Nt1110 Malware And Identity Theft

⅔ of households were hit with identity theft in 2013. (Minnick, 10) Cyber attacks come in many different forms and can be extremely hard to combat. Letters sent through email can be dangerous as well, containing tricks and scams to steal the user’s information. Equally dangerous, when identity theft occurs it can be hard to get rid of. Some cyber attacks seem simple, however the most effective are always the cleverest. Cyber attacks can come in many different forms, but one of the most dangerous and common is malware. Malware attacks can be split into two groups, specific and commodity. When a piece of malware is created to target a certain computer, it is called specific malware. Often these programs are highly sophisticated and are coded

Commonly, scams are passed through email. The most devastating of these are worms. Worms can create massive damage extremely quickly. When a worm is activated by a user who received it, the first thing it does is forward itself on to the rest of the affected user’s contact list. Usually after accomplishing this the worm will begin to infect and delete parts of the hard disk drive. This is where all of the computer’s data is stored, effectively making the computer unusable after a time. Trojans, another common piece of malware, are disguised pieces of software. Often the virus appears to be another file, such as a .pdf, but secretly runs commands in the background to install programs. This command installs backdoors, which allows the hacker to access the computer at their leisure. Tempting email users with money is yet another popular deception. The general premise of the email is usually a request to transfer or hold money, and then the person will take a cut off the top. Scammers keep these sums tempting, yet small enough that they will not get flagged by any banking service used. The people that go along with these scams are called money mules, and sadly are often punished for taking part in the crime as well. Scammers can use a multitude of methods to attempt to gain access to a computer, or steal money from a unwitting computer

In 2013, Anthem Health insurance was hit by a cyber attack that exposed the information of 79 million people. (Denning, para 2) A portion of these people were government employees. Blatantly, the government needs to do a better job of protecting its employee’s data. Similarly in 2013, Target was breached and 40 million customer’s credit card data and information was stolen. Significantly, this was the first breach that received a good deal of national news coverage, as it affected multiple parts of the country. For a numerous amount of people, the Target breach was their first introduction to cybersecurity and the dangers it brings when it is not a priority. Customers now have to consider if they trust the company they are purchasing from to securely transmit and keep their data. However, customers are only one part of the cybersecurity equation. Businesses should keep their eyes open for a scammer or hacker to steal their business name. In the past few years this has become more common. (World Yearbooks, para 14) A fake company named Omega stole reputable business from a legitimate business, and caused huge trouble for them by giving out fake loans, and stealing the information that was provided. In cybersecurity, all parties must be careful with how they handle data, but also the customer should be extra selective in choosing which companies to trust. Identity theft cannot be