Attack

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What Does Attack Mean?

An attack is an information security threat that involves an attempt to obtain, alter, destroy, remove, implant or reveal information without authorized access or permission. It happens to both individuals and organizations. There are many different kinds of attacks, including but not limited to passive, active, targeted, clickjacking, brandjacking, botnet, phishing, spamming, inside and outside.

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Techopedia Explains Attack

An attack is one of the biggest security threats in information technology, and it comes in different forms. A passive attack is one that does not affect any system, although information is obtained. A good example of this is wiretapping. An active attack has the potential to cause major damage to an individual’s or organization’s resource because it attempts to alter system resources or affect how they work. A good example of this might be a virus or other type of malware.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.