Cloud

5 Cyber Threats You Can't Afford to Ignore

Is your business digitally transformed? Be aware of these cyber threats that exist on the online world. These emerging cyber threats may affect your business.

The work from home set up puts a sudden yet necessary pressure to enforce new strategies in place for workplace cybersecurity. Although a work from home setup has worked for many remote teams in the past, those new to this new normal are prone to many types of cybersecurity threats.

Remote work created a new set of challenges that pose imminent threats of a costly data breach. But before making new measures, companies must know what they are up against to prevent them.

What Is A Cyber Attack?

Cyber attacks are simple; the goal is to infiltrate a network or a computer to obtain data, expose, alter, disable, destroy, or cause disruptions that benefits the attacker, most often for financial gains.

Most Common Types of Cyber Attacks

Cyber attacks come in different forms, and some happen so subtly. Some of the massive data breaches that ever happened were never noticed until months after, as with the case of the Deloitte Data Breach in 2017, with the attack only discovered four months after it has been launched.

To prevent data breach companies must first recognize 5 of the most common cyber attacks.

1. Phishing

Phishing attacks usually happen via email, but it can also work through instant messages and text messages. The goal of a phishing attack is to obtain personal information like passwords, login information, social security, bank information, and many others.

Most of these emails will look like they are from reputable sources, e.g. your bank telling you someone changed your email or personal information. They ask you to follow a link to update your information, open a document, or notify you that your password is about to expire in 24 hours.

Phishing emails are so cleverly made to look like they come from legitimate organizations. They then ask you to create a new password, view the file, or update your information through the link attached in the email, while they capture your information as you sign in or enter your information on the page.

How to Prevent Phishing:

Google blocked around 18 million daily malicious coronavirus-themed malware and phishing emails sent to Gmail users at the start of April, and the FBI has seen a 300% increase in cyber attacks at the onset of the coronavirus lockdown this year. Phishing is based on social engineering and using fear or emotions to cause people to provide their information.The biggest data breaches were a result of inside jobs.

2. Inside Jobs

Some of the massive data breaches in history didn't involve outside hackers; they involve employees. Some of these employees exact revenge by exposing valuable or private company information or spies who became employees to be able to have access to sensitive customer data like what happened at Twitter.

They can be making side-money through the data they gathered or to conduct espionage.

How to Prevent Inside Job Data Threats:

3. Malware

Malware or malicious software infiltrates a network through a dangerous link, email attachments, or downloadable files that install unsafe software.

There are different types of malware. Ransomware blocks access to the important components of the network, viruses install harmful software and disrupts or damages your computer system, and spyware obtains information and transmits data from the hard drive.

Ransomware is one of the most common types of malware. The hacker uses a virus to block the user from accessing their files and will demand them to pay the ransom so they can put things back to normal again.

How to Prevent Malware Infection:

Although your company may have been using cloud services to handle vital information, systems, or programs, cloud security threats are still imminent, and mismanagement can put your data at risk.

4. Denial-of-Service

DoS or DDoS is a type of attack that prevents the system from fulfilling legitimate requests. These kinds of attacks crash or flood systems, servers, or networks with the traffic they are unable to handle until they shut down and become inaccessible.

How to prevent DoS or DDoS attack:

DoS or DDoS attacks can adversely affect public trust in your company.

5. Botnets

A botnet is another type of malware infection. However, it is so widespread that the attacker can remotely control many devices in a network without the owners' knowledge. Botnets are used for bigger attacks like DoS and DDoS.

Botnets are a lso used to send email spam, generate fake web traffic, and coerce victims for money. And they are difficult to detect without the use of anti-virus computer tools. Although it’s a group issue, preventing the development of botnets in your company is an individual matter and must be acted the same way one deals with a malware infection.

How to Prevent Botnets Infection:

Conclusion

There are many other types of cybersecurity attacks that are not in this list, and every day, hackers create new kinds of attacks that are difficult to detect for the untrained eye. And that’s why it’s important to invest in a cybersecurity services provider for your company’s online security.

It’s also equally important to conduct regular cybersecurity training for your remote team and to hire the right people for the job to help your company efficiently apply the best workplace practices for your new normal work setup.

Codvo.ai helps businesses of all sizes create their own remote tech teams of exceptional Cloud, AI, Automation, and Security talent that fits their business culture and delivers their exact needs. If you want to hire the best people on board to help ensure your company is safe online, reach out to codvo.ai for a 2 week no-risk trial.

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