Computer Security

Description:

We were tasked to research 2 topics of internet security issues. We needed to learn how to avoid personal,  educational, and work-related security breaches and how we can avoid them. I chose to specifically read about phishing and viruses because they are very common and brought up every day in a normal persons life.

Phishing Scams:

• Craig Hale wrote this article on Tech Radar Pro  and it was published on Friday November 8th 2024. 

• The article discusses the threat of phishing attacks in banks. Countries like Russia are targeting banks and bank employees to gain access to account information and commit fraud. They send emails or texts to workers that take them to a fake website where they log-in not knowing the website will save the information and use it to break into the computer system. They then steal money from the banks and their customers.

• I believe it to be  pretty accurate because Hale presents statistics and tried not to assume any information by using words like "Believed to be" when speaking about assumptions. It is written in a way that states the facts and leaves it up to the reader to come to a conclusion. 

• The solutions presented are to inspect all links and high-risk file types before opening or downloading them. Workers should also question all emails and be knowledgeable of the risks and practices of phishing. Companies should make sure to use multi-factor authentification and passkeys to protect accounts even in the case of a successful phishing attempt.

Computer Viruses:

• Chris Stokel-Walker wrote this article on New Scientist and it was published on July 3rd 2024

• ChatGPT is being used to create and spread viruses. It can write computer code and it creates the perfect emails that seem genuine to unknowledgeable people. It creates code that can closely resemble safe websites and writes code that can escape virus detection. It is also easily accessible and easy to use.

• I believe this article to be mildly accurate. He includes citations and states mostly facts, but he doesn't add much context in how the viruses are being used and how often ChatGPT is used in this way. He wrote a very short blurb and it needs more information on how or if ChatGPT is trying to stop this issue.

• There is no solutions presented in the article, but I would suggest ChatGPT creators to code the bot to avoid inquiries about virus creation and spreading. There isn't much they could change about creating convincing emails, because that can be used in good and bad ways.

Lesssons Learned:

I learned the threats in computer privacy and security. Introducing the internet into our daily lives has created so many more risks than we had before.  We have to be very careful in what we put online, how we use it, and what we trust.