World’s Most Advanced Threats

SafeBytes Software

We all use computers in our daily lives, one way or another. Be it through our smartphone, through our laptop or chromebook or even through the computer that is inside of our car (even though that one is not technically the same as the others at all), they are ever present and ever so useful. We may use our computer for completely benign purposes: · Shopping (if you can think about it, you can probably buy it on the internet)· Chatting· Having a dating profile· Watching video on demand· Streaming music Or we may use it for something that carries a little more responsibility: · Office productivity (think Microsoft’s Office productivity suite, or OpenOffice)· Financial planning and exchange· Database management for businesses· International boardroom meetings

As you can see, the applications for a computer are as diverse as the people in the world, and the past two lists are nowhere near complete. You may also have noticed that I used the word “benign” in order to describe some of the lighter side activities you can perform with a computer, since in this case you are not actually handling sensitive company information, or any of your stocks or the information of all your customers. But even if you are not handling such sensitive information so overtly, when you are watching some streaming video on demand your credit or debit card information is linked to the account. The same goes for online shopping, you have to have a billing and shipping address associated with your account in order to buy something. In that respect then, some sensitive information is “available” in certain websites you frequent, and criminals being criminals, they have devised ways to get at this data that has been evolving as time goes on. And unfortunately, there’s always a chance that a user that doesn’t protect their computer will fall victim to one of these advanced threats. Just remember:

· Short of uninstalling everything and throwing your computer away, there’s no way to be 100% protected all of the time, though you can take steps to reduce this risk considerably.So, in the interest of minimizing the possibility of you getting scammed or not knowing what is attacking your network or PC, let’s review some of these advanced threats so you know what you’re dealing with:· APT (Advanced Persistent Threats): these are the absolute worst of the possible threats you may face. The only good news about these threats are that home users will probably not have to face one of these threats, since they generally target businesses of organizations.ATPs are stealthy, continuous and highly sophisticated, and will most likely gain access to some part of your network before you actually know they are there.The first and foremost form of defence against them is mostly preventive. This means that you need to have a good computer defence infrastructure from the start in order to be able to detect the threat when it comes, since a successful intrusion will most likely result in loss of data.· Denial of Service Attacks: these attacks are designed to make a machine or network’s resources unavailable to its intended users. An attack by a single machine is not really that hard to defend against, simply a matter of setting up a firewall that blocks the offending IP. Distributed Denial of Service Attacks (DDoS) is another matter, and greatly complicates the possible solutions. Again, these mainly target large networks that provide services to a high number of users, so the average PC user probably won’t have to worry about it.

· Spoofing: one of the more recent threats, these attacks are disguised in a way that will trick the user into thinking it is from a reputable source, getting them to voluntarily provide personal or financial information. The best defence against these is simply a good dose of scepticism and common sense. Never give out personal information or details over chat, e-mail or phone if you didn’t call the company in question first.· Privilege escalation: technique that allows a user to obtain access to a system beyond what they should have. The most advanced of these attacks may even “become root” and gain full unrestricted access to a computer or a network. These attacks can be carried out remotely, so a good firewall and antivirus that detects Trojans is your best line of defence.· Man-the-Middle Attack: this is also rather new, it consists of rerouting communication between two computer users through the attacker’s computer, without the knowledge of the other two parties, which allows the attacker to monitor the information of the conversation and relay only the messages that he deems appropriate to relay. A program with good encryption protocols will help protect you from these attacks. As a final note, if you notice that even when protected your PC has been: · Running slower than usual, with constant hiccups in performance with perhaps even the simplest of tasks (such as opening a browser or a document).· Been behaving oddly. Closing or opening applications out of the blue, shutting down or restarting unexpectedly.

If that’s the case, you might want to consider getting SafeBytes TotalSystemCare suite in order to further optimize your PC’s performance. Total System Care will:· Speed up your PC by performing a scan for errors and invalid keys that are known to cause problems and lengthen the time it takes for it to boot up.· Clean your registry to correct errors in the windows registry that are known to slow down performance.· Prevent errors from occurring by going deep and fixing a wide range of critical Windows and software errors, thus preventing computer crashes and other unwanted behaviours. And as is the case with SafeBytes’ Security Suite, Total System Care also has a dedicated team of customer support representatives ready to clear up any and all doubts you may have, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days of the year. This allows any user to rest easy knowing that their PCs are optimized to keep running perfectly day in and day out, look for coupons on the internet to make the deal even sweeter!