Tag: malware

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-Updates 10.1 Online Outlaws: Computer Crime 10.2 Computer Security: Reducing Risks 10.3 Security, Privacy, Freedom, and Ethics

Holding Your Files Hostage

ransom-noteMalware makers are always coming up with new ways to exploit innocent computer users. One relatively new breed of malware, ransomware, encrypts files, making them effectively unusable, unless their owners pay ransom to the perpetrators. This short NPR story focuses on this very real threat.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/12/08/366849122/ransomware-when-hackers-lock-your-files-to-pay-or-not-to-pay

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-Context 10.1 Online Outlaws: Computer Crime 10.2 Computer Security: Reducing Risks 10.4 Security and Reliability

Can a Botnet Bring Down the Internet?

For three years a worm called Conficker has been wiggling its way into computers around the world, creating a massive botnet that has the potential to wreak havoc on the Internet. In this chilling NPR interview, author Mark Bowden explains to Fresh Air’s Terry gross how this little-known worm threatens our networks, our livelihoods, and our lives.
npr.org/2011/09/27/140704494/the-worm-that-could-bring-down-the-internet

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-Multimedia 10.1 Online Outlaws: Computer Crime 10.2 Computer Security: Reducing Risks Chapter 10 Computer Security and Risks

Behind the Front Lines in the Virus Wars

In this TED talk, Mikko Hypponen tells us about–and shows us–a variety of malware species, from the earliest PC viruses to today’s high-tech organized crime menace.
[ted id=1192]