Cyber Defense in Web-Based Attacks | Study

Running head: CYBER DEFENCE IN WEB-BASED ATTACKS
CYBER DEFENCE IN WEB-BASED ATTACKS
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1CYBER DEFENCE IN WEB-BASED ATTACKS
How would you minimize users clicking on links without considering the risks of their
actions?
User should be aware of the fact that if they are receiving any email requesting for
confidential or personal information then that should be treated as suspicious. Sender’s email
address should be checked even if it looks legitimate. Next is checking the attachments or
links for downloading or viewing any data because there can be malware which may affect
the user’s PC. When user is having any doubt he should hover over the URL or hyperlink and
get more details about it before clicking on it (Zheng, Lu & Xu, 2017). If he receives any
weird email from a known person also, that should not be opened unless sure about it being
malware free since there is chances the account has been hacked. Typos, spelling, syntax and
grammatical errors can be considered as red flag. At any point of time if there are any kind of
doubts regarding any email then it is always advisable to contact the sender and confirm. The
mails from unknown users and with doubtful content should never be clicked on as this can
be trap of the cyber criminal to spoof into the mail id of the users and gather essential details.
It is necessary that users are aware of different ways in which the cyber criminals can attacks
their data so that they are careful while handling their personal accounts and sensitive
informations. Security software should be installed which helps in the detection and blockage
of fake websites and user should use unique password for all the websites (Kalutarage et al.,
2015). All of the above precautions can help in protecting a user from phishing attacks and
minimize users clicking on irrelevant links.
How would you address Web page addresses that are disguised or take you to an
unexpected site?
There can be disguised web pages which can lead users to different websites. Many
web browser configurations are done for providing increase in the functionality meanwhile

2CYBER DEFENCE IN WEB-BASED ATTACKS
decreasing the security. Software packages and computer systems comprise of additional
software which makes the system more vulnerable. Some features of a web browser if
enabled can pose a security threat and most of time the vendors enable those by default which
increases the risk to the system. Exploitation of the client-side system is done by the attackers
by utilizing various vulnerabilities for stealing the information from the system, destructing
the files and using the computer to attack other systems (Vykopal et al., 2017). Hackers are
involved in creating of malicious webpage which installs Trojan spyware for stealing the
information. Some features of the web browsers which have certain risks associated with it
are as follows:
ActiveX technology in MS Internet explorer has components which can provide it as an
object that is downloadable and this in turn provides with extra functionalities but also
introduces vulnerabilities if proper implementation is not done.
Java is a programming language used for developing contents which are active, for various
websites. The execution of Java applets occurs within a sandbox, however certain
deployments of the JVM consists of vulnerabilities which allows an applet for bypassing the
restrictions (Zhuang, Bardas, DeLoach & Ou, 2015)
Plug-ins consists of programming flaws like buffer overflows or some flaws in the design
which can be a vulnerability to the system. If cookies are used for authentication in the
websites then a hacker is able to get unauthorized access and the cookies which are persistent
can pose a greater risk since they stay in the system for a longer duration.
How would you ensure that third-party software has a mechanism for receiving
security updates?
Third Party components are highly used in software development and these include
open source as well as commercial off-the-shelf software components. A component which is