Question

Describe and give examples of the 2 most significant computer security threats that are impacting the world at the present time. (b) What steps are being taken to minimize or thwart these threats? (c) Will the efforts proposed to protect individuals, companies and the governments from these threats still protect the rights of citizens? (d) Do you think that the steps taken or to be taken are ethical and will not cause a backlash in society? Please elaborate (beyond a yes or no answer

Answer 1

(a)Describe and give examples of the 2 most significant computer security threats that are impacting the world at the present time.

Answer: The most significant computer security threats that are impacting the world presently are Computer Viruses/worms and using Software programs with bugs

1) Computer viruses and worms are malicious programs created for destroying or misusing the data stored in the system or the computer network. The computer viruses and worms are also designed to spread from one infected system to other systems in the network. Examples are Stuxnet, MyDoom, Storm Worm, etc.

2) When we install the software programs with bugs on the system, the bugs can be used by Hackers to gain higher user privileges, can bypass security control and can misuse sensitive data on the system. For Example the data leaks of credit card information.

(b) What steps are being taken to minimize or thwart these threats?

Answer: Some steps which can minimize the threats are:

• Installing and using antivirus software on all the devices connected in the network.
• Applying firewall rules for incoming and outgoing traffic from the networks connected to the internet.
• Installing latest patches regularly for all the software used in the systems.
• Don’t open unknown links in spam mails.
• Provide proper authentication and authorizations in the systems and software.

(c) Will the efforts proposed to protect individuals, companies and the governments from these threats still protect the rights of citizens?

Answer: The protection provided are for safeguarding the citizens and can still protect the rights of the legitimate rights of the citizens.

(d) Do you think that the steps taken or to be taken are ethical and will not cause a backlash in society? Please elaborate (beyond a yes or no answer)

Answer: The steps taken are ethical as the motivation for taking the steps are for the protection of the interests of the citizens. Also the citizens know that the steps are taken to protect their data and avoid any misuse of their data. So there should not be any backlash in the society.