It is no secret that I favor Kaspersky as the virus software of choice for your home computer. It is one of the best products out there to keep your computer clean and secure from the threat of virus’s, Trojans, and all nasty threats to your computer.
I have been extremely busy the past 2 months cleaning computers from the after affects of the latest virus’s floating around. They are going around, and I thought it might be time to educate everyone on the types of threats out there, where they come from, how to spot the signs of a threat, and what to do about it (unless you want to call me, of course).
Kaspersky has published a great document on this topic, and I will publish it here in chapters. I fully disclose that what you are about to read is not my work at all. Hopefully you will gain some insight into this topic and walk away from this series of articles a little bit more informed that when you first started reading.
Source of Threats
As information technology has rapidly developed and penetrated many aspects of human existence so the number and range of crimes aimed at breaching information security has grown.
Cyber criminals have shown great interest in the activities of both state structures and commercial enterprises. They attempt to steal or disclose confidential information which damages business reputations, disrupts business continuity, and may impair an organization’s information resources. These acts can do extensive damage to assets, both tangible and intangible.
It is not only big companies who are at risk, individual users can also be attacked. Criminals can gain access to personal data (for instance, bank account and credit card numbers and passwords), or cause a computer to malfunction. Some types of attacks can give hackers complete access to a computer, which can then be used as part of a “zombie network” of infected computers to attack servers, send out spam, harvest confidential information, and spread new viruses and Trojans.
In today’s world, it is widely acknowledged that information is a valuable asset which should be protected. At the same time, information must be accessible to those who legitimately require it (for instance, employees, clients and partners of a business). hence the need to create a comprehensive information security system, which must take account of all possible sources of threats, whether human, man-made, or natural disasters, and use a complete array of defensive measures, at the physical, administrative and software levels.
Tomorrow, I will cover the source of threats. Stay tuned.
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