Cybersecurity Threats

Cybersecurity threats are becoming more of a threat than ever before. With the increased reliance on interconnected technology in our daily lives and businesses, hackers can gain access to sensitive data in any number of ways. Hackers today are responsible for all types of cyber threats, cyber threats meaning, and their methods are becoming more and more advanced each year.

To understand how to defend your network and its users from cyber attacks, you first need to understand what they are. All organizations are vulnerable to a cyber threat, meaning any potential attack that seeks to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information on a network. Ransomware attacks, alone, cost the world $20 billion in 2021. The key to protection is knowing what types of threats you are most at risk.

Utilizing tools like Trava’s Cyber Risk assessment can help you identify what types of attacks you need to defend against most urgently. No cybersecurity system is perfect. Hackers work around the clock to find any weaknesses they can in even the top-of-the-line security software and strategies. This is why there are a variety of attacks that target almost every point of an organization's security. Some cyber attack examples include:

• Phishing, Vishing, and Smishing
• Denial of Service (DoS)
• Man-In-The-Middle Attacks
• Synthetic Identity Fraud
• Ransomware

These are just a few of the attacks a hacker can use to gain access to private data. The rest of this article will go into further detail on what you can do to protect your networks from cyber threats, the advantages of updated cybersecurity, and the most common types of attacks used today. The best defense against cyber threats is prevention. By the time an organization realizes they are being attacked, it’s likely too late.

What Is Cybersecurity?

To understand cyber threats fully, one may want to start by better understanding cybersecurity as a whole. So, what is cybersecurity PDF books like Trava's ebook are great resources for getting a better understanding of the ins and outs of cybersecurity and how it applies to your company.

It's important to remember that effective cybersecurity goes far beyond security software. To protect against all of the different types of cybersecurity threats, an organization should keep hardware updated and their staff well trained and aware of the potential risks they are vulnerable to. Uneducated staff is one of the top cybersecurity risks there are, as hackers will often target human error as an entry point to sensitive data. Regular employee training and replacing outdated desktops and laptops are two crucial steps in mitigating cybersecurity risks of all kinds.

Types Of Cybersecurity

Knowing how to prevent cyber threats is not a simple task. Hackers today are organized and well-funded. They are always working towards finding even the smallest cracks in all the different types of cybersecurity in use. That doesn’t mean that these security methods are useless. Often times it takes weeks or even months for hackers to fully crack cybersecurity codes.

Integrating multiple types of cybersecurity is important these days because of the way technology and systems are interconnected to make work accessible for employees working remotely or those who are constantly on the go. Some of the important types of cybersecurity include:

• Critical infrastructure security: Any system vital to the operation of your business is deemed critical infrastructure. Securing these assets is of utmost importance for any business.
• Network security: The network an organization runs on is vulnerable to some of the biggest cybersecurity threats there are. Securing an organization's network can involve multiple technologies and software for adequate protection.
• Application security: Securing the different applications used within an organization is also a vital part of any cybersecurity strategy.
• Internet of Things (IoT) security: The business landscape today is increasingly reliant on wirelessly connected and synced devices. Printers, mobile devices, and even smart thermostats that share a wifi connection are all vulnerable to attack.
• Cloud security: As companies utilize cloud storage services more and more, they need to protect their cloud just as much as they protect the network as a whole.

This article will go into cybersecurity risks examples below, but these types of security can help lessen the risks posed to an organization’s security.

Advantages Of Cybersecurity

Despite hackers coming up with ways to crack all types of security, security companies are also always working to update and patch their products to ensure safety for their users. It is a constant game of cat-and-mouse. Without any cybersecurity, however, the hackers would have free reign to get whatever information they wanted whenever they want.

The advantages of cybersecurity are pretty straightforward. Hackers often target organizations with little to no security because they need to work fast. Even though no security is perfect, they do force the hackers to work hard to find a way in. In many cases, they won’t want to work that hard when they can find a company with outdated security and get what they need from them. Firewalls and cloud security are cybersecurity examples that help deter hackers from even bothering to attempt an attack. Especially in the case of small and medium-sized businesses, keeping your cybersecurity updated is the best way to keep hackers from even trying.

An introduction to cybersecurity PDF can help you and your IT team to get up to speed on the basics of what protection is and where it is most valuable. Beyond that, tools like Trava’s cyber risk assessment can help you pinpoint where your existing security is weakest and suggest how you can build up your defenses.

Top 10 Cybersecurity Threats

In today’s increasingly tech-centered business landscape, shockingly few people really understand cyber threats and the meaning of that phrase. Signing onto a public wifi network to get a little work done at your local coffee shop? High risk of a man-in-the-middle attack on all of the data on your laptop. Reusing passwords? Poor cyber hygiene can lead to a litany of brutal cyber attacks. With the help of our top 10 cybersecurity threats 2022 list, you can better understand what you can do to minimize your cybersecurity risks and keep your information safe.

1. Password Attacks / Poor Cyber Hygiene: Password attacks are one of the most widely known information security threats there are, and the threat is more prevalent now than ever before. Reusing passwords across accounts is a textbook example of poor cyber hygiene, yet almost half of us do this regularly anyway. By getting ahold of one password, a hacker gains access to all kinds of sensitive data.
2. Denial of Service (DoS/DDoS): Denial of service, or DoS attacks, are when a hacker overloads a server with information so that it can no longer respond to client requests. Distributed denial of service (DDoS) is the same only on a larger scale. Disrupting a company’s ability to process online requests can result in major losses of revenue and customer retention.
3. Man-in-the-Middle (MITM): Man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks are another familiar member of any recent top 10 cybersecurity threats list. As many workers have switched to remote positions, these attacks seem to be on the rise. Most commonly applied in public networks where a hacker finds a way to fit themselves in between the connection to filter and steal data.
4. Third-Party Exposure: A hacker can gain access to a less secure third-party network with access to yours, and use that to infiltrate your system and extract whatever they need. Therefore, if your company outsources jobs to third-party companies, you need to make sure your security team is constantly monitoring any suspicious activity from the third-party’s access points.
5. Internet of Things (IoT): Everything connects to the networks we use at work and home. Printers, thermostats, and even refrigerators all connect to private wifi networks, which means they can all be hacked. Still one of the newest entries in the list of cyber threats examples, security companies are still working on ways to better protect these devices.
6. Real-Time Payment Fraud: Real-time payment fraud occurs when hackers intercept real-time payments, especially those coming from mobile devices, and allow the criminal to instantly cash out by converting the money into cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency is still an unregulated space, allowing cyber criminals to work fast and disappear even faster.
7. Cloud Vulnerabilities: Many companies, especially those who provide services for a variety of clients remotely, utilize cloud storage for everything from creative company assets to sensitive customer data. Securing cloud storage should be at the forefront of any cybersecurity strategy.
8. Synthetic Identity Fraud: With the improvement of deepfake technology, hackers are able to build a 3D model of a person’s face that can trick facial recognition security measures. Facial recognition has become synonymous with biometric security and hackers wasted no time in developing a bypass.
9. Social Engineering: Human error is an easy target for hackers. Social engineering refers to threats like phishing and email impersonation that are designed to extract sensitive information from the people, not the systems themselves.
10. Ransomware: Another of the oldest and biggest cybersecurity threats around, ransomware attacks have become far more expensive than in past years. The average ransomware demand reached just over $200K in 2021 with many affected businesses reporting having to lose leadership and other jobs as a result of ransomware attacks.

Protecting your company against the increasingly dangerous cyber-attack landscape is not a simple task. Trava Security offers a range of tools to help identify security weaknesses and how to go about fortifying where needed. Contact Trava today to schedule a demo.