include hiding flags in hardware devices, they can be both online or in-person, and can be advanced or entry-level. The game is inspired by the traditional outdoor sport of the same name.
