The reputational damage spurred by cyberattacks is irrecoverable damage for any organisation. Being a victim of cyberattacks has many other drawbacks for companies, such as theft of information and money, disruptions to streamlining business processes, investment losses and more. Online scams, phishing, ransomware and malware can put your company’s sensitive information at risk, such as:
- Business strategies
- Emails
- Financial records of the business
- Innovative business ideas
- Intellectual property
- Marketing plans
- Patent software
- Personal, identifiable records of employees
- Personal information of customers
- Unreleased product designs
Companies striving to be the best in this digital age should therefore be responsive to online theft, damage, corruption and unlawful (or accidental) access to their information. This is where cybersecurity protocols come into play. Cybersecurity acts against cybercrime by protecting information that is surging in your systems and protected in storage; this is why it is regarded as an integral part of your day-to-day business processes. This article investigates major cyber security threats and solutions that allow your organisation to be resilient to online troublemakers.
Which Cyber Threats Can Hazardously Affect Your Business?
A common misconception and grave mistake that SMEs and family businesses make are that they believe that they are not targets of online threats; this is not the case. Attackers automate their endeavours in order to target companies in great numbers; thus, small-scale businesses ARE equally threatened as a conglomerate. Let us discuss 3 major cyber threats that have the propensity to affect all types of businesses irrecoverably.
#1 Phishing Attacks - Online Disguises That Targets Users Rather Than Technology Weaknesses
Phishing is a form of social engineering assault frequently employed to obtain user information, such as login credentials and credit card details. It happens when an attacker deceives a victim into opening an email, instant message, or text message by disguising themselves as a reliable source. Next, a dangerous link is deceived into being clicked by the recipient. This can cause malware to be installed on the recipient’s computer, a ransomware assault to lock it down, or the disclosure of private data. An assault can have disastrous consequences. For people, this includes theft of money or identity, as well as illicit transactions.
Examples
- As many faculty members as feasible receive a mass distribution of a counterfeit email purporting to be from a website, the receiver has an account.
- The user’s password, according to the email, is soon to expire. The instructions state they must renew their password within 24 hours by visiting a fake website.
Solutions
- Employing multi-factor authentication to mitigate risks of phishing attacks
- Enabling email security getaways (like Mimecast, Proofpoint Essentials etc.)
- Plan security awareness training programmes within your organisations
- Relying on cloud-based email security providers
- Using biometric scans, FaceIDs, and OTP codes to increase levels of security
#2 Malware Attacks - There are More Malicious Codes More Destructive than Trojans and Viruses
Malware can be distributed via emails, software, and websites in the form of hidden images, innocuous files, documents etc. Malware tricks the users into unintentionally installing malware online or when the user plugs in infected storage devices to their devices. A common misconception is that people believe that malware is a virus- it is not, but a virus is a type of malware. The virus is malicious coding that spreads from one device to another like a communicable disease, but malware infects computers when the users are tricked into adding them to their devices. Some types of malware are adware, fileless malware, trojans, worms, spyware, scareware, ransomware and viruses.
Examples
- A computer performs slower than usual, and the browser keeps redirecting you to sites that you don’t intend to visit.
- If your device keeps switching on and off at its own will, it is highly probable that your device is compromised by malware.
- Pop-up solicitations asking you to buy something to fix a problem that keeps continuously warning you; by being a nuisance to your daily work.
Solutions
- Avoid interacting with suspicious pop-up windows or files you receive in your email account
- Employ web security systems that prevent visiting suspicious websites
- Implementing end-point protection solutions
- Updating security systems and software updates on time
- Use a non-administrator login if possible
#3 Ransomware Attacks - The Most Common Culprit in The Corrupted Cyber World
Ransomware is a large-scale cyber threat that can affect hundreds to thousands of businesses. This form of cyber threat disallows companies from using their sensitive information, for the hackers encrypt the data and force companies to pay a ransom to unlock the information; they sometimes threaten that they will sell the information to their competitors, too, By pushing companies to a tough spot, the companies are illegally compelled to pay the ransom to ensure their operations, profit and organisations secrets are not misused to cripple the success of the business.
Examples
- If the ransomware employs encryption (like a 2,048-bit RSA key pair) to encrypt systems, disks, and cloud services after locking users out of their devices.
- If every file of your device and cloud has new file extensions appended to the filenames, it is highly likely you are threatened by ransomware.
Solutions
- Have strong end-point protection in place to keep hackers out
- Mitigate data loss risks by having cloud backup storages of important information
- Promoting cyber resilience with awareness programs
- Nurturing an organisational culture of desiccated and committed employees
- Segment all networks and limit user privileges across platforms
How can a ‘White Hat’ Hacker Help?
White hat hackers are knowledgeable developers and engineers in information security who identify IT flaws and repair them before they are exploited. They adhere to the EC-code Council’s ethics by engaging in only legal actions and consistently defending others’ intellectual property rights. White hat hackers have a strong educational foundation in computer science or information security, but they must also be skilled communicators and problem solvers.
There are some factors that distinguish white hat hackers from black or grey hat hackers. Unlike black or grey hat hackers, white hat hackers become aware of any vulnerabilities that they discover and notify the business or product owner that they discovered so that they can be fixed before being used maliciously by hackers. Some of the major companies that rely on the services of White Hat Hackers are Starbucks, Atlassian and Uber.
Are You Prepared to Defend Your Company Against Cyber Threats?
Your company must now (or very soon) be able to inspect and detect the malicious activities of systems, clouds, applications and websites not to endure the losses and risks caused by cyber threats. We hope this article guided you in understanding the behaviour, examples and solutions that can be taken to battle 3 of the major security threats in the business world. Businesses are currently experiencing a variety of threats. The best way for businesses to defend against these risks is to put in place a full suite of security technologies and use security awareness training to ensure that users are aware of risks and how to avoid them.
