COMPUTER MISUSE, B.B.

Coke High
COMPUTER SECURITY School: Miss
Sanjay Foster
AND CYBER SECURITY
 OBJECTIVES

By the end of the lesson students should be able to:

✔ Explain the many ways in which computers are misused
✔ Describe measures used to safeguard against Cyber attacks
✔ State some steps that can be taken to safeguard oneself in a
virtual environment.
 COMPUTER MISUSE

Computers may be ◼Identity theft

misused in the ◼Online publication of
following ways:
obscene materials
◼Cyberbullying
◼Copyright infringement
◼Phishing attacks
◼Piracy (Software & ◼financial abuses
Music) ◼Violation of privacy,
◼Data theft, ◼Propaganda
◼Denial of service ◼ Industrial espionage
attacks,
◼Electronic
◼Transmission of viruses
and malware, eavesdropping
 CYBERBULLYING

Cyberbullying is the use of technology to harass, threaten,

embarrass, or target another person. Online threats and mean,
aggressive, or rude texts, tweets, posts, or messages all count.
So does posting personal information, pictures, or videos
designed to hurt or embarrass someone else.
 COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT

Copyright infringement occurs when a copyrighted work is

reproduced, distributed, performed, publicly displayed, or made
into a derivative work without the permission of the copyright
owner. Piracy is a form of Copyright Infringement.
 PIRACY

Piracy is the illegal copying/downloading of copyrighted

software and media files. It (Software Piracy) has become a
huge problem for software manufacturers because it causes
loss of revenue and jobs. Downloading a copyrighted song off
the Internet is also an example of piracy (Music Piracy).

Some measures to reduce software piracy are:

◼ Use of registration keys that are only available with purchase
of the software
◼ Severe penalties such as heavy fines and/or imprisonment for
anyone found selling or knowingly using pirated software.
 PROPAGANDA

Propaganda is information that is used primarily to influence an

audience and further an agenda, which may not be objective
and may be presenting facts selectively to encourage a
particular synthesis or perception.

or using loaded language to produce an emotional rather than

a rational response to the information that is presented.
Propaganda is often associated with material prepared by
governments, but activist groups, companies, religious
organizations, the media, and individuals can also produce
propaganda.
EXAMPLE OF PROPAGANDA
 UNAUTHORIZED COLLECTION OF
INFORMATION
A lot of information that is collected is done without the
permission of the people involved.

Some examples of unauthorized collection of

information are:
◼ Electronic eavesdropping
◼ Industrial espionage
◼ Electronic surveillance.
 INDUSTRIAL ESPIONAGE

Some organizations take on this practice to ascertain pertinent

information about their competitors such as their marketing
strategies, research and future plans to gain a profit or
marketing edge. Industrial Espionage is when secret
information is obtained by spying on competitors or opponents.
 ELECTRONIC EAVESDROPPING

Electronic eavesdropping is the tapping into a communication

channel to retrieve information. Data may be encrypted before
it is transmitted to prevent eavesdropping on that data.
Hackers commonly use electronic eavesdropping. For example,
good hackers can collect information that you type at websites,
such as your credit card number, password or personal data.
 ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE

The computer – related activities of many people are often kept

under surveillance. The information gathered through this
surveillance may be used to develop profiles of several people.
Surveillance is not only done by law enforcement personnel.
Many websites keep you under surveillance. Computer
surveillance thus involves the use of technology to ascertain
information from the user and from the computer, often without
the user’s knowledge.
 PHISHING ATTACKS

Phishing is the fraudulent attempt to obtain sensitive

information such as usernames, passwords and credit card
details by disguising oneself as a trustworthy entity in an
electronic communication. Typically carried out by email
spoofing or instant messaging, it often directs users to enter
personal information at a fake website which matches the look
and feel of the legitimate site.
 DENIAL OF SERVICE ATTACK

In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyber-

attack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or
network resource unavailable to its users by temporarily or
indefinitely disrupting services of a host connected to the
Internet. Denial of service is typically accomplished by flooding
the targeted machine or resource with excessive requests in an
attempt to overload systems and prevent some or all legitimate
requests from being fulfilled.
 VIRUSES & MALWARE

Malware is an umbrella term for any malicious software written

specifically to infect and harm the host system or its user. A
computer virus is just one type of malware. Malware includes
viruses, spyware, adware, ransomware, and other types of
harmful software.
 VIRUS

A Virus is designed to copy itself and spread to other devices

as widely as possible. Computer viruses proliferate by infecting
applications, email, removable storage and websites, email
attachments etc.
Simple malicious code damages your hard disk or deletes files.
A more complex virus might hide on your computer and engage
in unwanted activity such as spewing out spam.
 YOUR RESEARCH

The following are other ways that computers are

misused:
◼ Identity Theft
◼ Data Theft
◼ Violation of Privacy
◼ Financial Abuse
◼ Online Publication of obscene material
MEASURES TO REDUCE COMPUTER
MISUSE
There are several ways to reduce the misuse of
Computers. Some of these are:
◼ Enforcing data protection laws
◼ Utilizing security systems
◼ Having severe penalties for when employees and employers
divulge private information
 Physical
COMPUTER & CYBER Measures
and
SECURITY Software
Measures
 COMPUTER SECURITY VS. CYBER
SECURITY
Computer security means dealing with the security of a
standalone computer’s software and hardware.

