Types of Computer Attacks and How to Prevent Them

Types of Computer Attacks

A type of attack that can be executed by using a ping command is a denial-of-service (DoS) attack. The attack sends a huge amounts of request packets to a site which results in the server being overloaded. This prevents people who want to visit the site, users or clients, from getting through (Vahid & Lysecky, 2019). A DoS attack can have many different purposes. In an article titled, Ping Flood Attacks, Security Boulevard advises that DoS attacks can be for extortion, anticompetitive business practices, or possibly a training ground for other attacks (2022). The source of the DoS attack is generally a group of computers that have been infected with a virus. The computers then spread the virus to other computers and when enough computers have been infected, they all can be used to execute the DoS attack. 

One way that the computers can get the virus in the first place is through email spam; this is the most common way for a virus to spread. This happens when a user sends an email with a virus attached to others. If any of the recipients click on the attachment, that prompts the virus to be installed on their computer. The virus then copies itself and sends infected emails to more people and the cycle continues (Vahid & Lysecky, 2019). The virus can be used for criminal tasks such as DoS attacks, but it can also be used to steal or delete information from the computer. 

Phishing is another type of computer attack, or security breach. Phishing, like actual fishing, uses an email as “bait.” The email looks as if it is coming from a legitimate website and is requests that the user provide their personal information. The user will click on a link which directs them to a website that looks like the actual website but is actually a fake server that stores the sensitive information entered. For example, the website may look like a bank login page and will record the user’s username and password. This information can then be used by the scammer to access the real bank account. 

Recommendations for Protecting Yourself Against Attacks

• Antivirus software is generally used on desktop and laptop computers to provide protection against computer viruses. Antivirus software uses three main strategies to detect viruses: 

• virus signatures – sections of code known to be a part of a virus or other malware
• a sandbox – a protected environment in which to run suspicious files without infecting the computer
• heuristic analysis – performed to assess  the behavior of suspicious files compared to the behavior of known infected files (Vahid & Lysecky, 2019). 

• Use trusted email providers, such as Google, which check for viruses on the server before providing a file for download (Vahid & Lysecky, 2019). 

• Educate yourself on the types of email and phishing attacks and follow these “Quick tips for avoiding phishing” from Microsoft: don’t trust display names, check for typos, look before clicking, read the salutation, review the signature, beware of threats (2023). 

References

Ping Flood Attacks. Security Boulevard. (2022, March 28). https://securityboulevard.com/2022/03/ping-flood-attacks/ 

Vahid, F., & Lysecky, S. (2019). Computing technology for all. zyBooks.

What is phishing? Microsoft Security. (2023). https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/business/security-101/what-is-phishing?&ef_id=_k_EAIaIQobChMI1-zCzeb__QIVzitMCh1D4AqjEAAYAiAAEgIiwvD_BwE_k_&OCID=AIDcmmdamuj0pc_SEM_k_EAIaIQobChMI1-zCzeb__QIVzitMCh1D4AqjEAAYAiAAEgIiwvD_BwE_k_&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1-zCzeb__QIVzitMCh1D4AqjEAAYAiAAEgIiwvD_BwE