When a computer is the object of an attack, it is the entity being attacked. There are two types of attacks: direct attacks and indirect attacks.
A direct attack is when a hacker uses his personal computer to break into a system. A direct attack would take the form of hacking into computer system and rewriting or stealing information. Some recent examples have that hackers operate for political purposes.
Direct attacks originate from the threat itself. Indirect attacks originate from a system or resource that itself has been attacked and is malfunctioning or working under the control of a threat.
A computer can, therefore, be both the subject and object of an attack when, for example, it is first the object of an attack and then compromised and used to attack another systems, at which point it becomes the subject of an attack.
The target of an attack is always the protected information. An object of direct attack is the object whose analysis or usage will allow successful unauthorized access to protected information.
Direct Attack of computer