Cyber security, on the other hand, involves the security of

individual computers plus the network they belong to and the
intercommunication between all the computers in your
organization, mobile devices, printers and more.
 CYBER SECURITY MEASURES

There are many options to choose from in mitigating Cyber

threats; these measures can be physical (hardware) or software
based.

◼ Hardware: backup and recovery procedures, hardware

firewall, intrusion detection systems and biometrics.

◼ Software: effective passwords and authentication systems,

encryption of data, firewall, biometrics, antivirus and malware
detection.
 BACKUP AND RECOVERY

Backup and recovery refers to the process of backing up data in

case of a loss and setting up systems that allow that data
recovery due to data loss. Backing up data requires copying
and archiving computer data, so that it is accessible in case of
data deletion or corruption. Data from an earlier time may only
be recovered if it has been backed up.
 FIREWALL

A firewall is a network security system that monitors and

controls incoming and outgoing network traffic based on
predetermined security rules. A firewall typically establishes a
barrier between a trusted internal network and untrusted
external network, such as the Internet.
Hardware firewalls are systems that are independent of the
computers they protect that filter the Internet as information
passes into a computer. Most broadband Internet routers have
their own firewall built in.
 INTRUSION DETECTION SYSTEM
(IDS)
An Intrusion Detection System (IDS) is a software or hardware
device installed on the network (NIDS) or host (HIDS) to detect
and report intrusion attempts to the network. Any malicious
venture or violation is normally reported either to an
administrator or collected centrally using a security information
and event management (SIEM) system.
We can think of a firewall as security personnel at the gate
and an IDS device as a security camera after the gate.
While an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) cannot block
connections. An Intrusion Detection System (IDS) alert any
intrusion attempts to the security administrator.
However an Intrusion Detection and Prevention System (IDPS)
can block connections if it finds the connections is an intrusion
attempt.
 BIOMETRICS

Biometrics are a way to measure a person’s physical

characteristics to verify their identity. These can include
physiological traits, such as Fingerprints, Iris, voice, face, hand
etc.

Biometric devices can be used to restrict physical access to

rooms or buildings as well as it can be used to restrict virtual
access to files, folders devices etc.
 PASSWORDS

A password, sometimes called a passcode, is a memorized

secret, typically a string of characters, used to confirm the
identity of a user.
 DATA ENCRYPTION

Data encryption translates data into another form, or code, so

that only people with access to a secret key (formally called a
decryption key) or password can read it. Encrypted data
is commonly referred to as cipher text, while unencrypted data
is called plaintext. Currently, encryption is one of the most
popular and effective data security methods used by
organizations.
 ANTI-VIRUS AND MALWARE
DETECTION
Antimalware is a type of software program designed to
prevent, detect and remove malicious software ( viruses,
rootkits, ransomware and spyware etc) on IT systems, as well
as individual computing devices. Antivirus typically dealt with
older, more well-known threats, such as Trojan horses, viruses,
key loggers and worms.
Today, however, antivirus and antimalware products are
generally the same. Some security vendors still brand their
products as antivirus software even though it is more similar to
antimalware.
 PERSONAL SECURITY MEASURES

These are some measures that can be taken on a

personal level to safeguard against Computer Misuse:
◼ Verifying authenticity of email from companies or individuals
◼ Assessing website URLs for authenticity
◼ Limiting access to open Wi-Fi networks
◼ Securing mobile devices (Strong Passwords, biometircs,
Antivirus, Update OS etc.)
◼ Protection in an online environment
 SOME STEPS TO SECURING YOUR
ONLINE ENVIRONMENT
◼ Always change your default passwords, create strong,
unique passwords;
◼ Use a firewall to block unauthorized access to computers
and devices;
◼ update your operating system, browser, and other
software with security patches to minimize threats from
viruses and malware;
◼ Practice safe surfing and shopping, checking that the
site’s address starts with “https”, instead of just “http”;
◼ Be selective when sharing personal information as this
could be used by hackers to guess passwords and logins.
◼ Do not download pirated software as it is not only illegal,
but it often includes some type of malware.