Several types of Cyber Threats can be identified and classified depending on the purpose of the cyber attack. They can include malicious insiders and external attackers, hacktivists, and nation-states. This article will focus on the latter two types of cyber threats. To understand how they can be identified and prevented, it helps to understand the nature of the threats. Listed below are some of the most common Cyber Threats. Taking the proper precautions to prevent cyber attacks is critical for your company’s security.
Malicious insiders
Involved individuals, also known as “malicious insiders,” are a growing cyber threat. These insiders, often disgruntled employees or disgruntled ex-employees, can steal sensitive company data and sabotage operations. They can also sell the information to rival companies, undermining their former employer’s competitiveness.
While technical controls are critical to preventing malicious insiders from compromising information systems, they cannot prevent every malicious insider. Employee behaviour has a big impact on the likelihood of dishonesty. To prevent the threat, businesses should implement policies and practices to promote employee morale and integrity. This way, the risk of lone operators is significantly reduced. In addition, collaboration between staff members can help discourage insiders from stealing and destroying sensitive information.
Malicious outsiders
When considering the role of malicious outsiders in cybercrime, it is helpful to look at both insiders and external actors in the threat landscape. Insiders are more likely to pose a cyber risk than malicious outsiders, but both types are equally damaging to companies. Companies should carefully evaluate the composition of their workforce and conduct background checks on each employee before handing them any sensitive information. Furthermore, companies should implement internal auditing, segmentation, and employee vetting to keep data secure.
The best defense against malicious outsiders is a solid patch management strategy and periodic vulnerability assessment. Security solutions must also include varying layers of defense, including anti-virus solutions, log monitoring, and network behavior analysis. The best way to ensure that your business is protected against malicious outsiders is to implement a security solution that is designed to protect your data from both types of threats. By understanding the role of both insiders and outsiders in cybercrime, you’ll be able to make informed decisions about how to protect your company’s data assets.
Hacktivists
In recent years, hackers have become a major cyber threat, exposing sensitive data and defacing hundreds of webpages. Their actions are motivated by a desire for personal significance and recognition. They also believe they are contributing to a greater cause, but this cause is largely irrelevant. A far more noble goal might be volunteering at a homeless shelter or blood drive. In either case, hacktivists pose a serious risk to society.
A common type of hacktivist activity is DDoS attacks. DDoS attacks take down websites by overburdening the server. They are popular with hacktivists, who can damage large organizations with little effort. The most well-known hacktivist group is Anonymous, which targets large organizations like the Church of Scientology, the US Copyright Office, PayPal, and Visa. They have also targeted individual Web sites.
Nation-states
The United States must develop a comprehensive strategy to counter nation-state cyber-enabled influence operations. Increasing efforts to improve social media, increase counter-threat operations within the US, and engage other countries in these activities are critical to effectively tackling these threats. This strategy must also support the emerging US grand strategy to compete with China while promoting democracy. Cybersecurity and nation-states are inextricably linked.
Attacks by nation-states can come in many forms, including targeted and indiscriminate attacks. Some are aimed at stealing PII or mass intelligence, while others are targeted at individuals. In many cases, cyber-threats are thinly disguised extortion attempts, with a goal of getting money from targeted organizations or governments. These attacks can be particularly damaging to governments that are trying to protect vital data.
Botnets
While a botnet is not an immediate danger to a computer, it can become a major part of your network in a matter of minutes. Bots consume bandwidth and may cause a sudden spike in your internet speed. They use this bandwidth to send spam emails and perform DDoS attacks. Botnet detection is often difficult and can require significant technical know-how. In this article, we’ll talk about how to identify botnets and how to prevent them.
The first phase of a Botnet is called “deployment,” and this is where the bots go on the attack. When a hacker sends a command to a Botnet, it installs the malicious code. This attack initially targets the victims by launching distributed denial-of-service attacks, but later turns profitable. Botnets are difficult to detect because the spam they send is much more harmful than regular spam.
Adware
As with other types of malware, adware may appear legitimate but in reality, it’s a different kettle of fish. Some adware is intended to spy on you and collect data about your online activities. Other adware uses tracking cookies, which are designed to track user behavior and present tailored ads to them. You can protect yourself from these threats by installing ad blockers on your computer and not clicking on links in pop-up ads.
One adware variant referred to as the Springserve virus is known for flooding your browser with misleading ads. Known to affect most popular web browsers, this type of adware is not helpful for your computer and will ultimately lead to cyber threats. Moreover, these ads may contain malicious codes or be dangerous. These programs are designed to make money for their developers. They will make use of various online advertising techniques and pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns to make money.
