Cyber Risks

With the birth of the Internet there are new ways to communicate, send data from one part of the world to another, and create exciting places to shop, share your stories, and even play games.

The Biggest Risk?
The more that we use the Internet, the more likely we are to forget to do the things necessary to keep our data, ourselves, and our family safe online. It is this complacency  that we must struggle with every time we sign online.

But as with many good things, the Internet has its dark side. There are a plethora of cyber-risks that you face anytime that you go online, from malware to hackers to Denial of Service Attacks.

Malware is short for malicious software and is usually used as a catch-all term to refer to any software which causes damage to a single computer, server, or computer network. Some of the most common types of malware are:

Viruses
Self-replicating malware requiring a host file, that depends on human action to spread it
Worms
Self-contained malware, needing no host file, that spreads automatically through networks
Trojan horses
An apparently useful and innocent application containing a hidden malicious program
Spyware
A program that secretly monitors your online activity and sends the data back to the programmer
Rootkits
A malicious program that hides itself by convincing the operating system that it isn't there

While many of these dangers can render a computer or the data on it useless, there are ways to mitigate the damage, and in many cases to stop the attack before it becomes a problem at all.

Vector vs. Payload

There is a difference between the risk itself and the way that it gets to your computer.

Payload
This is the danger, the malicious activity that the virus performs.
Vector
This is the method, the route that the payload takes to get into your computer.

It is important to be aware of all of the risks that you face online so that you can be safe and still take advantage of the Internet.