Most Common Cyber Security Threats & How To Fight Them

There have been records of expensive cyber-attacks against businesses in the recent times due to increasing use of technologies in the management of businesses. A survey found that cyber attacks affect many executives globally. Point-of-sale (POS) intrusions are especially common in the retail and accommodation industries.

It also affects the health-care sector as revealed by the Verizon’s 2014 Data Breach Investigations Report, in which more than sixty-three thousand incidents in ninety-five countries were analyzed. Below are common cyber security threats experienced by businesses:

Physical theft and loss of technological devices

The public and health-care sectors are constantly faced with risks of loss or stolen laptops, USB drives, or written documents. To limit data loss or theft, encrypt your technical devices, back up data repeatedly, lock down IT tools to steady fixtures, and save responsive documents in safe places. Consider using automation tools whenever necessary. For example, manage your purchase order with e-procurement software. This way, all of your data is in one place – and it remains safe if there’s an attack.

Denial-of-service attacks

The Denial-of-service attacks frequently affect finance and retail sectors. They do this with the use of bots and sturdy servers by flooding a site with too much traffic in such a way that the company’s operation is placed on a hold.

This makes it difficult for users to access website. To prevent the occurrence of a denial of service attack, patch the server as soon as possible. Purchase a  minor backup circuit and separate significant servers, assess your anti-DoS service, and ensure major operation teams are aware of what to do if such activities occur.

Cyber-espionage

Cyber espionage frequently targets professional services, transportation, manufacturing, mining, and the public sectors. You can put a stop to this form of attack by handling any form of software susceptibilities, updating your antivirus software and training your users to identify and report any possible threat. You can also achieve this by constantly monitoring your log-in system, network, and apps.

POS intrusions

Retail and the accommodation centers are especially affected by POS intrusions. To minimize the risk, reduce remote access to POS systems by intermediary businesses and implement well-built and safe password strategies. Your staff must not be allowed to browse the internet with your POS system, check mail or play games. Also, try to implement two-factor authentication.

Payment card skimming

Banks, retailers, and hotels are most frequently at risk of suffering from payment card skimming activities. To turn skimmers installations on petrol pumps or ATMs for instance, make use of tamper-resistant visual display units and make employees aware of skimmers or distrustful behavior, and use tamper-evident controls such as seals over gas pump doors or automatic video monitoring.

Operational mistakes

Industries that that handle the transfer of a company’s data may mistakenly transfer such data to a public site or to a wrong recipient. They can as well carelessly expose the company’s data or engage in actions that could result to loss of company’s data.

You could prevent or minimize data loss at such instances by protecting your data with backup and recovery software, so even if there is a security breach you’re ready for it.

Malware

Internet attackers make use of malware to track computers of internet users and the workplace data. Malware are different types of unsafe software, like viruses and ransomware. As soon as they succeed to inject malware into your computer, they can cause different forms of mayhem like controlling your computer or screening your actions or secretly transferring every type of confidential information on your computer to the computer of the attacker.

Phishing

A phishing attack is where an attacker sends you an email that seems to come from someone known to you like your boss, a friend or business you trade with. The email will appear to be legit and be attached with some form of urgency like telling you that fraudsters have had access to your account.

They would usually include an attachment in the email which they would instruct you to open. Alternatively, they would include a link and ask you to click on the link. When you open the link or attachment, you’ll install the malicious software on your computer which could allow the sender to access your sensitive information. Being careful to ensure that every attachment or link you click is authentic helps you stay away from this form of attack.

SQL Injection Attack

SQL injection attack is abridged form for structured query language. It is a programming language that is use to access databases. A number of the servers that store vital data for websites and services make use of SQL to control the data in their databases. A SQL injection attack is targeted towards these forms of servers with malicious code which makes the server to reveal data that it wouldn’t usually reveal. This is particularly tricky if the server is used to store confidential data of users of a website like credit card info, usernames and passwords.

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

Cross-Site Scripting occurs when an attacker directly target the user of a website. It is related to the SQL injection attack and involves introduction of malicious code into a website but the target in this case is a single or specific user of the website and not the website itself. The malicious code that is injected only affects the browser of the individual anytime he or she visits the website.

Session Hijacking and Man-in-the-Middle Attacks

Session hijacking attack occurs when a hijacker intercept your web search  unique session ID between your computer and the remote web server and pose as if making a request from your computer. By so doing the hijacker logs in to the site you are viewing as an unsuspected user and have access to confidential and unauthorized data on the web server. With the Man-in-the-Middle Attacks, hijackers capture data in the opposite directions.

Reuse of usernames and passwords

With so many sites users have to access, it could be difficult to remember all the usernames and passwords. So, users are tempted to use the same usernames and passwords over and over again. This exposes them to security threats as hackers collect one username and password from a breached website and make use of it to long into other sites to gain access to confidential information about the user which could result to devastating effect.

Avoid the practice of using the same username or passwords for your emails, forum profiles and bank account by all cost no matter how tempting it may be to remain safe all the time. Keep these tips in mind when it comes to keeping your business and personal information safe. You want to avoid a data breach or a hacker at all costs.