Catastrophic Cyberattack Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Catastrophic Cyberattack - Essay Example A cyber attack has been defined as a computer-to-computer attack that undermines the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of a computer or information resident in it (O’Shea, 2003). Cyber attacks involve virus and worm attacks delivered through vulnerable exploit engines, denial-of-service attacks (DoS), web defacements of informational sites, and unauthorized intrusions into systems (Colarik, 2006, p. 84). According to the CSI/FBI 2005 Computer Crime and Security Survey, rate of losses from attacks are: viruses (33%), unauthorized access (24%), theft of proprietary information (24%), DoS (6%), net abuse (5%), laptop theft (3%), and financial fraud (2%) (Colarik, 2006, p. 83). But for a cyber attack to be successful, phases of attack must also be successful. The five phases of cyber attacks are reconnaissance, penetration, identifying and expanding internal capabilities, intruder damages the system, and removal of evidence of penetration or theft (Colarik, 2006, p. 83). Cyber attack penetrates the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system of a water supply system and poses detrimental effect over the system. Cyber Attack on a Water Supply System During the late 1990s, medium to large water utilities integrated IT and SCADA system.