In real life we need security persons to guard us against any infiltration or attacks but in virtual life, we need cybersecurity. Everyone is online nowadays. From small, medium or large corporates to normal person, everyone have online assets. And these assets need to be guarded. From computers, data, systems, networks to programs, everything needs to be guarded from cybersecurity threats. The purpose of these cyber attacks is usually accessing, manipulating sensitive information, extorting money or changing business processes.
Threats to CYBER SECURITY: –
For Cybersecurity to be effective in an organisation, an organisation needs to be secured in the following domains:-
- Network Security
If you want to secure your computer network from intruders, then you need Network Security. The intrusion may be of a targeted attacker or opportunistic malware.
- Application Security
The primary role of application security is to keep your software and devices threat free. If an application is compromised, it could lead to data breach. The process of securing an application starts much before deploying a program or device.
- Information Security
Protection of privacy and integrity of data while storing or in transit is called Information Security
- Endpoint Security
For a business to survive, remote access is very important. It is also a very weak point for data. If you want to protect remote access to company’s network, you need to ensure Endpoint Security.
- Data Security
The core of networks and applications is data. You need to add a separate layer of security for protecting company and customer information.
- Identity Management
How an individual accesses anything in an organisation is identity management.
- Operational Security
The processes and decisions involved for handling or protecting data assets. When accessing a network, the kind of permissions users have and data storage procedures come under this.
- Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity
In case if there is a breach or a natural disaster or any other accident, data must be protected and business must continue. The disaster recovery policies help an organisation to restore its operations and information to get to the initial operating capacity.
- Database/infrastructure security
A Network requires databases and physical equipment. It is important to protect these devices.
- Cloud Security
Today’s organisations keep their data in the cloud. So it is imperative to protect the data that is kept online.
- Mobile Security
Mobile device security is another challenge that is very important part of cybersecurity.
The greatest challenge to cybersecurity is the fact that new risks keep on evolving. Each year we face new form of data breaches. According to reports, around 8 billion records were exposed due to data breaches in first half of 2019. And if we compare this to previous year, the figure is just double.
Most breaches occur with medical services, public entities or retailers with mischievous criminals responsible for the breach. The attacker particularly financial and medical records but any business that uses networks can be a target for the attackers.
After the corona pandemic, the scale of cyber attacks is only going to rise. According to International Data Corporation, worldwide spending on cyber security will reach around $140 billion by 2022. Governments around the world have realised the cyber threat and are greatly involved in implementing cybersecurity.
US created NIST in order to fight the spread of hostile code and help early detection. This framework helps in real-time monitoring of each electronic resource.
Kinds of Cyber Threats: –
There are three kinds of cyber-security threats: –
- Cyber-crime
These are single actors or groups that target systems in order to cause disruption or financial gain.
- Cyber-attack
These are politically motivated gathering of information
- Cyber-terrorism
This is used to cause panic or fear and undermine electronic systems.
Malware
A malware is a kind of malicious software and is one of the major cyber threats. Malware is a kind of software that a hacker/cybercriminal creates to damage or disrupt an authorized user’s PC. It often spreads through an unwanted email attachment or some downloads that look legit. The main motive of malware by cybercriminals is to carry out cyberattacks or to make money.
The different kinds of malware include: –
- Virus: A virus is a program that attaches itself to a clean file and spreads throughout the computer and infects them with bad code.
- Trojan-Horse: This is a kind of malware that acts as an authorized software. Cybercriminals trick users to upload the Trojan-horse on their computer in order to cause damage or collect the data.
- Spyware: A spyware is a program that secretly records what a user does and provides the information to the cybercriminals. For eg. Spyware can capture the details of your credit card.
- Ransomware: This is a kind of malware that locks user’s files and data and threatens to erase it until the payment of a ransom.
- Adware: This is advertising software that can spread malware.
- Botnets: These are networks of computers infected by malware. Cybercriminals use these to perform tasks online without the permission of the user.
SQL Injection
One of the popular cybersecurity threats used by Cybercriminals is an SQL (Structured Query Language) injection. This kind of cyber-attack is used to steal the data and take control of the database. Using SQL Injection, cybercriminals exploit the vulnerabilities in data-driven applications by inserting mischievous code into the database. They use SQL codes to access important information in the database.
Phishing
When cybercriminals send malicious emails to their targets that appear to be from a legitimate company and asking for information that is legitimate, it’s called Phishing. These kinds of attacks are often used to target people to get credit card data or other personal data.
Man-In-The-Middle Attack
Another kind of cybersecurity threat where communication between two people is intercepted with the intention of stealing data. For instance, consider an unsecured Wi-Fi network; a hacker can easily access the data being transferred from the victim’s device to the network.
Denial-of-service
Another common cybersecurity threat is Denial of service attack. During this attack, cybercriminals stop computer systems to access the internet properly. This makes the system unusable. Thus, preventing the organisation from performing necessary functions.
New cybersecurity threats keep on evolving. Some latest cybersecurity threats that have recently evolved include:-
- Dridex Malware
This malware came in December 2019. This malware affected government, public, business and infrastructures throughout the world. Dridex steals financial data. The Trojan infects computers with existing malware or phishing e-mail. It can steal banking details, passwords or personal data.
- Romance Scams
Cybercriminals make use of chat rooms, dating sites and apps to steal personal data. In Feb 2020, FBI warned US citizens of confidence frauds that are committed on dating sites.
- Emotnet
This is another Trojan that can steal data or load malware. This came in late 2019 in Australia.