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The evolution of the Internet and digital technology has revolutionized contemporary business operations. Nevertheless, along with the expanded opportunities, there were also heightened risks. Organizations are frequently in the news due to cybersecurity breaches.

Threats to networks, equipment, business processes, and data result in billions of dollars in losses and missed opportunities annually. Businesses must prioritize investing in cybersecurity measures to protect against threats.

Presented are the top 10 prevalent and costly cybersecurity threats in today’s landscape, along with effective prevention measures for organizations to implement.

Phishing

Phishing is a type of cyberattack that involves tricking individuals into providing sensitive information, such as passwords or credit card numbers.

Phishing poses a significant cyber threat due to its ability to be both high-tech and low-tech. During these attacks, criminals pretend to be legitimate entities in order to take advantage of users’ trust, curiosity, greed, or kindness. Fraudulent emails are used to trick individuals into sharing sensitive information like passwords, social security numbers, or bank account details.

Here are some of the most common techniques cybercriminals use to execute phishing scams:

• Customized messages are utilized to target individuals in specific organizations or individually.
• Pretexting involves fabricating believable situations to manipulate the target into revealing confidential information.
• Be cautious of mortgage scams. Committing fraud by using stolen identities or falsified income and asset information
• Explaining the act of baiting, which involves offering enticing rewards to trick individuals into sharing confidential information
• Pharming involves redirecting website visitors to fraudulent websites that seem authentic in order to steal sensitive personal information.
• Whaling refers to phishing attacks that specifically target senior leadership or high-profile employees within an organization, such as the Chief Executive Officer or Chief Finance Officer.

Cybercriminals who engage in phishing are highly skilled and adept at persuading individuals. To prevent such threats, it is essential for an organization to train its employees on recognizing these attempts and to acquire email filtering tools to spot fake websites and emails. To reduce the risk of attacks, it’s important to set up multi-factor authentication for all accounts and consistently update software with the newest patches and updates.

Other forms of phishing include vishing, which is done through phone calls, and smishing, which is done through text messages.

Understanding Social Engineering

Social engineering attacks have been responsible for some of the most expensive cyber threats in history. These attacks occur when criminals manipulate human behavior instead of technical weaknesses to deceive individuals into sharing sensitive information or granting access to data, networks, and systems. There are various forms of social engineering attacks, including phishing, baiting, and quid pro quo.

Here are steps organizations can take to protect themselves from social engineering threats:

• Discovering the most recent types of social engineering attacks and educating staff on how to recognize their indicators
• Limiting access to sensitive systems and information and consistently reviewing permissions
• Employing email filters, firewalls, and anti-malware tools to detect and prevent harmful emails and attachments
• Conducting routine security audits and vulnerability assessments to identify and address any possible security vulnerabilities within the organization
• Utilizing data loss prevention tools to prevent unauthorized disclosure of data

Taking these proactive measures can significantly enhance an organization’s ability to protect itself from social engineering cyber threats and secure its valuable systems, data, and resources.

Malicious software

Malware is a term derived from combining “malicious software.” These computer programs are specifically created to harm computer systems, networks, or devices, as the name suggests. There is a wide range of malware, varying from harmless pranks to highly sophisticated programs that can completely disable a computer system.

Here are some of the most common types of malware:

• Computer viruses are malicious software programs that can infect your computer and cause harm by corrupting files, stealing personal information, or disrupting system operations.
• Rootkits
• Trojans
• Worms
• Bots and botnets
• Malware that operates without leaving a trace on the system
• Malicious software
• Adware is a type of software that displays advertisements on a user’s device.

To effectively safeguard against malware, it is crucial to utilize current antivirus and antimalware software. Firewalls are essential for controlling access to sensitive systems and data, providing an additional defense against malware. It is important for computer users to be careful when clicking on links in emails and downloading email attachments.

Having a cybersecurity expert conduct a vulnerability assessment on systems and networks can assist organizations in identifying vulnerabilities that malware can exploit.

Ransomware

Ransomware attacks targeting organizations have become increasingly common, leading to a significant rise in awareness about this malicious software. This malicious software encrypts files on a computer and requires payment to unlock them. It is not recommended for organizations to pay the ransom as there is no assurance that the criminals will actually release the files.

Ransomware attacks are extremely damaging to organizations that heavily depend on data for their operations and cannot tolerate any interruptions.

Below are steps that an organization can implement to safeguard against ransomware attacks:

• Make sure to consistently back up crucial data to either an offline or remote system
• Make sure to keep administrative (privileged) accounts separate from regular (non-privileged) accounts.
• Ensure you have robust and current anti-malware and anti-virus software installed.
• Limit access to important information and programs
• Teach employees how to recognize suspicious phishing emails and promote safe computing practices

Ransomware continues to pose a significant threat to organizations in the present day due to its high profitability for criminals.

Zero-Day Vulnerabilities

Zero-day vulnerabilities are undiscovered security flaws in a computer system that attackers can exploit. Although it is rare for software programs to contain significant security vulnerabilities, when they do, criminals may create tools to take advantage of them. Zero-day vulnerabilities pose a significant threat by enabling unauthorized access to computer systems, networks, or sensitive data without being detected.

