10 Common Cybersecurity Threats and How to Avoid Them
The online world has become increasingly important over the last few decades. We work online; we chat with friends online; we use online streaming and gaming services to relax.
What some people don't realize is that their internet use may leave them open to attack from various cybersecurity threats.
Clever hackers have developed dozens of different types of cybersecurity threats that can put your information at risk, ranging from viruses to hijacked webpages to seemingly innocent social media posts.
The best way to protect your information (aside from improving your cybersecurity) is to educate yourself on the most common cybersecurity attacks you might come across. That's where this article comes in.
Read on to learn about the ten of the most common cybersecurity risks experienced today.
1. Phishing
There's a type of cybersecurity threat that most people are familiar with, but they may not know the name: phishing. Phishing is an incredibly common style of cyberattack that usually comes in the form of an email.
These emails pretend to be from a legitimate source - for instance, Paypal. The email might say that your Paypal account has been hacked and you need to sign in to fix something.
When you click the provided link and sign in, you're actually sending your login info to hackers.
The easiest way to avoid this: check the email address of the sender to make sure it's actually affiliated with the company it claims it's from.
2. Social Engineering
Social engineering is an insidious form of data collection that masquerades as a normal social media post. You've likely seen them before: posts that say things like, "What was the most popular movie the week you were born?"
When you answer, you're giving a hacker the tools they need to learn common login info, like your birth date or the answers to security questions.
Social engineering is, in many ways, the evolution of phishing. It's a constantly evolving threat that you should keep abreast of.
3. Malware Worms
Malware is another common cybersecurity risk you may have heard of. It comes in many forms, but one of the most frustrating is the malware worm, which is able to replicate.
A worm is a virus that can disguise itself as an email attachment and send itself off to the people in your contact list. Be careful about opening attachments, even from people you trust - they may be malware in disguise.
4. Ransomware
Ransomware is another kind of malware. This virus installs itself onto your system; from there, it prevents you from accessing important files or programs until you've paid a fee.
In other words, it holds your computer for ransom - hence the name.
These are usually the result of clicking a bad link, so be wary of emails and sites with suspicious links. Of course, your best defense is to beef up your antivirus software.
5. Denial of Service Attack
A denial-of-service attack occurs when a hacker creates a significant amount of 'junk' traffic to overload a system. Bots are used to flood a website or service with so many fake requests that it can't process legitimate ones.
Denial of service attacks can cripple an unprepared system, rendering it useless. Like social engineering, denial of service attacks are on the rise, and they pose serious threats to many businesses.
6. Zero-Day Exploit
Zero-day exploits occur when a software or hardware producer recognizes a vulnerability in their own product and has to issue an announcement about it to their customers.
Once the information is out there, unscrupulous people will work to exploit that vulnerability before the producer is able to create a patch to fix the problem.
10 Common Cybersecurity Threats and How to Avoid Them
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The good news about zero-day exploits is that they only work within a limited timeframe, and the software developer is actively working on a fix - you just need to stay safe until they implement that fix.
7. SQL Injection
SQL stands for Structured Query Language. SQL queries are the strings of code that are sent to servers when a user wants to retrieve information. In an SQL injection attack, hackers create malicious SQL queries.
This is usually done to give the user access to information that they shouldn't be able to get.
A good firewall is the best way to prevent SQL injection.
8. Trojan Virus
Another famous bit of malware, Trojan viruses disguise themselves as regular software. What seems like a legitimate download link for a program or file is actually a virus.
Trojans are named after the famous Trojan Horse, since they use an innocent disguise to sneak into your system before attacking.
There are two ways to avoid infection from a Trojan virus. The first is to only download files from trusted sources (that's a good way to avoid most of these cybersecurity risks, in fact). The second is to get a good antivirus.
9. Traffic Interception
Traffic interception is a cybersecurity threat where a third party monitors information sent between a user and a host (such as a website). It's a sort of digital eavesdropping that allows the hacker to collect sensitive data.
The most common type of data gathered this way is sign-in information.
Try to avoid websites with poor encryption, as they're more likely to have their traffic intercepted.
10. Man in the Middle Attack
A man-in-the-middle attack is a bit like traffic interception, but more active on the hacker's part; rather than simply monitoring information sent between two parties, the hacker inserts themselves between them.
This usually happens in chat spaces, such as customer support rooms. The user thinks they're talking to a customer support representative, but they're actually chatting with a hacker looking to steal data.
Say you have a problem with your online banking service and you decide to chat with customer support. A hacker might impersonate the support person and ask you to send them your banking info.
Again, good encryption is key to avoiding this kind of attack.
Protect Yourself From Cybersecurity Threats
Cybersecurity threats are a serious concern. On a personal level, they can compromise your accounts, your banking information, and more; on a corporate level, they can be absolutely devastating.
Knowing how to avoid cybersecurity risks is an important way to protect your data. Increasing your own cybersecurity is the next step. Book a FREE consultation today to start the process to improve your cybersecurity and keep your information safe!
