Guest post by Brandon Mitchell, a student in Professor Lynn Heinrichs’ information security class.

 What is malware?

We may have all heard the term malware before, but it is not for sure that everybody knows exactly what it is.  Malware is malicious software used to attack or gain access to computer systems without the knowledge of the user.  In minor cases, malware may not have a big effect on one’s computer but it can also do major damage in serious cases such as crashing the entire system! This is scary to think about with all of the information that is held on our tablets, laptops, and even cell phones. Continue reading »

Share on Tumblr

Guest post by Frederic Tully, a student in Professor Lynn Heinrichs’ information security class.

Despite the belief that cloud storage platforms such as Dropbox are secure, when using these servers you could be putting your data at risk. When thinking about information security, Dropbox poses many risks or potential threats. In the past Dropbox has had several security breaches in which personal information was compromised or made available by hackers. One of the security risks of Dropbox is that anyone who has access to certain files can also share them, which becomes an even bigger issue because of the fact that Dropbox does not encrypt any of their files. Users are advised to encrypt their own files, which is very time consuming.  If you are an avid Dropbox user there are some ways you can prevent security threats.

Continue reading »

Share on Tumblr