Appendix 3

Examples of general threats and a control

Types of attack

Botnets

Bots are items of automated software running over the internet. A botnet is a group of computers controlled by a “bot herder.” Computer users can unwittingly add their computer to the group by visiting a rogue website. A botnet often comprises in excess of a million computers. (See “Zombie.”)

Man-in-the-middle attack

In this type of attack the attacker gets in between two parties who are communicating. See Figure A.2.

image

Figure A.2 How a man-in-the-middle attack works

Relay attack

In a “relay attack” (think relay race) information is relayed from one place to another ...

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