A leading mobile game-producing company was receiving insufficient fund notifications for regularly recurring bills. A review of the accounting records exposed a serious problem. At some point a few weeks earlier, the CEO had clicked on a link in an email that they thought was from the Revenue Department. When the link was clicked, the cyber criminals captured the CEO’s login information, giving them full access to business and personal details. It was a phishing attack which led to the company losing $1 million to an account in China.
What is Cybersecurity?
Cybersecurity constitutes a facet of information security focused on safeguarding computers, networks, programs, and data from unauthorized access. Given its broader scope, cybersecurity encompasses the protection of both corporate and personal data, leading to an overlap between the realms of cybersecurity and data protection. The foundational security objectives of maintaining confidentiality, ensuring integrity, and ensuring availability are critically significant to both facets of information security.
Types of Cybersecurity
Critical infrastructure security: focuses on safeguarding computer systems, applications, networks, and data crucial for national security, economic well-being, and public safety. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the United States has devised a cybersecurity framework to aid IT providers in this domain, complemented by guidance from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
Network security: prevents unauthorized access to network resources, detecting and halting ongoing cyberattacks and breaches. It ensures secure access for authorized users while protecting the network from potential threats. Endpoint security, on the other hand, shields entry points like servers, desktops, laptops, and mobile devices from cyber threats, recognizing their role as primary targets for attacks.
Application security: focuses on safeguarding applications against unauthorized access, usage, and potential vulnerabilities in their design. Modern development methods, such as DevOps and DevSecOps, incorporate security into the development process. Operating under a shared responsibility model, cloud security secures an organization’s cloud-based services and assets. Information security (InfoSec) encompasses the protection of an organization’s critical information, spanning digital files, paper documents, physical media, and human speech, against unauthorized access or alteration.
Mobile security: safeguards smartphones and mobile devices through disciplines like mobile application management (MAM) and enterprise mobility management (EMM). Recent developments include its integration into unified endpoint management (UEM) solutions, providing comprehensive security management for various endpoints from a unified console
As attacks become more automated, hackers can target hundreds or even thousands of businesses at once. Organisations with weaker technological defences, less awareness of dangers, and fewer resources to devote to cyber security are easy targets for hackers. Organizations must therefore be aware of the hazards and ways to counter them. Let’s look at the top 5 security risks that affect businesses and how companies can defend themselves.
Malware
Malware is malicious software installed on computers and networks to carry out specific tasks. Adware, spyware, and viruses are some examples of malware. Viruses attach themselves to programs, script files, documents, etc., to spread as widely as possible. Adware displays pop-up ads that try to generate income through clicks.
Solution: Businesses with robust technology defences can stave off malware attacks. Endpoint Protection solutions give admins a central control panel to manage devices and ensure everyone’s security is up to date while defending machines from malware downloads.
Ransomware
Ransomware dominates the cybercrime market, with approximately 2.8 billion known unique forms and countless attacks in the last few years. Ransomware attacks are based on the simple premise that businesses need access to their files to function and generate revenue. The organization is asked to pay a ransom to access these files.
Solution: Businesses must implement robust Endpoint Protection on all work devices to stop ransomware attacks. These will aid in preventing data from being encrypted by ransomware assaults. Businesses should also think about putting in place a reliable cloud backup solution. These systems securely back up corporate data on the cloud, reducing the risk of data loss. Implementing data backup and recovery has the advantage of enabling IT personnel to retrieve data in the case of a ransomware attack.
Social Engineering
In a social engineering attack, hackers pretend to be trustworthy individuals or an organisation. Depending on the attack strategy, they try to convince the user to give them access to critical information, download a malicious attachment, or give them physical access to the organization’s facilities.
Phishing is the most typical type of social engineering. These are spam emails, usually containing urgent pleas regarding an issue with the organization’s service provision or the user’s login information.
Solution: Social engineering attacks can be stopped by establishing a reliable Email Security Gateway. Your company can be protected against phishing attempts by cloud-based email security solutions. These tools enable users to report phishing emails, which admins can remove from everyone’s inboxes.
When it comes to reducing the risks of phishing, multi-factor authentication (MFA) is also crucial. When users log into an account, MFA adds a layer of security to the authentication process. Common authentication methods include SMS codes, tap notifications on trusted devices and biometric checks like fingerprint or FaceID scans.
Weak Passwords
Most businesses utilise numerous cloud-based services, each of which calls for a different account. Financial details and sensitive data are frequently present in these services. This information may be hacked if weak passwords are used, or the same password is used across several accounts.
Solution: Companies should utilise business password management systems to ensure that employees use secure passwords. These tools guide users in creating secure passwords for all their accounts, making password management easier for employees across the organization. Businesses should also consider deploying Multi-Factor Authentication systems, as explained earlier.
Insider Threats
A risk to a company posed by employees, former employees, business contractors, or associates is known as an insider threat. These individuals have access to vital information about your business, and they have the potential to cause harm out of greed or negligence. According to a study by Verizon, insider threats were the cause of 25% of data breaches.
Solution: Businesses must build a strong culture of security awareness to prevent insider cyber security threats. Employees will be able to identify an attacker who has penetrated or is attempting to breach corporate data early on. This helps in avoiding insider risks brought on by ignorance.
Conclusion:
Businesses are currently experiencing a variety of threats. The best method for businesses to defend against these risks is to put in place a full suite of security technologies and security awareness training to ensure that users are aware of this. Skillmine’s Cyber security services assist businesses in finding the appropriate security products and services.
FAQ
With companies expanding their online presence, organisations with weaker technological defences and less awareness of dangers are easy targets for hackers. Malware, ransomware, social engineering, insider threats and weak passwords are the five major types of cyberattacks.
To overcome cyberattacks, businesses must implement robust Endpoint Protection on all work devices. These will aid in preventing data from being encrypted. Companies should also think about putting in place a reliable cloud backup solution.
Phishing mail is a common type of cyberattack. Here, phishing mail is sent to trick the user into revealing confidential information or deploying malicious software.
