Security Risks
Trojan horse
Adware
Tracking Cookies
DoS attacks
Free online games that you can download. You can play them for free but they may be tracking your activity due to the inclusion of a Trojan horse
Third party browser toolbars. These appear to add features to your web browser but in reality are usually tracking your online browsing habits through the presence of tracking cookies that were hidden with Trojan software
The Trojan may download as part of another piece of software such as trial versions of less well known ant-virus software
this type of software pretends to be a useful program while secretly performing another function
is not malicious
It is not uncommon for developers working on their own to agree to include advertising within the software that they produce.
They can legitimately include adware software in their product. They will be paid to allow this to happen and the software will show adverts when in use.
Adware can also be installed without the user's knowledge or maliciously as part of another piece of software
Adware can be setup to gather information about browsing habits.
This information can be sent back to the person who created the malicious adware and is spyware
Adware installed with the ability to review browsing habits makes use of tracking coockies
Cookies are text files that contain information about browsing habits, such as the website visited and the username used to access the site.
They can also track things like the amount of time spent on a site, or the multimedia that was watched as well as user defined browser settings.
Cookies are saved on your information had to be held there
Cookies can be helpful for those using the same system to access the internet on a regular basis
Like adware, these are legitimate reasons to make use of cookies
They can make browsing seem less demanding by remembering preferences and usernames.
This saves time the next time you visit a website
Many websites contain legal disclaimers warning users of the cokies
On many sites, cookies are being used to try and enhance the browsing experience but there will always be those intent on setting up tracking cookies
A n attack is a deliberate attempt to prevent legitimate users of a network from accessing the services provided by the server or connected system
The classic attack will come from a single computer sending multiple requests to the server
Denial of service attacks usually aim to overload servers or systems with requests for data or access to resources like the processor or main memory.
Denial of service attacks usually aim to overload servers or system with requests for data or access to resource like the processor or main memory
Some denial of service attacks also exploit weakness, either in the security system or network infrastructure