Information Security

Hacking refers to activities that seek to compromise digital devices, such as computers, smartphones, tablets, and even entire networks, by gaining unauthorized access.

Clicking on unprotected links or downloading unknown files is a primary way people fall victim to phishing attacks. To protect yourself, you should avoid clicking these links, ignore suspicious messages, and verify any claims directly with customer service.

Phishing is a deceptive practice where attackers mimic legitimate organizations to steal sensitive personal information. This stolen data is then commonly used to commit identity theft.

Phishing emails often use generic greetings, create a false sense of urgency, and warn you that your account is in trouble to trick you into acting quickly. Since all of these are classic indicators of a phishing attempt, they are all examples of phishing tactics.

A virus, a DoS (Denial of Service) attack, and phishing are all well-known and common network threats. Since all three options listed are indeed network threats, 'None of the above' is the correct choice. Each of these poses a significant risk to network security and data integrity.

A brute force attack is a trial-and-error method where an attacker uses automated software to guess passwords or PINs repeatedly until the correct one is found. It relies on sheer computational power to break through security rather than exploiting system vulnerabilities. Physical violence is not what this technical term refers to.

A Denial of Service (DoS) attack works by flooding a targeted machine or network with superfluous requests in order to overload systems and prevent legitimate users from accessing services. Phishing and using trusted brands to steal info are forms of social engineering, not DoS attacks. Sharing details is a user behavior rather than an external cyberattack.

A standard Denial of Service (DoS) attack typically involves a single computer sending a massive volume of data packets to a target to overwhelm it. In contrast, when many computers are coordinated to attack a single target simultaneously, it is classified as a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. Therefore, the single-computer description is correct for DoS.

Phishing is a social engineering technique where attackers send fraudulent messages, often mimicking reputable companies, to trick individuals into revealing sensitive personal information. The correct spelling of this term is 'Phishing'. 'Phising' and 'Fishing' are incorrect spellings, and a virus is a self-replicating program rather than a social engineering method.

Ransomware is a specific type of malware that encrypts a victim's files, making them inaccessible, and then demands a ransom payment in exchange for the decryption key. Trojans, worms, and viruses can deliver ransomware, but they do not inherently define the encryption-for-payment behavior. Thus, ransomware is the correct term.

A firewall acts as a barrier between a trusted internal network and untrusted external traffic, such as the internet, to block unauthorized access. While passwords protect user accounts and encryption secures data in transit, a firewall specifically monitors and controls network traffic to prevent unauthorized intrusions.

Encryption is the process of encoding information so that only authorized parties can read it, effectively converting plain text into unreadable ciphertext. This prevents eavesdroppers on a wireless network from understanding the transmitted data. Other security measures like firewalls and passwords control access but do not encode the data itself.

Phishing is a cyber attack where attackers masquerade as trustworthy entities to trick users into visiting fraudulent websites and revealing sensitive information like passwords or credit card numbers. Pharming is a similar threat but works by redirecting web traffic at the DNS level rather than relying on user actions like clicking a link.

A Caesar cipher is a substitution cipher where each letter in the plaintext is shifted by a fixed number of positions down the alphabet. To decrypt the message, the recipient must shift the letters back by that same shift number.

Decryption is the process of converting encrypted data back into its original, readable format. This process requires a specific cryptographic key that matches the encryption algorithm used.