As we are more and more involved with computers and rely on them for so many reasons, we get more vulnerable in terms of high technology threats. There are so many ways to damage one's computer, the software runs on it or the information itself.
The best known of all is the viruses. Viruses are small computer programs that are not intended to be run by the original owner. They copy themselves unintentionally, they run themselves unintentionally and they always have another additional motive that would range from harmless message spreading to crashing the whole system. There is a never-ending race between the security companies and the virus developers. Virus developers creates a new virus, while companies writes a protection as soon as the virus is out. Some viruses are so simple to get a protection against them very easily while some others are very well written with high technology coding techniques. There is even a well written virus called Mytob that is not only spreads itself to the computers but also alters the virus protection program on the computer to keep itself away from it. Another very interesting virus called GPCoder encodes all the files in the computer, asks for money to give the password. This virus is the first blackmailer in the history of the computer viruses.
Worms, macros, trojans are again similar to viruses. They somehow copy themselves to the system and forward themselves to the other victims. Worms specifically use the mailing systems or networks, attaining the addresses in the vicinity, they copy or send themselves to the every system in the environment. Sometimes, they basically spread messages but sometimes they do harmful things such as getting the whole network to its knees. Macros spread themselves with Office programs or any similar macro-using software. For example, you can receive a spread sheet from a known source and open to process it, all of a sudden a macro runs automatically and do something that is not intended in the first place. Trojans are very interesting and very easy to distribute. There are a lot of computer users who open, receive or download so many different type of mails from other sources. Some of these files are considered to be Trojans, the user thinks it is just a funny video or his/herfavoritee mp3 song, however along with this intended content, these files also have some vicious content that would harm the computer. Just like the historical Trojan horse, thought to be a gift but there were soldiers inside it. Some trojans are opening the necessary ports to allow all connections, some collectnecessaryy information such as account numbers and passwords and send it back. These type of trojans are also called Spywares. Spywares are also redirecting you to some not pleasant addresses directly, for example, the user would click to open a newspaper site but the spyware redirects to the user to a porn site.
Another very common security threat is the email spams. There are so many unwanted emails are coming. This type of unwanted emails are called spams. Some people or companies use spam as a very naive marketing tool. They think if they send enough number of emails, they would have a chance to let more people know about their company and products and they will have a market share as an outcome. Over the time, it becomes so annoying to receive so many unrelated emails, even the ones that would be beneficial treated as junk mails. Another email using scheme is called phishing. This term comes from fishing, it is exactly same as throwing a line into the sea and wait for someone to get hooked. Phishers send so many emails messages and expect someone to fall for it. In their messages, they either claim they are from your bank or they are in need for your financial assistance to transfer a huge amount of money through your bank account. Sometimes, they say you won a lottery and in order to claim it you need to fill out a form which usually contains some financial data. Phishing is also called on-line identity theft, their main motive is to steal as many as personal and financial information.
No matter how much money is invested and how top of the line security systems are installed, it always come to the people. The users should always be aware of these types of threats, use the passwords as provided, do not give personal or financial data through mails or Internet no matter how authentic and reliable looks.
Vedat YOZKAT
