Cyber Primer

Cyber threats
2.21. Social media. Significant data can be gathered and analysed from
links made from social media applications. Technical collection of computer
traffic patterns by third parties using commercially available software can
provide information on location, strengths, movements of individuals and
units, as well as morale and intentions.
2.22. Malware. Malicious software, known as malware, is an overarching
term for software that is designed to infiltrate or damage a computer.
Malware’s effects can include:
• denial of service (DoS) intended to overload a system;
• recruiting the target system as part of a botnet (also known as
becoming a zombie) which can result in launching a distributed
denial of service (DDoS) on everyone/everything you’re connected
to (for example, connecting to others using your address book);
• privilege escalation, where access is gained to a system and
escalated to include the addition of admin/root privileges;
• keystroke logging – this uses a virus or physical device that logs a
user’s keystrokes as they type, compromising data, passwords and
credit card numbers;
• geo-location of smartphones, tablets, laptops and similar devices;
and
• exploiting social networks.
2.23. Malware types. Malware has traditionally been designed to infect
computers and computer networks. However, the rapidly increasing
popularity of smartphones, tablets and other Internet-enabled technology
provides new and appealing targets for malware developers. Some malware
combines attributes into so-called ‘blended threats’ that are becoming
difficult to detect and remove. Some of the types of malware available are
described on page 33.
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Cyber Primer (2nd Edition)