Chapter 4

Threats and Vulnerabilities

The Following CompTIA Security+ Exam Objectives Are Covered in This Chapter:

• 3.1 Analyze and differentiate among types of malware.
  • Adware
  • Virus
  • Worms
  • Spyware
  • Trojan
  • Rootkits
  • Backdoors
  • Logic bomb
  • Botnets
• 3.2 Analyze and differentiate among types of attacks.
  • Man-in-the-middle
  • DDoS
  • DoS
  • Replay
  • Smurf attack
  • Spoofing
  • Spam
  • Phishing
  • Spim
  • Spear phishing
  • Xmas attack
  • Pharming
  • Privilege escalation
  • DNS poisoning and ARP poisoning
• 3.3 Analyze and differentiate among types of social engineering attacks.
  • Hoaxes

As we discussed in the first chapter, everywhere you turn there are risks; they begin the minute you first turn a computer on and grow exponentially the moment the network card becomes active. While Chapter 1 discussed how to measure and weigh risks, and Chapters 3 and 4 looked at network dangers, this chapter will focus on two particular types of risks: malware and attacks.