Bangalore:  Cyber Threat is the possibility of a malicious attempt to damage or disrupt a computer network or system. Government agencies and public sector companies have been provided with information and guidance to help improve their cybersecurity efforts with a report issued this week by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

The security incidents in the federal agencies have increased considerably over the past few years and hence a community of help on the security front is needed as per a report by GAO.

Below is a list of some of the common and rare forms of security exploits that federal agencies and private organizations usually face. This list was given by the GAO its report that was issued this week.

Virus: A computer virus is a program or a piece of code that is loaded onto the computer without the users knowledge and wish, which can replicate on its own into a system, spread from one computer to another and also spread through emails, they are capable of destructing data on the computer and even erase everything on a HDD. All computer viruses are man-made.

Worm: A computer worm is a program that can execute and reproduce independently unlike viruses which require human involvement. They are self replicating and use network system to propagate. They travel across network to send copies of itself to other network or computer.

Trojan horse: Trojan horses are programs or applications that hide within  programs that seem to have certain harmless function but inadvertently opened they actually perform other, often malicious that invades security mechanism.

Cross-site scripting: Cross site scripting is also known as XSS. This happens when an attacker sends malicious scripts or links through third party web resources to run these scripts on the users web browser. The user/victim who intends to view secure webpages often ends up visting these malicious websites through which the attacker can steal content/data, cookies and other sensitive information retained by the browser.

Denial of Service (DoS): DoS is an attack wherein legitimate users and organizations are deprived of services and prevented from accessing networks and computer resources.

Distributed Denial of Service:  It is a variant of DoS wherein large number of compromised systems or multiple systems flood the resources to attack a single target.

Phishing: Phishing is an attempt to acquire information by sending out legitimate looking emails to the users requesting them to give user name, password and other related details.

SQL injection:  It is a security exploit and an attack technique  in which the Structured Query Language(SQL)  code is added to a web form input box to exploit recourses or gain access to sensitive information in a database.

Logic bomb: Logic bomb also known as lag code is a programming code inserted intentionally into a software system which gains entry into a computer to cause malicious function when certain conditions are met.

War driving: War driving is an attempt to map unsecured Wifi Wireless networks while driving through the city or a particular location using personal wireless equipped computer or PDA.

Zero-day exploit: As the name is self explanatory zero day exploit is nothing but exploiting or taking advantage of security vulnerability which becomes generally knows. The main point here is the security vulnerability is exploited on the same day when its discovered.

Passive wiretapping: At times passwords are transmitted in clear text across communication links tapping or monitoring of such data is known as passive wiretapping.