Cybercrimes have increased significantly over the last decade. One cause is the rise of global connectivity and usage of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and cloud services. Likewise, it can originate from any organizational level.
Another reason for these cyber-crimes is they want to get cash from an organization. Cyber-criminals may cause systems to go offline and extort one with money just to recover the system. Ransomware, an attack that demands payment to restore one’s services, is now more advanced than ever.
For such reasons, having simplistic firewalls and anti-virus software is not enough for businesses to secure their data—they must develop strong cybersecurity measures.
Likewise, you should know that many startups don’t care about proper cybersecurity. As such, if you’re a small business, one way to achieve appropriate cybersecurity is to include cybersecurity awareness training to inform your employees about common cyber threats such as ransomware attacks (WannaCry), social engineering scams, phishing, and other malware. Doing so can safeguard one’s business data from cybercriminals.
In addition, intellectual property, protected health information (PHI), governmental and industry information systems, and personally identifiable information (PHI) are other types of data that a robust cybersecurity ecosystem can protect against cyber-attacks and threats.
Overall, continue reading to know what will happen if you don’t have cybersecurity measures within your organization.
1. Social Engineering
Social engineering is a type of cyber-attack where different kinds of ill-intent activities are achieved via human interactions. It tricks people into committing security mistakes or sharing sensitive data through psychological manipulation.
A social engineer takes one or more steps to do his exploits. First, the attacker will examine the target victim to obtain essential background data, like possible points of entry or weak security protocols required to continue the attack. After that, the attacker will lead the victim to put trust in him and motivate such victims to do things that violate proper security measures, such as providing access to essential resources or showing sensitive data.
Be mindful that this cyber-attack comes in various forms. For instance, it can come as an email from a friend. They will send emails to all the victim’s contacts, leave messages on all their friend’s social media pages, and potentially on the social media pages of the victim’s friends of friends. This occurs after the attacker gets the email account of a person. What are typically sent to various people through the victim’s account are links and downloads that contain malware.
Overall, there are different online resources regarding other cyber-security threats for this year that can leave you at risk, like what secure logic says in their article.
2. Internet Of Things Attacks
Consumers find connected devices easy to use, and various companies use them to lessen expenses by obtaining significant volumes of insightful information and making their business processes more efficient. Yet, there’s a considerable risk to having more connected devices. This cause IoT networks to become more susceptible to cyber-attacks and infections. Once exploited by hackers, IoT devices can be used to overload networks, generate havoc, and lock down crucial equipment to gain money.
This became evident during the pandemic. Office work has changed into becoming a work-from-home job for many as a result of the lockdown. Yet, while these individuals work from the comfort of their houses, they own at least one smart device. This resulted in increased attacks on smart or IoT devices, with over 1.5 billion breaches happening between January and June 2021.
If your organization owns a smart device, know that leaving it unprotected can also leave you at risk of such attacks. Some common IoT attacks that may happen are:
- Privilege Escalation
- Man-in-the-Middle attacks
- Eavesdropping
- Malicious node injection
- DDoS
Before identifying the right course of action to protect your organization against such risks, it is essential to have a thorough understanding of what and where exactly your vulnerabilities lie. Intruder’s vulnerability scanner and other related tools are a great place to get started in this regard.
3. Supply Chain Attacks
A malware that encrypts a person’s files is called ransomware. Here, the perpetrator extorts money from the target individual to recover access to the data. Instructions for how to provide the funds to decrypt data are shown to users. The cost for the ransom can come from around a few hundred dollars to thousands. These payments will come in the form of Bitcoin.
For ransomware to work, it uses asymmetric encryption. This is cryptography that makes use of two keys to encrypt and decrypt files. The two public-private keys are distinctly developed by the perpetrator for the target person involved, with the private key to decrypt the files found in the cybercriminal’s server.
The private key becomes accessible to the victim only after the attacker receives the money, yet, this type of situation is not always the case based on the recent ransomware attacks. Here is some well-known ransomware:
- Maze
- Lockbit
- DearCry
- Ryuk
- REvil (Sodinokibi)
Conclusion
Cyber-attacks have risen over the previous decade. One reason it grew is the increase in global connectivity, cloud services, and IoT devices. For such reasons, having a solid cybersecurity measure in place is crucial.
Not having these cybersecurity measures leaves you at risk of various cyber threats, such as the ones above. Overall, proper cybersecurity measures can allow your organization to maintain its reputation and avoid unexpected costs resulting from an attack and possible downtime.