Times have changed and so have the threats to our way of interacting with others. These days a lot of people spend their time on the net as it makes life easier and helps to interact with others either for personal or business a breeze. Earlier, the computer threats used to come from floppy disks or the more recent usbs, the vast majority of threats are now directly coming from the Internet. This has forced companies to equip themselves with a number of security devices and browser protection which have over the years become complex. email encryption refers to encryption and often authentication of email messages. It helps in making sending email more secure as the people who do not have the key to view it are left in the dark about its contents.
Whilst many vulnerabilities are in the software itself and can only be prevented via keeping browser software updated with patches, some subcomponents of browsers such as scripting, add-ons and cookies are particularly vulnerable to attack and also need to be addressed.
At times, the danger comes from something known as advanced persistent threat. It usually refers to a group, such as a foreign government, with both the capability and the intent to persistently and effectively target a specific entity. The term is commonly used to refer to cyber threats, in particular that of internet enabled espionage, but applies equally to other threats such as that of traditional espionage or attack. Other recognised attack vectors include infected media, supply chain compromise, and social engineering. Individuals, such as an individual hacker, are not usually referred to as an APT as they rarely have the resources to be both advanced and persistent even if they are intent on gaining access to, or attacking, a specific target. A common misconception associated with the APT is that the APT only targets Western governments. While examples of technological APTs against Western governments may be more publicized in the West, actors in many nations have used the technological APT as a means to gather intelligence on individuals and groups of individuals of interest.
At times a zero day exploit is used to exploit computer application vulnerabilities that are unknown to others or the software developer. The term derives from the age of the exploit. A "zero day" attack occurs on or before the first or “Zeroth” of developer awareness, meaning the developer has not had any opportunity to distribute a security fix to users of the software. Keeping the computer’s software up-to-date is very important as well and it does help in negating these threats. Users need to be careful when clicking on links or opening email attachments with images or PDF files from unknown users. This is how many cyber criminals deceive users, by pretending they are something they are not and gaining the user’s trust. Utilize sites with Secure Socket Layer (SSL), which secures the information being passed between the user and the visited site
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