The upcoming cyber-security threat cycle

The first PC viruses appeared more than 25 years ago. Little did we realize that this was just the beginning of what would become a series of threat waves.

For nearly 10 years viruses endured as the primary method of attack, but over time were largely matched by defenders’ talents to block and protect against them. Motivated by the notoriety and knowledge gained by discovering and publicizing a new vulnerability, attackers continued to innovate. What ensued were distinct threat cycles. From macro viruses to worms to spyware and rootkits, approximately every five years attackers would launch new types of threats and defenders would protect against them.

It’s no surprise that we can map these cycles to major technology shift

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-|-|0\/\/ 70 |3 1337 (How to be leet)

Learn how to write the 1337 language from posts by our team composed of self-proclaimed computer geeks who practically breathes virtual air 24/ […]

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Origins

Leet speak has its origins from the IRC chat culture and was believed to be born from the need of geeks and hackers to develop a way to avoid censorship and detection in their communications online. The language is characterized by intended grammatical errors, mix usage of numbers […]

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PC Speak: An Abney and Associates Internet and Technology Research Lab.

Abney and Associates and Technology Research Lab cracks leet speak. It was first used by hackers as a way to prevent their websites/newsgroups from being found by simple keyword searches.

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TLS

Transport Layer Security is the successor of SSL as cryptographic protocol and is largely deemed as more effective and secure than SSL. It encrypts the sessions using message authentication codes, symmetric encryption, etc.

It enables server and client to communicate across a network and secures that connection from tampering or eavesdropping. 

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Understanding Bitcoin

Bitcoin is a form of Internet money that is immensely trendy and greatly appreciated means of buying and selling on line. And this is a currency that barely anybody understands. Various companies exclusively accept Bitcoins. The truth because of the recent banking instability in Cyprus it became so enormous that the worth of “all outstanding Bitcoins” just hit $1 billion.

So what is this bitcoin? Bitcoin (sign: BTC) is a decentralized digital currency based on an open source, peer-to-peer internet protocol. It was introduced by a pseudonymous developer named Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin)

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SSL

Secure Sockets Layer, created by Netscape, is the predecessor of TLS that was discovered to contain security flaws, making it ineffective in terms of its cryptographic capacity.

SSL starts a session between the server and client by generating session keys to protect the integrity of data being exchanged. 

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Ransomware boosts credibility by reading victims’ browsers

In order to make scams more believable, ransomware have started using the browsing histories from infected computers.

Abney and Associates IT research, ransomware is a specific type of malicious software that holds a computer and its contents virtually hostage. This malware acts as a means to perpetuate extortion. Attackers who use malware do so with the goal of forcing victims to pay money to regain access to their own files. After the money has been received, the attacker provides the victim with a code that can restore the system back to normal.

Viruses that can encrypt files and withhold them from their rightful owners have also been called cryptoviruses, cryptoworms and cryptotrojans. They have become increasingly popular. Ways that ransomware can infiltrate a computer system are similar to those of the average computer worm. Ransomware can enter through an infected email or network vulnerability. They can also make their way onto the computers of unsuspecting victims by way of search engine activities, infected web advertisements and automatic Internet downloads.

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ENCRYPTION

Encryption–the process of encoding data so that it requires a special key to be read–can protect your data from prying eyes. Once the domain of spies, encryption is fast becoming an advisable precaution for businesses and homeusers: It’s your best tool for protecting your trade secrets and privacy.
Whether your encryption program is stand-alone or built into your e-mail app, the encryption process is the same[…]

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SMTP

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol is the web standard for email transmission using port 25 or 587 (MSA). It conducts secured connections via SSL (SMTPS).

This is a text-based protocol wherein a mail sender communicates with its receiver through giving its instructions over TCP connection. However, it only defines the message transfer and not its content (i.e. like the physical mail envelope and not the body of the letter).

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IMAP/POP3

Internet Message Access Protocol is a message retrieval system common in most mail servers and email clients. It supports both offline and online operation modes and functions by transferring messages from a server to a client. IMAP does not automatically deletes messages from the server even after downloading them, unless manually done by the user.

