NBTW

A Guide to Cybersecurity

Security and privacy over the internet have always been one of the main concerns for individual users and organizations. Every year the internet community is plagued by malware and phishing attacks resulting billions of dollars lost. It is very important to know what cyber security stands for and what are its implications.

What is Cyber Security?

Every practice, exercise, and technology used to protect networks, data, programs, software, and computer from cyber-attacks, breaches, and unauthorized access comes under the purview of cyber security. For example, many people look at the AlwaysVPN reviews and use VPNs to keep their IP address and data protected from hackers. These hackers want to access information like credit card details and email addresses but the VPN stops them from being able to do this — thus making it a form of cyber security.

How do Cyber Security Attacks Occur?

The fundamentals of cyber-attacks revolve around the vulnerabilities present in a company’s security. There are tests that companies can do to prevent cyber attack and to check their software has minimal vunerabilties. You can visit websites such as subrosacyber.com/penetration-testing and many more to research into Penetration Testing which is just one of the tests open to companies. As per our experts, there are three security aspects one should take care of.

Issues in network, software, and device design- Attackers often see through the errors in the design of the company’s security system. You must take care of the patch management to regularly update the software and applications. There are security solutions for software that can be utilized, for example, you can go to this site and see what is available so that you can be assured your applications are secure.

Features- sometimes, attackers use the software elements used to improve customer experience to decipher the system.

User error – The most well-designed security software can be easily cracked due to user error. Thus, employees have to be trained to identify and take appropriate actions in the situation of a cyber breach.

You must also know the types of cyber security attacks prevalent today. They are listed as follows:

Malware

Malware includes any software that is developed to damage and corrupt a network, computer or a device with nasty intentions. It contains dangerous software which can potentially harm your system. These programs are designed in a way that they cannot be detected easily by users as well as detection mechanisms.

You must be shocked to know that both small and large organizations are at a continuous risk of getting hit by malware. These attacks have only increased in recent years, and every system upgrade gets hacked after a point of time.

Some commonly used malware are described as follows:

Viruses – This type of malware duplicates itself within a system to the limit where it corrupts the entire data.

Trojan Horses – Such malware cover their real identity in the form of useful application and destroy the system before stealing valuable information.

Worms – Unlike viruses, worms tend to spread vicious codes in a system after replicating itself. They use a system’s bandwidth to send original codes to the computer and also delete important files or send them out through email.

Rootkits – It is a group of software that doesn’t allow a user to know that their system is corrupted. Even anti-virus software is unable to track them as they showcase themselves as useful files. They affect the system before it even starts thus becoming hard to discover.

Backdoors or Trapdoors – A backdoor created by a programmer for troubleshooting or personal reasons can be used by an attacker to enter, destroy and burglarize the system.

Phishing

Being the most used method to corrupt a system, phishing is mostly a targeted method of deceiving a system. The cyber attackers try to cheat employees in revealing their passwords and other confidential information to a third party through websites, emails, and messaging services.

Thus, this method does not hack the system but manipulates its owner to undertake actions as said by the attacker. More than often, emails are used to send such messages at a large scale to addresses cracked from retail websites. These attackers use various techniques to dupe a person via man-in-the-middle attacks, revived corporate sites and keyloggers.

Typically, these emails include sophisticated information to fool the smartest people in providing their account details and passwords. Moreover, these emails also contain links that can quickly introduce spyware, malware, and Trojans in the user’s device.

In the modern world, businesses can prevent phishing attacks by training their employees about the risks and implementing security protocols. Aside from these steps, they can also use two-factor authentication, firewalls, a secure VPN (such as Sekur VPN), and antivirus software to guard against malicious activity.

Let’s look at sone common types of Phishing apart from email threats, which includes:

Spear Phishing- As the name suggests the fake emails are targeted towards a specific organization or user.

Keyloggers and screen loggers – In such a method, the attackers gain access to a user’s keyboard to know their passwords and other information.

Men in the middle phishing (MITM) – Attackers position themselves between a client and an organization to record their communication. Eventually, they get the password or the required information and leave the discussion without a hint of their existence.

Hence, you must take care of cybersecurity at any moment your system can get corrupted. It is better to stay safe than regret afterward.