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\chapter{Cyber security}
Cyber security is the study of the relation between computers,
networks, and malicious threats and attacks that they are vulnerable
to.
\section{Threats}
\begin{itemize}
\item \textit{Social engineering} involves exploiting people
directly for access or information. \textit{Blagging} involves
obtaining information through deception or impersonation, such
as calling someone whilst posing as a friend.
\textit{Phishing} is posing as a legitimate organisation to
obtain personal information, generally through email.
\textit{Pharming} involves a bogus website that imitates a
legitimate one. \textit{Shouldering} involves watching
somebody enter their personal information.
\item \textit{Malicious code} is code written to do bad. A
\textit{virus} does damage on a computer and spreads itself on
a user's device over the internet. \textit{Spyware} is
software that monitors, logs, and sends information to the
spy. For example, a keylogger may record every key a user
presses and send it to the spy so that information such as a
password can be extracted. \textit{Adware} is a program that
is designed to show the user advertisement and a
\textit{Trojan} is any malware that poses as a legitimate
software.
\item \textit{Weak passwords} or \textit{misconfigured access
rights} may allow an attacker easy access to unauthorised
data. Access rights would normally restrict certain
information from certain users.
\item \textit{Removable media} such as a DVD or USB flash drive is
a vector by which malware can easily spread, particularly when
distributed, such as at a public event.
\item Unpatched or outdated software may contain vulnerabilities,
as well as normal software with recently discovered
vulnerabilities which an attacker could exploit.
\end{itemize}
\section{Threat prevention}
\subsection{MAC Address filtering}
A \textit{MAC Address} is unique to each device. Filtering MAC
Addresses could mean only allowing authorised devices to connect to
the network (\textit{whitelisting}) or blocking certain devices from a
network (\textit{blacklisting}). However, this is bypassable through
MAC address \textit{spoofing}, where a device can appear to have a MAC
address other than its own.
\subsection{Firewall}
A firewall blocks internet activity. This may be blocking access to
certain sites, or preventing external activity from potential
attackers.
\subsection{Authentication}
Authentication is the validation of identity through credentials. The
most common form of this is through a username and password. It can
also be through physical objects such as cards (such as credit card)
and through biometric methods such as fingerprints.
CAPTCHA (tests that determine if a user is a human, such as by typing
in a word in strange font) and e-mail verification (where the user
must respond to an e-mail only they could have received) can also be
used as authentication and to ensure that the user is human and not an
automated attack.
\subsection{Encryption}
Encrypted data is encoded in such a way that only the sender and
recipient and sometimes only recipient can decode the data and read
the information. To anyone else (such as an eavesdropper), the data is
meaningless.
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