Types of Attacks-Part 2

Now let us look at other type of common attack other that the viruses. Hoaxes are a more devious way of attacking a computer. Let us consider an example. Say if you have discovered something as a virus and u notify your friend with. If you have an intension to attack you send the actual virus along with that attack. The recipient may not be aware and reading through the warning he may notify other people around him with the mail. But in the process he has already got infected. Others would do the same of forwarding the warning message and in turn may people will get affected. This type of attack is called as hoaxes. Back doors are a way to attack a system. During the development of a system a developer can design various entry points to assist his developing process. These are points to gain access or entry into the code. He may not close these points when he delivers the code. This can be exploited by the attacker and he may gain access to the system. Passwords can also be cracked by trying all known combinations. When one uses all possible combinations to crack the password, it’s called brute force attack.