A Brief History of Cybercrime and Cyberwarfare - The Technical and Social History of Software Engineering - page 403

they are submitted. But this same kind of corporate identity theft could potentially
take place in probably every state in the union.
Java Vulnerability Attacks
The Java programming language by Oracle is the most widely used programming
language on the planet, because it is used in millions of hardware devices. Java
is also used in major web browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer,
Opera, and Safari.
Unfortunately, Java has had a series of well-known and frequently exploited
security vulnerabilities. Earlier in 2012, about 600,000 Macintosh computers were
infected by the Flashback Trojan malware that entered via a Java flaw.
Web discussions of Java security flaws state that the very serious zero-day at-
tacks seem to have originated from China. There are far too many articles and
websites dealing with Java vulnerabilities to discuss. Readers are urged to do web
searches using phrases such as “Java security flaws” to find out more information.
Note
A zero-day attack is one that occurs on the same day that a security
flaw is first recognized and published. Zero-day attacks take place
before software security personnel can build countermeasures.
Keyboard Trackers
A Google search on the phrase “keyboard trackers” will turn up more than half
a dozen free or open-source tools that can be used to track keystrokes with or
without the knowledge of the person using the keyboard. What would these be
used for? Most of the web ads for these trackers use phrases such as “discreetly
monitor all keyboard activity . . .” Who on earth needs to discreetly monitor
someone else using a keyboard?
Some legitimate examples might be high-security government agencies or
companies with proprietary information to ensure that nothing is sent out without
permission. But the keystroke trackers themselves can dilute security.
If the keystroke tracker is secretly installed via a worm, Trojan, or virus, then it
can be used to find passwords, bank accounts, social security numbers, or any oth-
er confidential information that happens to be typed with the infected keyboard.
There are quite a few different kinds of keyboard trackers—too many for this
book to describe. Some are based on software and some are based on hardware.