Adware is unwanted software designed to throw advertisements up on your screen, most often within a web browser. Some security professionals view it as the forerunner of the modern-day PUP (potentially unwanted program). Typically, it uses an underhanded method to either disguise itself as legitimate, or piggyback on another program to trick you into installing it on your PC, tablet, or mobile device.Read More
It is called a keylogger, spyware or monitoring software, it can be the equivalent of digital surveillance, revealing every click and touch, every download and conversation.A keylogger (short for keystroke logger) is software that tracks or logs the keys struck on your keyboard, typically in a covert manner so that you don’t know that your actions are being monitored. Read More
When a site gets compromised, the attackers will often leave some piece of malware behind to allow them access back to the site. Hackers want to leave a door open to retain control of the website and to reinfect it continuously. This type of malware is called a backdoor.Backdoors are types of malware that allow for remote control of a compromised website by bypassing appropriate authentication methods.Even after updating a site, changing its passwords, and doing other post-hack procedures, the backdoor might not be removed. Leaving a backdoor in a website allows it to be accessed unexpectedly.Even though there are backdoors written in all languages, the ones we see the most are done in PHP.Read More
A salami attack is when you take a very small amount of money from an awful lot of accounts. The canonical example is a bank programmer depositing sub-cent amounts of interest in a special account. These rounding errors add up.I’m trying to find the first actual documented theft or attempted theft using this attack.I’m hoping that a reader will know, when the first reports of salami attacks came out.This cyber attack, in theory, takes a small amount of data from a transaction. Imagine a big chunk of salami and a meat slicer. Every push of the meat slicer takes a small piece away.Read More
A zombie is a computer that has been implanted with a daemon that puts it under the control of a malicious hacker without the knowledge of the computer owner. Zombies are used by malicious hackers to launch DoS attacks. The hacker sends commands to the zombie through an open port. On command, the zombie computer sends an enormous amount of packets of useless information to a targeted Web site in order to clog the site’s routers and keep legitimate users from gaining access to the site.Read More