Top Guide to Cyber Security Threat This Year

With great power comes great responsibility. This responsibility in the digital world is to safeguard yourself and your online business from the threat of cyber security. With the increase in digital activity, cybercriminals are also becoming more active. Cyber Security Threat is around every online business, irrespective of its size. Cybercriminals are applying all possible measures to impact small and large businesses adversely.

With the expansion in the digital world, computer security and its threats are also increasing. The entire United Nations and the economy of the same are impacted largely by these data breaches. Several companies worldwide experience cybercrimes that result in massive loss of information and reputation at the same time.

The cybercriminals apply new strategies and tricks while the experts, on the other hand, are facing difficulties in overcoming the same with time. In this way, it is the organization’s responsibility to safeguard themselves and their entire business by taking stern security measures. For the same, we have prepared an entire guide that can help you understand these major threats to your businesses this year. Let’s dive in and quickly thoroughly understand the same:

Phishing Attacks

Because of the increased interaction of human beings with technology, phishing attacks are the most common form of cyber attacks throughout the globe. With the inclination in messaging and email communication, these attacks have seen their all-time high in the current times.

Every business organization members get several electronic mails. Therefore it becomes a tedious task to make decisions wisely on segregating them based on safe and unsafe. In this regard, the employees sometimes make mistakes by clicking on phishing emails and becoming victims of cyber-attackers. It is really easy for cybercriminals to access crucial information about the business and steal it through these emails.

It is important to take cautious measures as these emails have bad grammar and lack proper structure. All the employees must be trained to not click on emails blindly. Old software must be eliminated from time to time to amplify the security massively. Apart from this, anti-phishing toolbars must be employed on the browsers to receive alerts as and when required.

Smishing Attacks

SMS based phishing attacks are another common form of attack seen in the digital world. It is seen that the members of the organization receive text messages on their mobile phones. These text messages mostly contain dangerous links. If you click the link, the cybercriminals will steal your crucial information.

Cyber attackers have sidelined conventional email phishing, and more focus is given on the sms phishing attacks. Under these attacks, a text message will be received from the bank asking for your security digits. Links are also sent, and crucial information is asked. Therefore, it is advised to the businesses not to open the unknown links in the text messages.

The messages received are not properly framed, and the legitimate business will always call while asking for important information. This year you need to be extra cautious of this kind of attack as it is predicted that such attacks will cause massive losses to businesses.

Malware, Ransomware and MITM Attacks

Such attacks are supremely harmful to the entire system of the business organization. It gives rise to many problems, including stolen data, non-working systems and loss of control over the software. Experts have predicted the prevalence of such attacks this year. The large multi-million organizations and small businesses will also be impacted because the cyber attackers are aware that the servers are always connected to the internet. They can easily get into your system by cracking the security.

To keep away Man-In-The-Middle attacks, you need to ensure the security of your in-transit data by installing an SSL certificate on your business website connection. An SSL certificate or Secure Socket Layer is a digital security protocol that offers an encrypted tunnel to secure confidential data between two communicating entities. Choosing the right kind of SSL certificate from a reliable CA can help ward off many cyber security threats to your business website. You can choose to invest in the tried and tested cost-efficient Comodo SSL certificate or the RapidSSL certificate.

Stuffing of Credentials

The compromised credentials are stuffed by the cyber attackers to execute the attack. In this, a list of usernames and their mail addresses and passwords are stolen in an unauthorized manner and further on, the credentials are stuffed to take important information. These attacks are very common these days as the users also do not pay attention to the password and use it anyway.

It becomes really easy for the attackers to discover these non-updated passwords, which is how the cyberattack is executed. Every now and then, there are reports throughout the globe about the cyber-attacks being executed in this manner, and it will continue to happen this year as well, provided that the businesses do not take their login data seriously. Most of the users use the same email address and password for multiple platforms, and thus it is stolen easily by the attackers and employed in any manner.

Not So Strong Passwords

Strong passwords are the backbone of every organization. Every organization utilizes several passwords at different platforms in use. Behind these passwords, there is strongly sensitive information of the users that includes financial information. No organization, irrespective of its size, can afford to lose this data at any cost. Businesses have a lot of sensitive data of the users that are in threat because of lack of awareness related to the password among the employees.

Password management tools can be utilized to manage the password effectively. It is recommended not to use simple passwords that involve the birthdates or names of the users. Such measures are usually seen as foundational, yet many organizations ignore them like anything. Even this year, this measure will protect a lot of organizations in the digital world from cyber attackers.  

PDF-based Threats

This attack also follows the same strategy where the attacker sends you an email with a PDF attached to it. The email involves some of the false details. It is claimed that the particular security policy is updated with time, and you need to open the attached PDF to perform a particular task to make it operational. Links are not sent in this type of scam, but the PDF sent contains all the material that can cause potential harm to the entire system. Members of organizations must be properly educated regarding the same.

Businesses need to provide proper training and education to their employees to make them aware of these threats. Cyber security threats must not be taken lightly, and every possible step should be taken to remove them. Antivirus software must be installed in the computer systems, and alerts must be sent to the IT department regarding the same.

Exposure of Database

Exposure of database is another persistent threat that the businesses are facing in the current date. Security breach often results in exposure of databases and related important information that can cause the organization’s loss of money and reputation.

Most business organizations have important customer-related information and financial information in their database. It is the most cardinal thing for every organization out there and must be protected with every possible means. It is relatively easy for cyber attackers to steal identities and send emails or links that look legitimate to the users. These attacks lay a foundation for socially engineered attacks that can have massive consequences in the long run.

As a result, all the databases can be easily exposed, causing massive losses to the organization. In this regard, it is central for every organization to store their database with appropriate online and offline safety. Access is supposed to be limited to limit the potential threat. It is important to create regular backups and keep all the security-related software up-to-date to guard oneself in the digital world.

The Bottom Line

Among multiple threats that every business face, we have tried to enlist the major ones with the space. It is cardinal for every business to utilize the security tools and check them with time. Security awareness and training must be given to all employees as they are the currency of every organization that works for the business. They must be well aware of protecting the organization and its valuable data during times of emergency. The above-mentioned talks about all the important cyber threats this year.

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Dan Radak

Dan Radak is a web hosting security professional with ten years of experience. He is currently working with a number of companies in the field of online security, closely collaborating with a couple of e-commerce companies.