Technology advancement comes with highs and lows. At one point it provides solutions, and at the other, it exposes risks of cybersecurity threats, particularly cybersecurity threats and solutions. Cyberspace attacks continue to expand and progress into worse threats. In one way or another, cyber-attacks have grown more sophisticated and unique. It targets organizations and individuals.
So, what should you do to counter the worsening digital threats, including cybersecurity threats and solutions? The following list enlists eight common attacks with the preferable preventions. Some attacks probe its hit through network servers that cause harm using several possible paths. It can be as simple as a password breach, web or email attack, or third-party exposure. Here are the tips for you.
Types Of Cybercrime Threats And Its Preventions
1. Weak Passwords Breach
It sounds like a fundamental mistake, but a weak password can be the root of any cybercrime or attack. Weak passwords in a business or organization have a bigger vulnerability to cyberattacks because hackers can crack them down, specifically if the organization is using cloud-based services or an online connection.
The weak protection will leave an open portal that cybercriminals can easily exploit. The simplest example is a social media password. As for now, there are a lot of hackers that try to pry open individual accounts for bad causes. On a bigger scale; like an organization, a weak password for their cloud services, email, or other applications will be more vulnerable.
In this case, companies that use cloud-based services mostly make mistakes by saving their sensitive proprietary data and financial information. It should be private to the management staff only. Solving this problem is not that hard. You should give good training to employees or staff to create a strong password.
Make a policy to discourage weak passwords. If it is hard to maintain the varying long passwords, you can also use a password management application. The program or application will manage the password stored with encryption. Only people who have the master key can decrypt the encryption and read it.
2. Ransomware Attack
The popular cybercriminals method is Ransomware. It is a common issue that attacks businesses due to the potential financial gain hackers may receive. If you are not familiar with ransomware, you can say that it is malicious software designed to block access or encrypt data of victim’s files or computer systems.
Most of the time, hackers will ask for ransom from the victims to be paid before being given access. Recently, ransom attacks have been pretty high and can disrupt anyone from organizations, to government, to individuals. This threat can lead to data loss, financial loss, or ransom payment. To make it worse, hackers are getting smarter with ransomware.
Ransomware prevention can be a bit challenging, but not impossible. In this case, several steps or best practices are needed. You can prevent the attack or any data loss with regular data backup. Thus, if ransomware appears you can still access important data on your backup drive.
Another good prevention method is to implement endpoint protection. Most ransomware attacks computers and mobile devices. So, you can include antivirus software and threat detection which help prevent any ransomware from gaining a foothold. Enable firewalls to add another layer of barriers between the network and potential threats.
Put filters on your email and web access. You may also need to segment a network into isolated zones to limit ransomware. How so? In an organization, this segment helps prevent ransomware from spreading to other data segments. Stay informed with the latest ransomware tactics and situations and conduct regular cybersecurity audits.
3. Malware Infections
Malicious software or malicious code is similar to ransomware, but the main difference is the effect. Malware can compromise data confidentiality, availability, and integrity. It is a virus that runs secretly and affects almost everything, including applications, data, and operating systems. In one way, this virus can cause widespread damage and disruption.
Malware can come from external sources, such as external storage or the internet. Another worth mentioning capability is spyware, a type of malware to violates privacy. Spyware invades systems to track personal information and activities. Spyware can also be used to conduct financial fraud. These issues are pretty common in organizations or individuals.
Your best practice to prevent a cyber attack is pretty simple. You can start by scanning all of the file attachments from emails. Do similar things to any data in local drives or removable media. Pay more attention to the file extension. Don’t allow or download files with .exe extensions by email, as they can turn into fake applications.
Most of the malware comes from external sources, which is why you should restrict removable media such as flash drives or CDs, especially on a high-risk system. Update your system and antivirus. Also, limit access to those with administrator-level privileges.
4. Spam & Phishing Emails
Another surprisingly common crime that many people have fallen into is spamming and Phishing. Spam can appear as unwanted, undesirable, and unsolicited messages or emails. You can delete spam, but bad people can use Spam to pretend to be an official representative and send you warning emails dozens of times.
The only way to avoid spam is to ignore or understand the real official number so you won’t get captivated by stupid scams. If spam sends you unwanted chats, phishing works secretly. Phishing is a form of social engineering that includes attempts to get sensitive data or information from people.
But most people fall into it due to the façade it uses. Phishing can appear as a website that demands data or information input. All the details you put into the website will be used by the criminal to steal or pretend to be you. What website? It can be anything from a fake website, email address, or a tempting offer over the internet.
In this case, be aware of fake or suspicious websites. Don’t just enter any information into certain websites with interesting features, such as signing up for members or similar things. The best practice is to familiarize yourself with new schemes of phishing or spam. Avoid unsolicited emails or calls, and be aware of your information.
