Day 1
Today, I learned about hacking. Hacking allows people to retrieve and get information that they want to their advantage. Hacking may always seem like a bad thing, but some organizations use them for good. There are three types of hackers: White Hats, which are hackers that protect and benefit people’s lives, Grey Hats, which are strictly in middle between justice and evil, and Black Hats, which commit malicious activity with hacking. I also learned that there is a website called “haveibeenpwned.com” which benefits people in protecting their accounts on other websites, and alerts them if they have been hacked. It’s important to protect vital information because it is very sensitive and hackers can always try to find a way to compromise people.
Day 2
Today, I learn about software. I think software is cool because it basically personalizes the computer. The apps and gadgets are interesting ways to make things easier and faster, and it is cool how there are multiple ways to get to where you need to go on the computer, using software. I learned about the features of the different operating systems. I also learned that the troubleshooting theory is important to the cyber world because it gives insight to people about their technological problems. Finally, I learned about how Solid State Drives are better than magnetic drives because magnetic drives have moving parts whereas SSDs do not. Thus, learning about software was cool and I hope to learn more about it in my future.
Day 3
Today, I learned about hardware. Hardware is the physical, tangible components of the computer. Things like the monitor, keyboard, mouse, or the motherboard are examples of hardware. I learned that the motherboard is the main board that holds tiny and even large components that the computer needs. I learned that the Basic Input Output System (BIOS) is the chip that tells the motherboard what to do and how to function, and the CMOS batter keeps the BIOS from losing power. The Central Processing Unit (CPU) is basically like the brain, and it does the calculations for the computer. The Input Output control is done by what’s called the South Bridge, which handles how things go in and out. The North Bridge is the memory control. I learned that Read Only Memory (ROM) is high speed memory that’s not capable of being altered by other programs. Random Access memory is a type of data storage for computers, and a specific type of one is called Dual Inline Memory Module. RAM is temporary memory. Finally the Expansion card makes your compute function faster. In my opinion, Hardware is too much to remember because there are too many parts to know, but if I did more hands on hand activity with the components, I would be a hardware pro.
Day 4
Today, I learned about Social Engineering. Social Engineering is the art of social trickery. Hackers and adversary use social tactics trick people into giving up their assets to them, such as money, credit card numbers, or even social security numbers. Types of Social engineering include Phishing, Spear phishing, whaling, “Vishing”, “scareware”, and hoaxing. I learned that Phishing is when hackers use emails to trick people by making the words convincing, in hopes to get people to click on fraudulent links which can bring viruses and other types of malware on the computer. Spear Phishing is phishing that is directed to a specific person or group. Whaling is phishing towards a CEO or Executive of a corporation. Vishing is phishing by voices, and usually Vishing is more convincing because psychologically, people find voices more believable. Scareware is malicious software that creates sounds, words, and images that attempt to scare people out of their money or other things. Finally, hoaxing is when hackers use lies based on facts and media in order to convince people that things are real just to cheat them out of money, or include links that people will click in order to get a virus.