Internet Case

In the modern world people are more interconnected than it was never before. We use the internet in our daily life. Through the use of the internet we can socialize, do our shopping, carry out transactions and do business. In fact we share a lot of both personal and financial information. With all the advantages of the internet, we potentially expose ourselves to vast online risks which we need to manage (Dowd, & Michener, 1998). Many countries have been working out ways through which they can create a public awareness that is aimed at reducing the level of insecurity. United States for example through its president Obama, has designated the month of October as National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSM). The campaign is aimed at engaging and educating both public and the private sector about cyber security. The campaign focuses on the fact that being safer online is a collective shared responsibility. Countries like Australia also hold their National Cyber Security Awareness Week. This is a yearly initiative by the government in partnership with community, industry, consumer organizations and all levels of government. They aim towards creating a free cyber society. (Australian government 2013)

People need more awareness to keep them safe while surfing on the internet.

There is a need for more awareness while surfing on the net for various reasons. The awareness is important since it equips every person working online to acquire basic skills aimed at reducing the level of insecurity. Every person no matter the location of work either in the workplace school or at home should understand the basic steps aimed at reducing cyber crime while working online

Computer Risks

Viruses

These are types of software programs that replicate themselves and spread. Just like the biological virus their damage has been of great degree and it takes time for one to realize its existence. (Taxali, 2001)

Viruses have great effect on the computer. Viruses affect the normal functioning of the computer through; displaying messages on the screen. Slowing down the operation of your PC. Causing extensive damage to the computer system. Viruses can also erase the files in the PC .They can also alter the functioning of the installed programs so that they stop working or even slow down their operation. To a worse extent they can make the computer system crash as they can format the hard disks (Spurling, 1995). One can detect the presence of viruses in their PC system, when programs take too long to load or at times stops operation. When the size of the available memory keeps reducing. Computer systems slow down. When floppy lights continuously flash even if no disk activity is taking place. These are just a few symptoms that can help one detect the presence of virus in their PC.

Types of viruses

12000 viruses are in existence today and about seven new ones appear daily ( Silmen, 2000). Viruses can be put into different common categories.

Trojan horse, this is a type of program that its appearance seems desirable and useful to the user. As opposed to other viruses, it does not replicate or copy itself. It damages or compromises the security of a computer by providing a means for another computer to gain access.

A worm is a program that facilitates the distribution of copies of itself that it has already created. For instance copying itself from one email to another or using a transport mechanism like an email.

The boot sector virus is that virus that upon booting of the computer after reading of the hard disk it attaches itself to the first part of the hard disk. Floppy disks facilitate its spreading.

Macro viruses are those that use macro programming language to replicate and distribute themselves.

Memory Resident Viruses are found in the computer (RAM). A virus running in the computer initiates them and they stay in the computer after the initiating process.

Root kit Virus is a virus that disguises itself as an operating system file. Trojans normally facilitate their installation. These viruses are very hard to detect.

Polymorphic Virus creates multiple files of it and anytime it replicates its digital signature is altered; this makes it harder for very less unsophisticated antivirus to detect its presence.

Logic Bombs/Time Bombs are the viruses that have been programmed to operate when a specific event occurs or at a particular date. An employee can design it to delete his database table when he gets sacked (Thomson, & Sohns, 1998).

How it infects

These viruses spread by attaching themselves on computer files and programs. Viruses can either hide themselves in the boot sector of the hard disks and floppy disks or attach itself on the macros of the word processor and a spreadsheet document (Rubin, & Geer, 1998). Once this happens, as you exchange your floppy disks or files they spread. For instance installing a game from a friends PC by putting that disk to your PC you are exposing your system to viruses. Viruses can also spread through files attached to an email.