5. Potential Cloud Vulnerabilities
Cloud services providers (CSPs) are one of the greatest investments in business, but at the same time, they are also prone to cybercrime. Is it wrong to use cloud services? No, it is not wrong. But you have to enhance its security before it is breached by hackers. In this case, many providers will offer different types of security infrastructure that you can invest in throughout collaboration.
For example, the security infrastructure, encryption, DDoS or Distributed denial of services protections, compliance certifications, vulnerability scanning, identity management, and many more. Consider better security of Cloud services for your business and needs. Another good option for security for CSPs is automation and machine learning.
Be more aware that automation and machine learning can help detect cyber-attacks and threats. They may also provide customers with tools to secure the cloud environment. However, it can be a pricey option for the features. Using the cloud is already a good point as it is generally more secure than the on-premises system.
But again, there is no perfect system that is 100% immune to any cyber risk. Even expensive or high-end cloud services can be breached by hackers. Due to its nature to work under internet connections, a small gap of vulnerability can lead to many risks. Take examples of Insecure application programming interfaces or APIs and data storage.
Account hijacking, data leak, or scam provider can turn into a whopping problematic system. That is why you should conduct a thorough cloud provider assessment. Use identity and access management systems to control and manage your user access. Delivering Security patches and creating data backup should be used as prevention.
6. Risky Third Party Exposure
The idea of third-party exposure comes from the fact that a lot of cybersecurity breaches are done by the people themselves. Who? They can be employees, external vendors, partners, contractors, suppliers, or anyone who has access to your business system. It does not have to be the main system, but small leaks can turn into a cyber disaster.
There are a lot of risks coming from third parties today, but there are also a lot of ways to mitigate the risk. In this case, assess your business and connection to third parties. It can be your assembly with a vendor or provider. It will help you identify potential security associated with your third parties, including partnerships with other parties.
After that, highlight the security requirements in contracts, such as the SLAs or services level agreements. Thus, any situation leading to data leaks or information breaches can go back to the contracts. You can specify who is responsible for what aspects of the security of your business and how the risks or issues are addressed in the future.
Don’t forget to have incident response plans for your business. It is an important cybersecurity measurement to dictate how your company or third-party vendor will respond to a security incident. To make it clear, you can state the process of identifying, containing, mitigating, and recovering from breaches. So, no one is running away from their responsibilities.
7. New AI Enabled Cyberattacks
Along with the use of automatic features in the cloud, you can also find AI or Artificial Intelligence. It is a good invention. But it can turn into a cyber disaster when not properly used. In this case, be aware of AI-enabled Cyberattacks. It is one of the currently developing issues that use AI and Machine learning (ML) capabilities for bad things.
Hackers use AI and ML to help plan or scale their actions. The cyberattack uses advanced algorithms to find out any possible vulnerabilities, make an attack, and adapt to the security in real time. These actions make it harder to detect compared to traditional cybercrimes, especially with the lack of human touch.
The current examples of this problem are deepfake technology and AI-generating images. People can pretend to be you to gain access to certain data. Some social engineering, malware creation, personalized phishing, sending ransomware, and hacking using AI. However, you can also defend your system with several options.
In this case, keep on implementing security assessments to determine the new risks of cybercrime. At the same time, develop a robust and updated response plan for new sophisticated cyberattacks. Another good measure is to use AI to fight AI. Use an AI-powered security system to automate response to any threats at any time.
8. Bad Social Engineering
Not all cyberattacks are done with applications, software, coding, or AI. Sometimes, the easiest way is social manipulation or social engineering. This threat focuses on extracting information from people by exploiting psychology and reading the response. Criminals can manipulate human psychology to encourage doing something unthinkable.
In the case of cybercrime, the victims might have to share confidential information which later leads to stealing login credentials, banking details, or passwords. How do they do it? Suspects can impersonate bank representatives to trick victims into transferring money or giving access to their bank accounts.
This social attack can be a hard challenge as the victims are mostly individuals. That is why, good training to understand potential scams is needed. Teach your employee or yourself to be cautious of irrational requests, suspicious emails, chats, or calls. Then, you can layer security with strong passwords and robust policies.
It is always best to give proper training to your employees to familiarize them with any risks or scams. After that, develop multilayer approaches to enhance security. You can combine technology solutions, policies, and user awareness training. Don’t forget to have solid teamwork to avoid and stop issues immediately.
It is best to say that cybercriminals are getting smarter every time. Hence, use more advanced technology in cybersecurity to counter any threats. As technology keeps on growing, start with basic preventions before investing in the stronger ones. Use an antivirus, and anti-malware, and update your software or hardware to keep everything clean!
