Internet Security Threats

Internet Security Threats

December 17, 2024

By Thals Volmar

Internet Security Threats are unauthorized means used by third parties to interfere with, impair, or destruct network technology, software, or information system. With the recent technological breakthroughs and continuous progress in the field, new threats to internet security keeps emerging and the list is growing.

Those threats come from unfair sources that try to hack or disrupt any technological system to their own benefit. Internet security threat can very harmful when one state spends money on cybercrime at the expense of another. Hackers and cybercriminals can use various means to achieve their goals, the most well-known of which are:

Phishing: Phishing is probably one of the most common methods that hackers use to achieve their ends. It consists of a fraudulent practice that the attacker uses to steal confidential information from an Internet user. Usually, the attacker pretends to be a legitimate entity through emails and web pages; the user is asked to open a link or access a web page that seems authentic, if done so, his/her information may route to the attacker.

Malware: Malware is malicious software used to interfere or disrupt and even damage a computer system. Malware aims to access a computer system in order to collect sensitive information and, if necessary, render such a system deficient or damaged. Malware intentionally acts against the standards of the user’s computer unlike any other software which causes damage unintentionally due to its deficiency.

Viruses: Viruses are codes or programs that interfere in a system or computer, either to make the system malfunction or steal data. Viruses interfere in a system and corrupt files and run alongside the system.

Ransomware: Ransomware is a malicious software of the malware type that hacks or limits access to a computer system or program that it corrupts and requests for a ransom in order to restore the victim’s access to the system or program. Hacker may also use malware to steal sensitive information from a computer or system and demand a ransom from the victim to avoid disclosing that information.

Trojans: Trojans are fake software or malware. Those programs pretend to be beneficial software to gain the user’s trust to install or open it on his/her device. Trojans can be presented in the form of SMS, emails, applications, etc., by the hackers in order to insert it into a system or device to achieve their final objective.

Worms: Worms are malware-type software that take advantage of a system’s weakness or vulnerability to implant and spread throughout the system or device. Just like other type of malware, worms can steal sensitive data from the victim user, delete files and, basically, allow the attacker to take control of the system or device in question.

Spyware: Spyware is a program that stealthily monitors the activities performed in a computer system or device and reports information about those activities to third parties without the user’s permission or consent. Spyware can gather confidential information from a system or device and undermine the performance of the system or device in question. Common spyware includes keyboard capture, screenshots, browser redirects, and so on.

Man in the Middle attack: Man in the Middle attack occurs when a cybercriminal intercepts data flowing between people in order to steal that data for fraudulent and pernicious purposes. In such a case, the hacker positions himself/herself between users subtly and intercepts and even modifies their exchange data without them noticing in order to, usually, steal or pirating their identity such as name, credit card number, login credentials, and so on. Public Wi-Fi networks, unsecured sites, unencrypted data transfers, etc., are facts of vulnerability.

Denial of Service attack: Denial of Service attack is a malicious attempt to make a computer system, website, etc., unavailable to users. To do so, the cybercriminal usually uses bots to make uncontrollable service requests simultaneously to such an extent that the system or server is flooded and can no longer respond to the requests and become inaccessible for use. Just as Denial Service attack can make a system inaccessible to users, it can completely crash it.

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The topic we have seen highlights facts that internet users can face at any time, however, the means used by hackers, cybercriminals, etc., are not all listed in this topic, we have highlighted those that have close links with our blog and that do not really fall within the level of awareness and responsibility of many users. As we said at the beginning of the topic, continuous progress in the field has increased the range of threats to Internet security; a case in point is artificial intelligence, AI, which tends to diversify the fraudulent means of Internet scammers through images, videos, audios that seem real, but are fake; AI can also be used to strengthen the means mentioned above to make attacks more complicated and difficult to identify. The use of vulnerable devices and applications on the Internet can also expose the user to enormous dangers and may easily allow hackers to take control of the device or application in question. We recommend reading our blog on security measures to take against Internet threats by clicking here.