10 Cyberattacks Your Business Should Defend Against

March 29th, 2018 by admin

Cyberattacks are a major security concern for any business that uses the Internet. Even if your company doesn't have a website, hackers can go after your email address and business service accounts.

Though they represent one of the more severe risks of a cyberattack, a data breach costs an enterprise $1.3 million and an SMB $117,000 on average.

Cyberattacks take many forms; your business should plan to protect itself from the following common types of cyberattacks:

1. Phishing: In phishing attacks, hackers impersonate a business in an email to persuade recipients to hand over personal information via a reply or to install malware. The email may also contain a fraudulent link to a fake version of a trusted website's login page. Whaling and spearphishing are specific types of phishing that refer to attacks that single out a specific person or group.
   
   
2. SQL Injection: SQL injection is a technique cybercriminals use to exploit database-entry forms on a website. Rather than inputting a name, password, address or other information, a hacker will instead enter a code command designed to damage your database. This is typically successful when the website doesn't properly sanitize and clean user-input data.
3. Cross-Site Scripting: XSS attacks occur when a hacker slips malicious code into your website or application. It's common for hackers to exploit advertisement networks and user-feedback fields to sneak code onto a business's public platform.
4. Man in the Middle: An MITM is similar to a phishing scam in that a hacker impersonates an endpoint in communication. For instance, the hacker might pose as a representative for your bank when communicating with you and pose as you when communicating with the bank — and obtain valuable information with this strategy. More sophisticated variations of this attack involve jumping into a legitimate conversation and impersonating a trusted individual.
5. Malware Attacks: Malware refers to malicious programs designed to infiltrate and disrupt user devices. Of all the different types of malware, ransomware is among the most high-profile and dangerous: It disables access to a device until the user pays a ransom. Trojans, worms, and spyware are other notable types of malware.
6. Denial-of-Service Attacks: DoS attacks disrupt networks and online platforms by overwhelming them with incredible amounts of traffic. Hackers can use these attacks to knock your website offline or slow your network to a crawl. Distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are a DoS variation that utilize multiple devices to pull off the attack; one such example is the Mirai IoT Botnet, which caused a major internet disruption for the eastern United States.
7. Social Engineering: Social engineering refers to a hacker using psychological manipulation to get an employee to hand over confidential information or install malware.
8. Drive-By: These attacks trick a user into installing malware, usually a Trojan, by clicking a link in a web browser. Drive-bys typically exploit security holes in web browser plug-ins.
9. Unpatched Software: Unpatched software attacks are entirely avoidable: They work by hackers using known exploits in programs that have already been fixed. Hackers rely on the fact that some users neglect to install important updates.
10. Brute Force Password Hacks: Hackers may also seize your company and employee accounts through brute force password hacking. In this scenario, they use a program to continually guess an account's password at login until the program finds one that works. Secure passwords will take far longer to crack, so hackers tend to target less secure accounts.

IT security is an incomplete process unless your business has the right hardware, software and employees working together to prevent attacks. The IT consulting experts at ATS can help. Contact us today.

Tags: cyber security, data protection, data security

Posted in: Security