Data Privacy, Security, and Ethical Computing

Section 1: Risks to Privacy from Collecting and Storing Data on a Computer

When you need something online, you often collect and store data on your computer. However, what many people are unaware of is that there are often risks to storing data.

Risks

When storing and collecting data on a computer, you are at risk of malware.
Malware is Intrusive software cybercriminals use to gain access to data they otherwise shouldn’t have.
Malware can lead to data leaks or breaches, or the release of confidential information, encryption of files for ransom, where files are inaccessible until a payment is made,
slowing down performance due to malware using an excessive amount of CPU and memory, and many more risks.

Real Life Examples

Recently, in 2024, a trojan called “Antidot” was able to imitate a fake Google Play store app to trick users into downloading it. When downloaded, this virus would steal personal data from victims.

Magecart were hacker groups who would use skimming techniques on online websites. This means that they would breach into well known popular shopping websites to steal payment information when a customer made a purchase.

Another example would be when an employee of a South Georgia Medical Center had downloaded data onto his USB before quitting his job, this led to private information of patients being leaked online.

Prevention

To prevent risks when downloading on the interweb, there are preventative measures you can take. You can download an antivirus program to help detect and prevent viruses. You should also not download from fishy websites and only download trusted and well known data.

Section 2: Misuse of Computing Resources and How They Can Be Protected

The misuse of computing resources refers to the harmful use of computer systems, network, and data. Some examples of compute resources are CPU, storage, servers, memory, and cloud services.

Risks

When people misuse computing resources to often do activities such as hacking, you are at risk of leaking personal information or damaging your computer.
Common misuses include cryptocurrency mining on hijacked systems, spam distribution, malware hosting, illegal downloads.

Real Life Examples

Some real examples of the misuse of computing resources include back in 2018 when Tesla was a victim to cryptojacking.
Cryptojacking refers to the term when users gain access to computing devices to mine for crypto.
So when hackers would gain access to Tesla’s systems, a cryptomining software was deployed.

An example of malware hosting, another example of the misuse of computing resources, is when malicious users would use github to distribute the “Lumma Stealer” malware.

Back in 2004, a virus called “ILOVEYOU” was released to the public where the virus seems to be a love letter to users, and when users would open it,
the virus would execute to overwrite files and spread to other computers.


Prevention

To help protect computing resources, for example, a firewall can be used so that only safe and authorized internet traffic can be accessed.
Intrusion detections can also be used to protect your computer by monitoring for suspicious activity.

Section 3: Unauthorized Access to Computing Resources

Unauthorized access to computing resources is when malicious users gain access to or using a computer system that with no permission

Risks

When users gain access to your system without permission, anything on that system is available to unauthorized users,
such as your PII, or personally identifiable information. PII includes your name, social security number, address,
and more personal information.

Real Life Examples

Back in 2016, 360 million MySpace accounts were leaked on a website that let users search and access sensitive
information for a fee and was set up for sale on a dark web market.

An example of a breach of Linkedin was in 2012, where around 6.5 million passwords were accessed by hackers and
was posted on an online russian hacker forum. The same attacker was then found to
offer email addresses and passwords to linkedin users for cryptocurrency.

Another example was when National Public data had gotten breached and 2.7 billion accounts of personal
information such as names, social security numbers, and addresses were leaked on a hacking forum.

Prevention

To prevent attackers from accessing your personal information, you can use multi-factor authentication so that more than one piece of evidence is required to access an account.