2 The lack of security

Without system security, what can possibly happen to a system?

Generally speaking, an insecure system can be compromised. After that, just about anything can happen. The following is not intended as a complete list of what can happen when a system is compromised.

• Backdoor: a backdoor is a mechanism by which a hacker can gain control over a compromised system. Such a compromised system is considered a part of a “botnet”. A “botnet” can be used for any activity that involves a lot of networked computers. Such activities include spamming, launching denial of service (DOS) attacks and cracking passwords and encrypted data.
• Data theft: data on the compromised system is acquired by a party who is not supposed to have access. For example, hacker may hack into an insecure eCommerce server and acquire credit card information of numerous clients.
• Infection: an infected system becomes an infector, and it can spread the infection to other systems.
• Data corruption: this is relatively rare. Sometimes, when a system is compromised, the stored data is systematically corrupted or erased.

You can see that when a system is compromised, the harm does not stop there. The compromised system can be used as a tool to adversely affect other systems. This also means that the exploit of vulnerabilities is a “positive feedback” system, where the end results feed back to cause more end results to occur.