The approach used to assault a computer system or network. A fancy way of saying "method or type of attack," the term may refer to a variety of vulnerabilities. For example, an operating system or Web browser may have a flaw that is exploited by a Web site. Human shortcomings are also used to engineer attack vectors. For example, a novice user may open an e-mail attachment that contains a virus, and most everyone can be persuaded at least once in their life to reveal a password for some seemingly relevant reason. See attack, vulnerability and social engineering.
 | Reproduced with permission from Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. Copyright (c) 1981-2008 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. |
Additional Resources
- Harden Facebook? Sure, but where to start?
- * Ryan Naraine is traveling. Guest editorial by Paul F. Roberts You may have heard the news that everybody's favorite social network, Facebook, won a big legal settlement on Monday against spammers who were using the 100 million strong network to distribute what the...
- Blog posts 2008-12-05
- Let's be smart about patching databases
- * Ryan Naraine is traveling. Guest editorial by Slavik Markovich Every quarter, around the time of the Oracle Critical Patch Update CPU or the Microsoft "Patch Tuesday," rituals take place – some behind closed doors, others in the media. Web sites report of the...
- Blog posts 2008-12-03
- ICANN terminates EstDomains, Directi takes over 280k domains
- Following ICANN's notice of termination sent to cybercrime-friendly domain registrar EstDomains in October, on the 24th of November the termination became a reality and EstDomains is no more. Despite the public concerns of who will take the 280,000 domains, and that includes the cybercrime facilitating ones, Directi's ResellerClub is new...
- Blog posts 2008-12-03
- AV on my Macs? Say it ain't so!
- AV on my Macs? Say it ain't so!Just pointed the issue out to my brother at UNCThe linked text at Apple in question:[pre]Mac OS: Antivirus utilities * Last Modified: December 02, 2008 * Article: HT2550 * Old Article: 4454SummaryLearn about...
- Discussion threads 2008-12-03
- Despite what blogs (and Apple) say, Macs will eventually have malware
- Despite what blogs and Apple say, Macs will eventually have malwareWrong assumptions based on the negative Windows experiencesWindows has a lousy record for security, Microsoft should be ashamed and people in general should use something better. Thousands of different types of malware for Windows and virus-cleaning costs which are skyrocketing...
- Discussion threads 2008-12-02
- Google feeling the pinch? [video]
- Google feeling the pinch? [video]Google is simply shedding excess weightto avoid being a middle aged heart attack victim ;-)
- Discussion threads 2008-12-02
- Despite what blogs (and Apple) say, Macs will eventually have malware
- People seemed to get into a tizzy about Apple posting an announcement recommending Anti-Virus software for Macs. Even though it was retracted, I do think that Apple priming Mac users for the eventuality of widespread malware is a good idea. People who believe that the fundamental design of...
- Blog posts 2008-12-02
- News to know: Apple and anti-virus; Vista SP2; Kumo; Palm; Linux
- Here are today's notable headlines. You can get News To Know via email alert and RSS daily: Christopher Dawson: Just what does it take to switch to desktop Linux (part 2)? Ryan Naraine: Apple: Mac users should run multiple anti-virus Breaking...
- Blog posts 2008-12-02
- Breaking the zero-day habit
- * Ryan Naraine is traveling. Guest editorial by Mike Rothman Given that this blog is called "Zero Day," I think it's fitting that I'm calling for most security professionals to ignore most of what comes out of the security research community. To be...
- Blog posts 2008-12-02
- With Vista SP2, Microsoft is back on track
- With Vista SP2, Microsoft is back on trackFinaly Someone who get itit's Fashonable to bash MS for reason at all. The facts are in fact realy simple:1. Vista is great OS and a this point in time is perfect for every who actually want to use their computer2. Macs are...
- Discussion threads 2008-12-01
- IT expert executed in Iran
- IT expert executed in IranExecution for a..............???IT expert cuaght acting as a spy, but yet no penalties what so ever for the global elitists deconstructing America, causing the recession and most likley inevitble collapse of the USA?Something just don't seem right here..........Iran needs nukes to not be irrelevantHe was a...
- Discussion threads 2008-12-01
- Apple: Mac users should run multiple anti-virus
- Apple: Mac users should run multiple anti-virusWhy aren't they prosecuted?A number of countries have advertising and trade practices legislation. Why the hell isn't Apple called to account for this?RE: Apple: Mac users should run multiple anti-virusI was always amazed that Nintendo was never sued from the straps breaking on...
- Discussion threads 2008-12-01
- AlertPay hit by a large scale DDoS attack
- AlertPay hit by a large scale DDoS attackThey make devices that quickly mitigate DDOS attacksThe fact that they failed to impliment them, means they are not serious about protecting their business.If i ran a payment processing system, i would have every protection available running on my systems and network. ...
- Discussion threads 2008-12-01
- AlertPay hit by a large scale DDoS attack
- Timing is everything. Millions of account holders at privately owned online payment gateway AlertPay.com weren't able to do business through the service yesterday, due to the fact that AlertPay was under a large scale DDoS attack, according to a notice left by a company representative. Seven hours of downtime right...
- Blog posts 2008-12-01
- Is there no end to the AutoRun madness?
- * Ryan Naraine is traveling. Guest editorial by Roel Schouwenberg Let's skip any introduction and get straight to the point: We're currently facing a problem of epidemic proportions in malware that is spreading via removable devices. The U.S. army's recent...
- Blog posts 2008-12-01
- News to know: Mumbai attacks, Microhoo, Holiday shopping, HDTVs
- Here are today's notable headlines. You can get News To Know via email alert and RSS daily: Jennifer Leggio: Mumbai attack coverage demonstrates good and bad maturation point of social media Social media marketing opportunism during tragedy = fail Oliver Marks: Mumbai Attacks...
- Blog posts 2008-12-01
- Just what does it take to switch to desktop Linux (part 1)?
- Last week, when I asked "Are you sure you don't just want to use Ubuntu?" I received a record number of talkbacks, good, bad, and in between. One of the more interesting, though, came from reader ksheppard, who responded with a challenge: ...Here's a challenge to you: Make...
- Blog posts 2008-11-30
- Virus hits nearly 75% of systems on Afghanistan military base
- Virus hits nearly 75% of systems on Afghanistan military baseThis isn't news.It's par for the course.RE: Virus hits nearly 75% of systemsHave these people not heard of Linux or Mac OS X?What these reports don't tell you...Is that the great majority of these infected systems are simply email stations for...
- Discussion threads 2008-11-29
- Virus hits nearly 75% of systems on Afghanistan military base
- Earlier this month we saw the military ban the use of USB drives and other removable media. Apparently the virus outbreak that lead to this measure affected 75% of all systems at the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan. Details are still sparse, but both the...
- Blog posts 2008-11-29
- Mumbai attack coverage demonstrates (good and bad) maturation point of social media
- Mumbai attack coverage demonstrates good and bad maturation point of social mediatoo much BS, I ignore itOn one hand is too much contradiction in the news that I even stopped paying attention to.On the other hand hundreads of people were dying in Iraq every day last year and the media...
- Discussion threads 2008-11-28
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