Here are some important steps to safeguard against zero-day vulnerabilities:

• Ensure that their software is always updated with the latest patches
• Utilize behavior-based intrusion prevention systems along with threat intelligence to identify and prevent unknown attackers.
• Utilize sandboxing technology to isolate and analyze potential threats
• Make sure to set up access controls for sensitive data, systems, and networks.

Cybercriminals regularly find and exploit zero-day vulnerabilities. Staying aware and up-to-date on the latest security measures is crucial for protecting against potential threats.

Threats from within an organization

Individuals who have access to a computer system or network, such as employees, contractors, and other personnel, can potentially inflict significant damage on an organization. Various threats can occur either by accident or on purpose, manifesting in a range of forms, such as system damage or data breaches. This threat is considered highly dangerous due to its unpredictable and hard-to-detect nature.

Here are steps an organization can take to protect against insider threats:

• Set up access controls for sensitive systems and data
• Focus on fostering a positive company culture to prevent insider threats from unhappy employees
• Keep track of user activity by carefully examining system and user logs
• Implementing data loss prevention (DLP) systems can help reduce the impact of insider threats.
• Perform background checks on employees and contractors who have access to systems
• Create an incident response plan to reduce the effects of possible attacks

Security Breach

When an attacker gains access to a target’s system through a third-party supplier or vendor, it is known as a supply chain attack. Various types of attacks can occur, such as malware infections, data breaches, phishing, and man-in-the-middle attacks. Typically, attackers will initially focus on a vendor or supplier who has direct access to the organization’s systems in order to carry out the complete attack.

For protection against supply chain attacks, an organization should:

• Perform a thorough investigation of third-party vendors and contractors, including their cybersecurity protocols
• Set up a security system for managing your supply chain
• Keep track of all vendor activities on their system
• Establishing security standards that all vendors are required to meet
• Teach staff and employees about the significance of data security
• Implementing an incident response plan can help reduce the impact of supply chain attacks.

Service Denial (DoS)

Denial of Service, also known as DoS, is a cyber threat that aims to flood an organization’s systems, website, or network with requests to disrupt their normal functioning. This makes the system or network unavailable to authorized users. Various forms of attacks can occur, such as overwhelming the system with requests or taking advantage of weaknesses in the system.

Denial-of-service attacks can cause significant harm to organizations, such as damage to reputation, financial losses, and potential legal issues. Denial-of-service attacks can sometimes be used as distractions to conceal more serious attacks, like data theft. 

Protecting an organization from denial of service attacks involves implementing the following measures:

• Installing network security measures like intrusion detection and prevention systems
• Make sure to set up a web application firewall that can carefully examine incoming requests
• Ensure all critical systems have redundancy in place
• Establish and regularly test backup and recovery strategies for essential systems

DDoS Attack

When a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack occurs, multiple computers or systems are used to flood the target system, causing it to become overwhelmed. During a DDoS attack, cybercriminals typically infect numerous computers with malware to create botnets for their malicious activities.

Preventing or mitigating DDoS attacks can be challenging due to their diverse origins. 

Here are steps an organization can take to reduce these risks:

• Make sure to put in place network security controls
• Utilize cloud-based content delivery networks (CDNs)
• We will be implementing DDoS mitigation services.
• Implement rate limiting to assess and pinpoint possible vulnerabilities in the system or network that malicious actors may take advantage of
• Enhancing network traffic bandwidth to reduce the effects of DDoS attacks
• Unauthorized Access Detected
• Unauthorized access to a computer system or network is known as a system intrusion. If unauthorized individuals gain access, they can potentially steal data, harm the system, or create a backdoor for subsequent attacks. To prevent or reduce the impact of a system intrusion, an organization should focus on implementing robust system and network access controls.
• Making sure that all software and systems are current
• It is important to conduct vulnerability assessments on a regular basis.
• Implementing network segmentation to reduce the effects of intrusions
• Keeping a close eye on network, system, and user logs
• Teaching employees the most effective cybersecurity practices to avoid social engineering attacks

Special Recognition: Man in the Middle (MitM)

When a man in the middle cyber threat occurs, an attacker utilizes specific tools to intercept communication between two parties. These could involve conversations via chat or email exchanges between two individuals, or information shared between a user and a website server. When an attacker eavesdrops on communication, they aim to intercept and potentially manipulate the exchanged information, often targeting sensitive data like passwords and financial details.

Here’s how users can safeguard themselves from Man-in-the-Middle attacks:

• Utilizing encryption methods to safeguard messages and data transmitted across networks
• Ensuring digital certificates are valid for secure communication with the intended recipient
• It’s important to be vigilant when using public Wi-Fi or when dealing with phishing attacks.
• Utilizing VPNs and data tunnels for safeguarding data transmission

Today, organizations encounter a variety of cyber security threats. There are ways to potentially reduce threats and safeguard computer systems, networks, and data. To safeguard an organization from various threats, consider enlisting the services of a cybersecurity expert like TN Computer Medics. Get in touch with us now to address your cybersecurity requirements.