Top 10 Cyber Security Threats You Should Be Aware

Technology is constantly advancing and so do the ways to conduct cybercrimes and exploit vulnerabilities in tech devices. The past few years have seen a significant increase in cyber attacks and this is more likely to become worse and more complex with time. It is quite essential for us to be aware of different cyber security threats that an individual or companies should be aware of.

Also we have mentioned some of the ways that you can use to mitigate or prevent any security threat to your system and organization. If are building any new software or the company then you should read this blog till end as we have covered some of the important points.

Top 10 Cyber Security Threats

Here are the most common cyber security threats that you should know about to prevent yourself from different types of cyber attacks.

Ransomware Attacks

Ransomware attacks are the most common cyber attack that happens by hacking the user’s system and locking access to it. In exchange for giving back access, the hackers demand the money.

This is done by encrypting the user’s computer and giving back the decrypting key. Most of the famous crypto attacks that have happened in recent times are NotPetya, Petya, WannaCry, and many more. They had adversely affected companies world wide.

If you want to protect yourself from such attacks, you need to ensure that you implement robust recovery strategies and regularly take backups.

Also, there are some security measures that you can take such as antivirus Software, patching vulnerabilities, firewalls, and much more. Users should not open any links which are received in unknown emails or messages, as they are the common medium to do Ransomware Attacks.

Phishing Scams

A phishing scam is the second most famous scam, where hackers use social engineering to develop fake websites and emails and trick their users into giving their sensitive information.

In recent times, these scams have become quite sophisticated and attackers use more realistic-looking websites and emails to trick victims. These scams are done to steal your personal information, spread malware, and get access to sensitive information.

The most common type of phishing attack is spear-phishing, which is a phishing attack, where hackers emphasize specific individuals or businesses. If you want to protect your users from any phishing scam, you should train your employees and help them to understand how to recognize phishing attempts.

Also, they should know how to take security measures such as anti-phishing software and email filtering. Users should be cautious while opening any links or attachments sent in the form of text messages or emails.

Cloud-based attacks

A lot of industries are now leveraging cloud technology to deploy their applications or store any data. Here hackers try to get access to the cloud infrastructure to disrupt any service or steal any information. Most of these attacks are difficult to recognize and prevent, as they are often caused due to vulnerabilities in the cloud infrastructure. Some of the common cloud-based attacks include Denial of Service attacks, data breaches, and unauthorized access.

If you want to protect against cloud-based attacks, you should take some security measures such as enabling access controls, multi-factor authentication, encryption, and much more. Also, companies should have complete control and visibility of the workloads and data available on the cloud.

Regularly monitoring them for vulnerabilities can help you to prevent such attacks. It is quite a responsibility for securing the infrastructure and securing the application and the data. You should enable certain mechanisms to follow best practices while working on the cloud.

IOT attacks

Recently IOT has become one of the hot topics in the Industry as now a lot of devices are being connected to the internet such as appliances and smart devices. But the sad part is most such devices are vulnerable to cyber attacks since they are easily hackable and have weak security. Hackers check all these points to get access to the vulnerabilities and steal data.

To protect your devices from IOT attacks, you should implement certain security measures like access controls, and encryption, regularly testing and monitor your IOT devices, and resolve any vulnerabilities.

Also, organizations should have the complete infrastructure to update IOT devices with any firmware or security patches. Since IOT devices are gaining a lot of importance in one’s life and being used in day-to-day activities, it is quite essential to take certain steps to mitigate them or be aware of certain security risks.

Advanced persistent threats(APTs)

APTs are well-known cyber attacks, where hackers try to get access to the network and stay undetectable for a certain amount of time.

Such attacks happen by highly skilled groups and well-funded teams of criminal gangs. They use a wide range of tools and technologies such as malware, and social engineering to exploit vulnerabilities in the software and get access to the systems for some time.

APTs are quite difficult to identify and defend against them because of the advanced tools and malware is not easily detected with traditional antivirus software.

It is advisable to implement different layered defense strategies like employee training, software updates and advanced response tools, and threat detection.

Supply Chain Attacks

In this type of attack, hackers try to target any weak links in the supply chain system to get access to the company’s network. These kinds of attacks are quite complex and devastating,

If you want to protect yourself from such supply chain attacks, companies should adopt the policy for supply chain risk management, which includes auditing the complete supply chain based on the suppliers and third-party vendors.

