What Is Pharming?

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In cybercrime, pharming refers to diverting users' attention from a legitimate site to one that appears identical but is a malicious forgery. Similar to phishing, but instead of trying to get you to click on a malicious link, you'll wind up on the wrong website. Extreme caution is warranted when using the internet because a malicious website may appear identical to a legitimate one, making it difficult to detect until it's too late. Criminals can use this strategy to steal sensitive data, such as login credentials and financial details, and use it for their nefarious ends. Then, what's their secret? Hackers employ many methods to redirect your browser to their malicious mirror site. One way they use this is to alter your computer's IP settings. This is the digital equivalent of a phone directory, as it instructs your computer on how to reach a specified URL. The bad guys can manipulate these options to redirect you to a fake website whenever you try to access a legitimate one. They can also do it by finding and fixing bugs in the website's live code. They may insert code or invisibly divert your traffic to the phony site. How, then, can you guard yourself against such cunning foes? If you want to protect yourself online, you can use a secure link. If your web traffic is encrypted with a "secure sockets layer" (SSL) link, as indicated by a small padlock icon in your browser's address bar, your connection is safe from prying eyes. You can take additional precautions when entering personal information online, such as a credit card number or password. A business logo or contact information indicates you are on a genuine website. Also, contact the corresponding business if you need clarification about whether you are on the correct site. Pharming is a devious form of hacking in which hackers trick you into visiting a fake website by making it appear natural. Using various tools and techniques to mislead your computer, they can steal your confidential information. Use a secure connection, exercise extreme caution whenever entering personal information online, and verify to see if you're actually on the intended site.

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Related Terms by Cyber Security

Cellular Automaton (CA)

Cellular automatons are not entirely cellular, quiet, and wholly atomic. They are the best of all worlds when you take the three fields mentioned above, study and play with them as any good scientist would. A cellular automaton (CA) is a system of many cells linked together using those cells' specific order and states. The goal is to change how each cell is ordered through repeated steps in an algorithm. The rules determine how cells change conditions over time. This happens multiple times until the CA stops changing and has reached an end state. Cellular automatons are many mathematical models studied in physics, computer science, social sciences, and other fields. Many natural phenomena, such as snowflakes, tree growth, and fire, inspire them. Cellular automatons are of interest for many reasons. One of them is that they are a non-linear model of physical phenomena. Given the same initial conditions, their outcomes may differ depending on the ruleset, much like non-linear differential equations. Another reason is that their rule sets are often simple enough to be implemented in a computer, allowing in-silico experimentation. Finally, some cellular automatons are used in modeling social and technological phenomena. If the number of ON neighbors exceeds the number of ones, the cell changes its state to ON; if the numbers are reversed, it changes its state to OFF. These rules are self-executing and do not require any external input. Depending on the number and placement of cells, it is possible to construct a variety of interesting CA with various properties and behaviors. The most common rule for a one-dimensional grid is for updating each site (i.e., each grid cell) independently, based on the values of its current neighbors. Cellular Automaton is exciting and intriguing. They're easy to understand but hard to predict. You'll need to sit down with a cup of coffee and think deeply about how they work to start seeing their beauty. Primarily though, they're fun.

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Cipher Block Chaining (CBC)

Are you prepared to "chain" yourself to the subject of Cipher Block Chaining (CBC)? It's a method of encrypting information that's used to help keep data safe, and despite how dull it may sound, it's pretty fascinating! CBC, or "block chaining," is a method for encrypting data. This method gets its name because it operates by first dividing the data into blocks and then chaining them together. The output of one block is used as the input for the subsequent block, meaning each block must be encrypted using a unique secret key. Because of this, it is significantly more difficult for potential attackers to decode the data since they would need to crack the encryption for each block in the chain. The CBC algorithm needs to be foolproof, as it has weaknesses that can be exploited by malicious actors, such as when they use padding attacks or other similar techniques. But in general, it is a reliable method for encrypting data. It is used extensively in various contexts, including SSL/TLS protocols, virtual private networks (VPNs), and disc encryption. You may be questioning why we must use encryption in the first place. Consider all the sensitive information, like credit card numbers, login credentials, personal messages, and more, that we send and receive over the internet. If someone with bad intentions were to obtain access to such information, they could put it to any number of unethical uses if they so chose. Even if unauthorized parties receive our data, encryption can ensure that it will remain secure and confidential. Cipher Block Chaining may not be the most exciting topic, but it is crucial for everyone who cares about security and privacy. That is all there is to it, folks; I hope you found this information useful. #CBC #Encryption #Cybersecurity #DataPrivacy #SSL #TLS #VPN #DiskEncryption

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Carrier IQ

If your phone company knows more about you than you do, it's probably Carrier IQ. Carrier IQ is a company that provides analytics software to various telecom providers. They've developed programs that offer information about smartphone users to cellphone carriers, like what apps they use, how often they use them, how long they spend on them, and even where the user is using them. The problem with this is that there needs to be a way for an average user to know whether or not her carrier has installed these programs on her phone. Even if she knows that her page uses the Carrier IQ program, she cannot opt out of it or stop it from collecting data about her activities and movements. The fact that this kind of information is being collected without our knowledge or consent raises serious privacy concerns—yet we have no say in whether or not our carriers can do this. Privacy advocates are up in arms over the Carrier IQ scandal, which involves a company collecting performance data on smartphone users. Carrier IQ gathers performance data, tracking and logging what users do on their phones. This can include calls made, texts sent, and emails received. While this is not necessarily an invasion of privacy in terms of content (e.g., Carrier IQ does not have access to the actual content of phone calls), it does present a risk to user privacy because it allows third parties access to information about whom you called or texted, whether you're using your phone to browse the web or send emails, etc. The issue came to light when reports revealed that Carrier IQ had collected information about users' phone activity without their knowledge or consent. It was reported that some phones were even sending data from users' text messages directly to Carrier IQ without permission from the device's owner!

