Web Hacking: Attacks and Defense

Part 4. Advanced Web Kung Fu

Case Study

AS David strolled off the subway platform, he picked up his morning Journal and read it: “New computer worm blinds companies, costing companies billions” the Wall Street Journal headline read. A computer worm is a self-propagating program that infects computer after computer, often using the resources of the infected computer to launch further attacks.

Surely this account was preposterous; it had to be blown way out of proportion. After all, nothing existed out there to do what the headline stated. David, the security administrator for more than 100,000 computer systems at his online brokerage firm, rushed up to the 53rd floor to his office where he quickly powered up his laptop to open an Internet browser. ...