The mobile-driven world has made lives easier for people from all walks of life, but it has a flip side. The digital world is prone to cyberattacks—an attempt to get unauthorized access to your computers and networks with the intention of stealing your confidential data. Hijacking usernames and passwords are no longer challenging for tech-savvy attackers. Knowing the latest cyber practices and checking platforms, like Yourcybertips, regularly to keep up-to-date with the new cyber threats will help mitigate the risk to a great degree.
Here’s the list of the types of cyber threats you should know.
Deploying Malware
An attacker can trick you into downloading software or a malicious code file. Once you install it, the malware is launched on your system. As soon as it bypasses the security, the hacker will get access to your company’s sensitive database.
These can be categorized into trojans, spyware, keyloggers, ransomware, and viruses. In a ransomware attack, the hacker blocks access to specific components of your system and demands a ransom. Spyware tracks your activities and sends sensitive data to the hacker without your knowledge. A Trojan is malware hidden in a legitimate file or software. For instance, an antivirus program might look safe to download but can be infected with malware.
The best security practices for malware protection are a firewall, antivirus programs, two-factor authentication, and encryption. The firewall monitors incoming and outgoing traffic, blocking suspicious sites from accessing your system.
Phishing Attack
Another common type of cyber attack that’s increasingly becoming popular is a phishing attack. In phishing, an imposter can pretend to be a legitimate person sharing authentic information with you. For example, a text message from Netflix, Apple, or your bank might look authentic, but it could be an imposter trying to trick you into leaking your private information.
They might also convince you to click a malicious link to get a special offer or check the latest news. The only way to prevent such attacks is by confirming the message’s legitimacy with the company. You can collect their contact details from their website and double-check with their team before responding to the message.
Man-in-the-Middle Attack
There’s a reason cybersecurity advises against using public Wi-Fi and other unauthorized networks. Airport Wi-Fi, for instance, can be hacked easily. The hacker can eavesdrop on the devices connected to this Wi-Fi. Connecting to a public network carries a significant risk, primarily if you use it to log into your bank account or conduct other sensitive operations.
The line between the server and the client cuts off, and the data is transferred straight to the attacker. Encryption can mitigate the risk of MitM attacks, as the data transferred between two parties cannot be decoded by a third party, even if they gained access to your communication.
Denial-of-Service Attack
DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) is when an attacker uses one or multiple systems to send enormous traffic to a server to shut it down for good. This is fake traffic that overwhelms the server. The operations are either halted, or the network shuts down permanently.
Either way, these attacks are designed to compromise a server and stopping a business’ function. Running a traffic analysis can help you identify unauthorized and malicious traffic that might be sent to overwhelm your servers. A backup is highly advisable in case your network shuts down.
Insider Threat
An imposter isn’t always an outsider. An internal company member can also leak private data to an attacker due to greed or carelessness. These attacks are hard to detect and are pretty standard in small businesses where employees have access to nearly all significant accounts of the company.
To prevent these attacks, you must follow the least-privilege model. Hire an IT help desk team that handles account permissions and IT-related tasks. Limit your team’s access to your sensitive accounts and ensure that their access to your business is strictly according to their position.
Password Attacks
An attacker can trick users into revealing their passwords to their bank accounts, social media, and other sensitive accounts containing confidential information. They might guess password combinations using automated bots until they find the right combination. The attacker then tries this combination for different accounts, causing a security breach. You must use a different combination of passwords for different accounts to prevent password attacks.
