第14章サイバー資源の品質とサイバーコンピューティングのガバナンス

Because of the constant evolution of technology, there are also several misconceptions surrounding cybersecurity risks.

1. Threats only come from outside the organization. Instead, breaches can involve people within the organization working maliciously with external hackers or organized groups.

2. Risks are known and can be predicted. In reality, the attack surface is constantly expanding with new vulnerabilities, and human error by negligent employees or contractors can also increase the risk of data breaches.

3. Attack vectors are limited. Cybercriminals constantly discover new attack vectors through various environments.

4. The industry is safe. Every industry faces cybersecurity risks, and adversaries exploit communication networks across the governments and private sector. Ransomware attacks are expanding to nonprofits and local governments, and threats are increasing in other areas.¹⁴

The world has seen increased cyber threats because more businesses are being conducted online. If you go to any sports stadium or concert event, most of them involve cashless transactions. All transactions must be done with credit or debit cards. This means there are many more chances for your information to be leaked because of the number of companies with which you are interfacing. Granted, it is your choice to use these businesses, but remember, security is only as strong as its weakest link. As our culture demands we go to cashless transactions, the number of available attack surfaces for hackers increases. If we implement the concepts of supersocieties and immerse ourselves in this technology, then if a security vulnerability compromises us, it may do irreparable harm to our lifestyle.

Cyber threats are constantly evolving, and there are various common cyber threats of which programmers should be aware. Malicious software variants such as viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware, and botnets that allow for unauthorized access or can damage computers is called malware. Modern malware attacks often bypass traditional detection methods, such as antivirus scans for malicious files, by being “fileless.” Types of malware include the following:

• Viruses contain code that propagates or replicates across systems by arranging to have itself eventually executed, creating additional, new instances of itself; it generally infects by altering stored documents or code (e.g., boot sector or memory-resident code), typically with the help of a user.

• Worms contain code that replicates itself across a network, infecting connected computers without user intervention.

• Rootkits modify the operating system (e.g., modify system exploration utilities, replace the target OS with a virtual machine monitor that can attack systems) to hide their existence.

• A backdoor is a concealed feature or command within a program that enables users to execute actions they normally would not be permitted to do; sometimes called a trapdoor (e.g., Easter egg in DVDs and software).

14 Kizzee, Ken. 2024. “Cyber Attack Statistics to Know,” Parachute. https://parachute.cloud/cyber-attack-statistics-data-and-trends/.

• Botnets involve a network of compromised machines (bots) under (unified) control of an attacker (botmaster); once the botmaster has control, the attacker has access to the devices and their system, enabling the attacker to steal data, execute scams, and perform other malicious tasks.

The scenarios that enable malware to run include

• a vulnerable client, such as a browser, connecting to a remote system that delivers an attack;

• exploitation of a network-accessible service with buffer overflow vulnerability,

• malicious code introduced into a system component during manufacturing, through a compromised software provider, or via a man-in-the-middle (MitM) attack;

• using the autorun functionality, especially through the insertion of a USB device;

• deceiving a user using social engineering into running or installing malicious software; and

• an attacker with local access directly downloading or running malicious software, potentially using a “local root” exploit for elevated privileges.

Some of the dangers that can occur as a result of malware include generating a pop-up message with a brag, exhort, or extort; trashing files; damaging hardware; launching external activity; stealing information; and keylogging via screen, audio, or camera capture or via file encryption, such as ransomware. Malware that encrypts data and demands a ransom to unlock or prevent data exposure is called ransomware. An insider threat is posed by current or former employees, partners, or contractors who misuse their access. It can also include vulnerabilities intentionally created by programmers, such as malware. The form of social engineering that tricks users into providing personal information through fake emails or text messages posing as legitimate companies is called phishing.

Additional threats included a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, which overloads a server with traffic to crash a server, website, or network. Multiple coordinated systems often overwhelm enterprise networks by attacking devices such as modems, printers, and routers that use the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). An advanced persistent threat (APT) is used by intruders to infiltrate systems to spy on business activities and steal sensitive data while remaining undetected and leaving the networks and systems intact. A man-in-the-middle attack is used by cybercriminals to eavesdrop on and intercept communications between two parties in order to steal data (most often on unsecured Wi-Fi).