Types of Threats and Attacks

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Types of Threats and Attacks
With the increased use of computers and the internet, users face the risk of many attacks. Criminals seize the opportunity to conduct the activity to internet users. Without proper caution and precautionary measure, it is easy to fall prey to the hands of these attackers. The first step to avoid attacks is understanding the types of threats the computer users face. To this end, this paper identifies the types of threats and attacks using computers, computer systems, and the internet.
The first type of attack is passive attacks. For these types of attacks, outside source access and uses information from a system. The attacker does not alter the info but can use it for criminal activities and ill motives. They include acts of monitoring transmission and eavesdropping (Pareek, Dey and Gautam 2). It is hard to identify passive attacks since the attackers do not alter any information.
According to Pareek, Dey, and Gautam, the second type of attacks are the active attacks (2-3). These attacks involve alteration or modification of data. Active attacks can add false data to a system.
Another category of attacks is the distributed attacks. The attacker introduces a code like a trojan horse or ‘back-door program’ to computer software. These malicious codes help the attackers to access information which they are not authorized to access. These add-ins to the system can also alter the functioning of the system.
Other forms of attacks include insider attacks that involve an authorized user of the system working with the attacker, phishing attacks are the kind of attacks where the attacker forms a parallel institutional website to corn people and password attacks.

In a nutshell, the other attacks include spoof attacks, hijack attacks, exploit attacks, close in attacks, and Denial of service attacks (DOS).Work Cited
Pareek, Shilpa, Ratul Dey and Ashutosh Gautam. “Different Type Network Security Threats and Solutions, A Review.” International Journal of Computer Science 5.4 (2017): 1-10. Document.