“This website at ....... has been reported as an attack site
and has been blocked based on your security preferences”
You have come across messages like one above in your life of browsing the internet. The questions that quickly come up your mind are what next? Do I proceed or recoil to my previous page? Should this message be taken seriously or it’s just one of those messages I see on the internet? Well, let’s see what this message has for us!
Firstly, we will see what an attack site is. By definition, it is a site that attempts to install programs aimed at stealing personal or private information from your computer. It attempts to take control of your computer for simply turning it into a robot to attack other computer on your network or internet. Such a site has the ability to completely damage your computer. It works on the principle of distributing malicious software automatically when you visit their WebPages. Once you have visited an attack site and the harmful software installed automatically on your computer without your consent or knowledge, your computer becomes infected or turns into an automatic generator of distributing harmful software which may include:
· Worms:
Computer worms are software programs designed maliciously to replicate themselves on a computer. They work by sending copies of themselves on a network. Worms do not attach themselves to an existing program on a computer.
· Trojans:
Trojans or Trojan horses are a group of computer malware that disguise appear to be doing one particular thing on your computer when in actual true sense they are doing the opposite. Trojans may include some programs which appear to be anti-virus software when in fact they are installing viruses on your computer without your knowledge. Trojans do not replicate themselves.
· Viruses:
Computer viruses are programs designed to infect and possibly damage your computer or network system. Viruses attach themselves to existing files or programs. Viruses have ability to copy or reproduce themselves and can spread in different forms such as an executable file or through removable media.
· Spyware:
Spyware is a program designed to install on a computer to steal personal or private information which is later used by cyber-criminals. The installation of spyware and the eventual collection of private information are done without the user’s consent or knowledge.
· Malicious programs and contaminants
These are unwanted software programs that install on a computer for the sole purpose of infiltrating it.
Attack sites are able to impersonate legitimate sites so that you get fooled into thinking that you are actually on the legitimate site. Impersonating of legitimate website is called web forgery or phishing website.
Some browsers such as Firefox 3, Internet Explorer 8 and Google chrome have security features that warn you or send messages when you visit an attack site. When you access any site, your secure browser will check the certificate provider to validate the authenticity of that website’s certificate through On-line Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP). An OCSP responder may, depending on the results obtained, return a result indicating that the certificate specified by your browser’s request is 'good', 'revoked' or 'unknown'. If the certificate of the site did not pass validation, an error code that indicates that the certificate was revoked will be generated to warn you. Unless otherwise specified by user, you will not be able to proceed to access that site. Such browsers also check the site against the blacklisted ones at a specified interval.
The essence behind this technology is to keep web surfers safe at all times. It is therefore, recommended that all browsers should be updated regularly. Regular updates will enable installation of new security features that will provide more security when you go on the internet. Always remember to patch your browser.
References:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please send in your feedback. I appreciate your visit.