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FTP

File Transfer Protocol is the standard network scheme in transfering files from one server (host) to another via TCP network or Internet.

Login requires username/password system in order to grant access. Data is received by the server and once it is verified[...]

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HTTP

Hypertext Transfer Protocol is the basis of data communication for the Internet and defines the standards in exchange of hypertext. It is developed to enable intermediate network components to communicate on behalf of servers and clients. HTTP is the application layer protocol within the IP suite.

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PC Speak: An Abney and Associates Internet and Technology Research Lab Presents the IPv6

Internet Protocol version 6 is the most recent update of the IP, the main communications protocol that holds the whole Internet. It is created to supplant the older Internet Protocol version 4 that is still in use on most of the web traffic until today. IPv6 was formed by the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) as a solution for the IPv4′s imminent address shortage.

For every device that connects to the Internet, it needs an IP address — a binary number assigned to it to enable communication with other devices. And with the quick turnout of Internet-capable devices today, the current IPv4 protocol is running out of addresses that we could use.

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Android befall iOS in popularity in Singapore, HK

When it comes to Smartphones, It is clearly a battle between Android and iOS.  But signs are emerging that Apple might be loosing grip in the two Asian markets.

Conforming to Reuters report, most of the well-off smartphone users in Singapore and Hong Kong are turning to Android handsets, mostly Samsung, rather than iOS of Apple.  The trouble that iPhone is their desire to be different that causing them as weakness and in turn an advantage to competing device.

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Cyber-Threat Trends of 2013

Experts forecast a rise in computer and cellphone scams

It takes no expert to predict that there will be for sure an increase of sophisticated methods and updates of old scams to try to take control of our computers and cellphones to get identities and money. Yet another year, here comes 2013, scammers are busy or maybe had already developed new ways to swindle us in the coming months.

Sign up for the AARP Money Newsletter.

This comes as a general rule and everyone must know even without asking tips from the experts, to stay safe one must know the basic vigilance. Now the question is how. This is how: Keep your security software updated and run it regularly. Click only on links from trusted sources; the same goes for buying cellphone apps. Be smart about where and how you navigate in cyberspace.

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Computer scientist looks for ways of fraud prevention

Jeremy Wendt, Sandia National Laboratories computer science researcher, focuses on working on a program to uncover probable preys of nefarious emails.

The weakest link in many computer networks is a gullible human. With that in mind, Sandia National Laboratories computer science researcher Jeremy Wendt wants to figure out how to recognize potential targets of nefarious emails and put them on their guard. – Phys. Org

He aims to trim down the figure of visitors that cyber analysts have to check as possible bad guys among thousands who search Sandia websites each day.

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Net providers begin warning of illegal downloads

In the first decade of the 21st century, technology made it possible to download music, movies or televisions shows from the Internet to your computer. Before this, you had to go to a music store physically and purchase an album or CD if you wanted to hear the latest from your favorite artists. With this new technology, the entire scope of how you obtain your music has changed.

But as the technology advances rapidly, unlawful downloading sites also places on a huge number. And with these, internet users who illegally download online could soon receive warning notices from the nation’s five major internet service providers. Consumers who are using peer-to-peer software are the number one target this week of the Copyright Alert System.

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TCP/IP

Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol are the core of internet protocol suite as the they work together in supporting web functions.

TCP is used in email, FTP, file sharing, media streaming and the Internet in general. Because of traffic load, network congestion and other network behavior, IP packets could not be delivered properly so TCP detects possible problems to achieve successful data transmission.

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PROTOCOLS

PC Speak: An Abney and Associates Internet and Technology Research Lab talks about TCP / IP and other related protocols:

TCP/IP
HTTP
FTP
IMAP/POP3
SMTP
ENCRYPTION

Abney and Associates Internet and Technology Research Lab illustrated the importance of IP addresses. IP has the responsibility of addressing packets to be transmitted across a network or across the Internet.

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