Are you sure that your company has the ability to thwart cyber attacks on any range? If not, you better follow this article to know more about the five most common successful cyber attacks which are hitting the corporate world.
Advanced Persistent Threat (APT)– APT has turned into a huge menace to the digital world in recent times. The concept is simple- to trick innocent online service users to run a Trojan horse program through spear phishing campaign. In such attack, data gets encrypted until a ransom is paid. And in most cases, there is no guaranty that the decryption key is made available after paying a ransom. Remedy- User education on the latest happenings in cyberspace can help online users from becoming a victim to APT-related cyber attacks. Monitoring your network and keeping a track of data flow can also help.
Password Phishing- Cybercrooks are nowadays launching cyber attacks disguised in the form of emails. Their attack concept is simple- attach a rogue link asking for confidential information, pretend as if the email has come from a legitimate source and then just relax and wait for the innocent victims to fall prey. Security Firm Kaspersky has estimated that over 100,000 email users fall prey to such password phishing scams on an annual note. Remedy- Activating security features such as 2-factor authentication methods can help to beat those playing the password phishing games.
Unpatched software- To all those who are still using the Microsoft’s extinct Windows XP Operating systems, here’s a special note to grab your attention. Malware developers/ hackers are nowadays targeting computers which are operating on unpatched OSes. You can take the example of the May 2017’s Wannacry Ransomware which hit all unpatched systems of Microsoft. And the NotPetya Ransomware which targeted Windows systems in June this year. Remember, in both cases, hackers managed to sneak into the operating systems which lacked the latest security updates. Remedy- The only way to avoid cyber attacks on unpatched systems is to use the genuine software on your PC which helps in downloading security updates on an automatic note. Thus, it helps to make your computers and network less vulnerable to cyber attacks.
Social Media Requests- The popularity of LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter is such that it attracts the attention of the bad guys easily. In general, social media threats usually arrive as a rogue friend or application install request. And if you’re unlucky, then corporate hackers will love to exploit corporate social media accounts with ease. Remember, many of the today’s worst hacks started out as simple social media hacking. Example, the recent hack of HBO’s twitter account where hackers managed to hack HBO’s twitter page after gaining access to email credentials of Leslie Cohen, HBO’s Vice President for film Programming.
Social Engineering Attacks- In such attacks, a user is guided to a website where he/she is tricked to download malware. For instance, a Ukraine based company supplying tax-related software to its clients was cyber attacked by cyber crooks. And as a result of this attack, all its users were tricked to download malware in place of a software update. NOTE- M.E.Doc is the company which is being discussed over here. Remedy- Again user education on the latest happenings in the cyberspace can help in bringing down social engineering related cyber attacks. An up-to-date anti-malware solution can also help in isolating PCs and networks from such attacks.
