Threats, Attacks & Hackers

691 Words3 Pages
Every time a home PC or small home/office network goes online, it connects to thousands of unknown networks and millions of their users. Connecting to Internet provides the opportunities to communicate and share information with others. But it also gives opportunities to Internet users that are involved in malicious activities. Its often believed by many that they don't possess anything that would be of any interest to intruders. But in most of the computer attacks, these computers are used as launching pads to spread viruses, worms and other attacks. They just serve as one link in a chain of multiple compromised systems. Security concerns of a home network or SOHO are similar to those of big corporate networks. Faster Internet connections are becoming popular and as they are "always on"; the computer networks are becoming more vulnerable to attacks. Possible attacks on SOHO and home networks include a Denial of Service (DOS) attack, a Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attack using SOHO networks, accessing and destroying confidential information on the system, etc. The only way to secure a computer from online intruders is to turn it off or by disconnecting it from the Internet. According to the experts, use of firewalls is the best way of securing a computer network from online intrusion. Firewalls are the first line of defense in protecting computers. A firewall filters the network traffic on the basis of certain pre set rules, hence protecting one network from another. However, there are other tools that can be used to protect the networks like antivirus software, anti hacker tools, etc. Protecting personal computers using PC monitoring tools, file protection tools and password security tools further enhances the security mechanism of the small networks. Hackers have been around since the dawn of the Internet. Some hackers are benign, they actually work
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