Threats to Home Computer Systems
I sometimes imagine a way of life as simple as sitting on a rock, watching the sky, tending to a cave. Could there have been anything complicated in those times, many millennia ago? In fact, there was: security. It must have been an enormous stressor to guard your cave dwelling from other primitive beings looking to gain something they were not entitled to. Maybe they suspected personal items such as weaponry or stored food, or to take a peek at your secret glyphs—directions to a source of something valuable.
Today, we may not live in caves, and as such our secret information may be stored in sophisticated machinery rather than drawings on cave walls. However, human nature to steal and protect is still as common as it was in early humans.
It was not so long ago that the home computer was in its primitive stage. In a few decades, this “advanced typewriter/calculator” has evolved into a way of life, along with its own set of threats to our security. These threats can be categorized as either software or behavioral, and can certainly be combined.
Social engineering is a behavioral type of threat. It does not need to apply just to computers. Some social engineers call you on the telephone attempting to get you to reveal personal information, such as your social security number. But this can be done through email, as well. You may think the email is from someone you trust and you respond with information, such as passwords.
Passwords, however, are not just revealed to the social engineer through intimidation or deception. They are also discovered by the clever Cracker, by using software to figure out codes. Passwords are indeed the most common way to block access to your computer resources, but this first layer of defense is the easiest to penetrate.
The social engineer may not even have to pose as a trusted friend to get you to