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Trending Definitions

Tight Coupling

Now, picture yourself in the company of two best friends. They share a mutual interest in everything, go to the exact locations, and do everything together. You could say they are a "Tight coupling" group of pals. The same term is used to characterize the true interdependence of hardware and software in the computing world. As to how closely they interact, the whole system could collapse if any of them were to fail. Tight coupling is like a game of Jenga. The one where you build a tower out of wooden blocks and then attempt to take them out one by one without the tower falling over? If you remove one piece of a weakly coupled system, the others won't suffer too much. However, if you remove one block from a closely related technique, the whole structure could collapse. Let's get into the nitty-gritty details now. Tight coupling in computing describes the degree to which two or more examples of computing are intertwined within a single system. It can occur in the hardware, the program, or both. A software program is likely tightly coupled to hardware if it depends significantly on a single component, such as a graphics card. The software may stop functioning correctly after an upgrade or hardware change. Tight coupling is also prevalent in distributed systems, where multiple computers collaborate to complete tasks. Close interdependence between nodes is a hallmark of a dispersed system. As a result, the entire system could be negatively impacted by the failure or slowdown of a single machine. For what reasons, then, does Tight coupling create difficulties? One problem is that it can make systems less adaptable and more challenging to update or modify. Swapping out one without impacting the other can be challenging when two parts are interdependent. Since a problem in one part of a system can rapidly spread to others, making the whole thing more vulnerable to breakdowns and mistakes. There are also cases where a close connection is required or preferred. For instance, in time-sensitive systems like real-time systems, the tight coupling can guarantee that no parts interfere with one another. By lowering the burden of component-to-component communication and coordination, performance and productivity can be boosted. In conclusion, the word "tight coupling" is used in computing to characterize the interdependence of hardware and software. It has its uses, but it also has the potential to reduce system adaptability and increase the likelihood of failing in other contexts. That's why shooting for weaker coupling between components is generally recommended if you want to create a stable and flexible system.

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Superuser

There's no better way to get the most out of your device than to become a superuser! With this power, you'll be able to change the color of your screen to make it look like you're underwater or even use the device as a remote control for your TV. However, superusers can access all the system files and resources on their devices. They can install any app without permission or through an app store. They can also see all of the data that apps store on your phone, so if you ever wanted to find out what information apps have been collecting about you, this is where you would look. If you're a superuser, you're the boss. The root of all that is good and bad in the world. The master of your domain. The king, queen, or emperor of your little kingdom you are at the top of the heap, and everyone else has to follow your rules. The term "superuser" comes from Unix/Linux systems and refers to an account with all permissions over an operating system or application. In other words, it's a user account with full administrative access to everything on that computer or device. Nowadays, most people don't have superuser access to their phones. Instead, they have regular user accounts that can only do so much with their devices before being stuck in frustrating loops where apps won't let them do what they want because OS restrictions lock down those apps. Rooting is a way of gaining superuser access on Android devices so that you can then make changes like installing custom ROMs (operating systems), installing apps from outside the Google Play Store (which can be helpful but also dangerous if done improperly), changing default settings like screen brightness or battery life optimization levels (which might help extend battery life but also cause issues later on), etc. In essence, it's like a bouncer at the door: You must tell him who you are before he lets you into the club.

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Write Cycle

You know that feeling when you write on a piece of paper with a pencil, and it starts to look like there's some weird pattern forming? You look at it closer, and then it occurs that you've repeatedly written on the same spot. That happens when you use a solid-state drive (SSD) or any flash-based storage device. The write cycle measures endurance or life for an SSD and most flash-based storage devices. It encompasses the process of writing and erasing data in a multi-level cell (MLC) NAND chip, eventually degrading the chip to the point of failure. It can be thought of as an eraser on a pencil slowly wearing away until it can no longer erase. The most common way SSDs fail is through a write error when writing data to an MLC NAND chip. Too many writers happen quickly, causing the chip to become unreliable or "bricked" to help prevent this from occurring. Many manufacturers employ wear leveling schemes that spread out the writes across all available blocks in multiple chips. But even with this technique in place, it's essential to keep an eye on how much data has been written over time so you can determine if it's time to replace your SSD before it fails! In the past. when you needed to store many data on a single device, you'd probably go for an HDD. Times have changed. Nowadays, SSDs are the way to go. And if you want your SSD to last longer and perform better, you should choose one that's been programmed with an intelligent flash controller management system. That's because these systems help minimize the number of write cycles consumed by your SSD. For example, they might delay writing data by adding buffers or spreading the load across the entire device rather than writing and erasing it in the exact location. These features aren't just great for prolonging the life of your storage solution; they also improve its overall performance!

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