PoE is an acronym that stands for “Power over Ethernet.” It is a set of standards and non-standard implementations of transmitting power to devices over an ethernet cable. PoE is intended as a simplification technique. By providing power over an already present data cable, you eliminate the need for a separate power supply. This means you can place a device without worrying … [Read more...] about What Is PoE?
What Is Authentication?
To gain access to many computer systems, you need to authenticate yourself. Authentication is the process of proving your identity. In computing, this is typically done in two parts. The first is alleging your identity; the second is providing some evidence. The classic example is using a username to allege your identity and then providing a password to prove it. Another form … [Read more...] about What Is Authentication?
What Is Hacktivism?
Most computer hacking results from black hat hackers looking to enrich themselves. Typically, they look for any vulnerable site or service and try to steal data to sell it on the dark web. They may also write malware to affect normal computer users. A particularly nasty variant of this is ransomware. Almost all of these actions result in the hacker directly or indirectly … [Read more...] about What Is Hacktivism?
What Is a Logic Bomb?
Many cyber attacks are launched instantly at the timing choice of the attacker. These are launched over the network and can be either a one-off or a running campaign. Some classes of attacks, however, are delayed actions and lie in wait for a trigger of some sort. The most obvious of these are attacks that need user interaction. Phishing and XSS attacks are excellent examples … [Read more...] about What Is a Logic Bomb?
What Is Stuxnet?
When it comes to cyber security, it’s normally data breaches that make the news. These incidents affect many people and represent a terrible news day for the company at the receiving end of the data breach. Much less regularly, you hear about a new zero-day exploit that often heralds a rash of data breaches of companies that can’t protect themselves. It’s not very often that … [Read more...] about What Is Stuxnet?
What Is a Script Kiddie?
When it comes to malware and black hat hackers, they’re all bad. As much as possible, you want no interaction with them whatsoever. Some are worse than others, though. There is a range of reasons for this, including the specific actions they take and what motivates them. Another important factor, though, is simply a skill. As with pretty much any head-to-head competition, … [Read more...] about What Is a Script Kiddie?
What Is an APT?
In cyber security, there are a vast number of malicious threats. Many of these threats write malware, though there are plenty of other ways for cybercriminals to be malicious. The skill level between them varies a lot, though. Many “hackers” are just script kiddies, only able to run existing tools and to lack the skills to make their own. Many hackers have the skills to make … [Read more...] about What Is an APT?
What Is a Bug Bounty?
With how complex software is, it’s challenging to ensure that there are no bugs. This is simply the way of things that are human-designed and highly complex. To minimize the issue, software development companies include code reviews in their software development life cycle. But even careful expert review can’t catch everything. The very real-time and budgetary limitations … [Read more...] about What Is a Bug Bounty?
What Is a Boot Sector Virus?
A boot sector virus is a particular kind of virus named after the location it can be found. That would be the boot sector of floppy disks or the Master Boot Record of more modern hard disks. In some cases, they can infect the boot sector of said hard disks instead of the MBR. … [Read more...] about What Is a Boot Sector Virus?
What Is a Pentest?
Software is guaranteed to have bugs. There can be many thousands of lines of code in software, and human fallibility means that at least some of them won’t be entire as intended. The software development life cycle is a process designed to try to minimize these issues by regularly testing. … [Read more...] about What Is a Pentest?