More common than you think, cybersecurity threats pose a huge risk to businesses, which lose millions a year due to poor IT security management.
Not only small or medium-sized companies have been victims of cyberattacks, but also giant companies that thought they were protected and that in the end saw their computer security violated. In this article we will see what the most common threats are, how they work and how to avoid them.
INDEX
- Ransomware
- Phishing or pharming.
- Denial of service (DDoS) attacks
- cyber attacks in the cloud
- Mobile malware attacks
- conclusion
It is no secret that companies are the main target of cybercriminals, data from Cybercrime magazine predicted that “cybercrime damage costs will reach $6 billion annually by 2021”, this compared to $3 billion in 2015 .
In addition, according to the study, the crimes would include damage and destruction of data, stolen money, loss of productivity, theft of intellectual property, theft of personal and financial data, embezzlement, fraud, damage to reputation, among others.
In fact, the business of stealing, buying and selling private and confidential information is expected to be more profitable than the global trade in illegal drugs.
What are the cybersecurity threats that companies should know about?
- Ransomware
What does? Access the company’s digital infrastructure and encrypt all data. When they try to open them, a warning appears informing them that they have been the victim of an attack, and how to proceed to pay the ransom.
How to avoid it? The best defense against data hijacking is to have current backups of all your most sensitive data. It is important to keep those backups in a fully encrypted place.
- Phishing or pharming.
What do they do? A method cybercriminals use to trick people into revealing personal information, such as passwords, credit card details, and bank account numbers. While phishing spreads through email, pharming spreads through fake sites and servers.
How to avoid them? Train the company’s collaborators in cybersecurity so that they know these tactics and know how to identify them.
- Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.
What does? A network of different computers overload the website with useless information, causing a crash and rendering it unusable.
How to avoid it? Although it is difficult to avoid a DDos attack, it is possible to prepare for one. Review the IPs that are accessing the server and look for those that are constantly sending requests in order to block them.
- cyber attacks in the cloud
What does? Similar to Ransomware, the attack looks for vulnerabilities in cloud storage, steals data and demands ransom.
How to avoid it? Ensure that the cloud provider runs assessments of its own code, as well as conduct regular scans to identify potential threats.
- Mobile malware attacks
What does? Different types of malware can be responsible for stealing information and money, spying through the cell phone’s camera or microphone, accessing chats and the gallery to extract personal photos or videos, in general, taking control of the device.
How to avoid it? It is important for both individuals and businesses to start encrypting their cell phones . If this is not possible, there is always the option of using tools such as encrypted messaging applications for totally secure and private communication and data transfer.
conclusion
The problem is growing and every day that passes, the attacks are more advanced, so it is necessary for companies to start implementing secure infrastructure and tools to counteract cyberattacks.
Bancolombia