Various organizations have several places for complete audits and testing of the vulnerabilities in their supply chain management. It includes implementing several security algorithms such as securing the data shared with third-party companies.

Artificial Intelligence-Based Attacks

Artificial Intelligence is becoming more advanced day by day and being used for a lot of use cases such as automating monotonous tasks, improvising the user experience, and much more.

AI attacks are quite difficult to detect because most AI-based applications use machine learning algorithms and techniques. Various AI-based attacks like deep fake videos can be used to spread fake information, adversarial machine learning, misclassification, and much more.

For preventing such AI-based attacks, the companies must have complete security systems set that can monitor and test AI systems for vulnerabilities and take optimum actions. Regular monitoring and taking security patches can help you to mitigate certain AI-based attacks.

Crypto Jacking

Crypto jacking is another type of cyber attack where hackers use malware to take control of someone else’s computer to mine crypto tokens. Most of the time, hackers install malware on the device and utilize the processing power of the system to mine cryptocurrencies.

This can lead to some serious problems like fast battery drainage, slowing down the devices, and in most cases, causing permanent damage to the victim’s device.

To prevent crypto jacking it is quite important to ensure that all the softwares and operating systems are of the latest version. Also one should avoid downloading any unknown file or clicking on unknown links.

5G Security Threats

5G or the fifth generation of mobile technology aims to bring certain improvements in terms of connectivity, capacity, and speed. However, some new security challenges are discovered.

Some of the security challenges are Network slicing and eavesdropping. In Network slicing, the 5G network allows companies to create virtual networks that can be used for different use cases. It is possible that bad actors would create their slices and use them to attract others.

5g uses new radio access technology also known as massive MIMO, allowing it to have different connections at the same time. Malicious actors can take advantage of this by listening to others’ conversations.

Social Engineering

Special engineering is the concept where attackers try to manipulate individuals to perform certain actions that might compromise their security and the company to which they are affiliated too. Social engineering attacks use psychological manipulation and trick victims to provide certain personal information to access confidential information.

One of the common ways of doing social engineering is through Impersonation. With impersonation, the attacker pretends to be someone such as a government official or an employee of the company aiming to gain access to the systems or sensitive information. You need to be aware of such social engineering attacks. Companies can provide training to employees to identify social engineering attacks.

It is quite important to keep a point that the list is not exhaustive and with technological advancement, threats are also evolving. Hence you need to stay up to date about cyber security’s latest developments and take precautionary measures to protect your information and organization.

You can implement different security measures such as encryption, intrusion detection systems, and firewalls. Moreover, you can also provide periodic training to the employees that can help them to respond to cyber security threats and recognize them.

Cyber Security Tips to Protect Your Data

Some of the important steps you can follow to enhance cyber security to protect your data are.

• Always use A VPN: VPN or a virtual private network can help you to encrypt the internet connection making it quite hard for hackers to get access to your data. The use of a VPN ensures that your data is protected even when you use some unsafe Wifi Network.
• Always conduct regular security audits: This includes assessing your security measures and identifying any threats or vulnerabilities. This is usually done using vulnerabilities scan, penetration testing, and much more. Further on identification, you can take protective measures to resolve such kinds of vulnerabilities.
• Always take regular backups of data: It is quite good to have a backup of your data in case of any data loss or cyber attack happens. You can backup photos, documents, and other files to some cloud storage for the hard drive. Even if the primary copy is destroyed, you will have access to a backup.
• Don’t use Public WiFi which can be vulnerable to attacks: You should avoid using any public internet actions. There can be a vulnerability, which can lead to the disclosure of sensitive information. Make sure to use VPN to encrypt the internet connection and safeguard the data.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is quite essential to stay aware of the latest cyber security threats. With the increasing use of the internet and technology, cyber-attacks are continuously evolving. It is important to know the top 10 cyber security threats listed above such as ransomware attacks, IOT attacks, and much more.

To mitigate any risks, organizations and individuals should try to use multi-layered defense strategies that can include employee training, advanced threat detection, software updates, and the use of response tools.

By being protective to protect your information you can minimize the risk. It is quite important to take steps to keep your information and digital assets safe, moreover, stay vigilant.