Question

Are cyberactivists cyber criminals? Why or why not? What are some of the security vulnerabilities of using WebApps? What are some of the benefits of addressing information security issues related to confidentiality, integrity, authenticity and anonymity in relation to threats and attacks? Why are they important?

Answer 1

The cyber activists group can not be generalised as cyber criminals. As long as the cyber activists work under the rules of law, they can not be declared as cyber criminals. Take for instance a country with dictatorial rule. The media there shows what the government wants to show. There could be some cyber activists who would bring out the facts that are legally available online but are not shown to the general people. These cyber activists don't break any law and hence, can't be cyber criminals. However, some cyber activists use various hacking methodologies to gain access to stuff that they legally aren't permitted to. These cyber activists are cyber criminals.

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There are three degrees of security vulnerabilities according to their magnitude :

i. First Degree Vulnerabilities :

1. No proper encryption to data

2. No proper protection

3. Knowingly using components that are vulnerable.

ii. Second Degree Vulnerabilities :

1. CSRF (cross site request forgery)

2. DoS attack (Denial of Service)

3. Directory Listing causes security problems as access to higher level files can be achieved through lower levels.

iii. Third Degree Vulnerabilities :

1. XSS (Cross - site scripting)

2. SSJI (Server Side Javascript Injection)

3. SQL injection

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Confidentiality : Confidentiality can also be translated to privacy. It is basically the set of rules that limit access to sensitive data available online. This can be done in multiple ways such as authorised access, end to end encryption, biometric verification etc.

Integrity : Integrity is the set of rules that ensure that data can not be changed while in transition and that unauthorised access over sensitive data is not allowed. It mains consistency, accuracy and trustworthiness of data.

Authenticity : The idea of authenticity is to provide integrity to data. It basically ensures that every bit that is transferred from sender is correctly received by receiver. It uses various techniques such as check sum, encrypted digital signatures, or hash methods.

Anonymity : Anonymity is a set of rules that ensure that any work done by a user on internet prevents transfer of his personal information to other users or third parties. There are many areas where it is beneficial such as online billing transactions i.e. using paypal , netbanking etc. It is also important for anonymous blogging websites and dating websites.