
How to protect yourself against Cyber Attacks?
Protect yourself against Cyber Attacks.
The
modern world is witnessing the usage of the Internet at a much faster pace.
With time, the number of Internet users is increasing rapidly. Thanks to
smartphones and highly efficient yet cost-effective computers. Another reason
is the hardworking developer community that has made development and use of the
software more and more easy with the requirement of lesser and lesser technical
sophistication. The capabilities of software programs have also enhanced
exponentially. The need for distributed computing and connectivity to the world
for staying updated on current trends is the reason for businesses to increase
their online presence. Some of these businesses are completely online with no
offline element in their service or product. With all the emphasis on
usability, an aspect has been mostly ignored since it has been a hurdle in
usability. The security of online assets is a factor that was getting less
attention than it deserved until the last four years. Cybercrimes were not that
frequent before 2013. The rise in internet usage has resulted in rise of
cybercrimes. The rise in cyber crimes resulted in an increased awareness of the
importance of cyber security. But, a single successful attack can be enough to
cause a loss of multi-billion dollars. Companies know it and hence are working
towards making their products safer. Today's cybercriminals are not part-time
amateurs or script kiddies, but state-sponsored adversaries and professional
criminals looking to steal information. While disruption and vandalism are
still prevalent, espionage has replaced hacktivism as the second main driving
force behind cyber attacks, after financial profit. Whatever the motive, many
security teams are struggling to keep their IT systems secure. Cyber attacks
are launched against organizations every day: According to Check Point
Research, in the fourth quarter of 2021, there was an all-time peak in weekly
cyber attacks, reaching over 900 attacks per organization, while IT Governance
reported 34.9 million records breached in June 2022 alone. A RiskIQ study
estimated that cybercrime costs organizations $1.79 million every minute. These
costs are both tangible and intangible, including not only direct loss of
assets, revenue and productivity, but also loss of business confidence, trust
and reputational damage. Cybercrime is built around the efficient exploitation
of vulnerabilities, and security teams are always at a disadvantage because
they must defend all possible entry points, while an attacker only needs to
find and exploit one weakness or vulnerability. This asymmetry highly favors
any attacker, with the result that even large enterprises struggle to prevent
cybercriminals from monetizing access to their networks -- networks that
typically must maintain open access and connectivity while trying to protect
enterprise resources.
Cyber
attacks can significantly hamper business operations as companies greatly rely
on technology, social media, and the Internet to manage costs and maintain a
competitive advantage. Being cyber resilient can help a company prevent loss of
revenues, business downtime, several unforeseen costs, and legal liabilities
that come bundled with a cyber breach. Companies, whether small or large or of
any industry, can become a target of a cyber attack. It is thus imperative that
businesses take preventative measures and adopt a serious approach to cyber
security to help minimize risk. Efficient cyber resilience can enhance your
business’ reputation, its brand image, protect from losses and much more. Here
are some measures that one can take to safeguard himself / herself against
Cyber Attacks.
Use
an Internet Security Suite: If you know anything at all about a computer and
the internet, the chances are very high that you might be using an antivirus
already (And if not then do not take the risk unless you are seasoned cyber
security professional with data backups in place). An antivirus program
combined with an internet security program set helps you in:
·
Avoiding
malicious downloads done by mistake.
·
Avoiding
malicious installs done by mistake.
·
Preventing
from being a victim to Man In The
Middle Attack(MITM)
·
Protection
from phishing.
·
Protection
from damage that trojan horses may cause. Some Trojan Horses are built in a way
that the majority of the code is for doing useful and seemingly innocent things
while a small portion does something nasty like acting as backdoor or
escalating privileges.
Learn
how to detect a potential social engineering attack: Whether in the
form of phishing, ransomware, or pretexting — among others — social engineering
attacks are dangerous and often hard to pinpoint. The ability to detect them as
soon as possible is vital to protecting your organization against such cyber
threats.
Every
single member of your organization should learn how to detect a potential
social engineering attack. All it takes is one employee to click on the wrong
link or send personal information to the wrong person, for a large-scale data
breach to occur.
Here’s
a list of data and communication exchanges that you should think twice about
before offering or engaging in:
·
Requests
for user or shared credentials
·
Requests
for contractual or financial information
·
Requests
for personal information
·
Unusual
or suspicious links and files
·
Unusual
or suspicious phone calls
Use
Strong Passwords:
This can’t be emphasized enough. If you have “qwerty123” as your bank’s
password and a lot of money in the account, you must be ready for a surprise
transaction. You should not fully rely on the rate-limiting measures used by
websites that you visit. Your password should be strong enough to be
practically unbreakable. A strong password is one that is 12+ characters long
and contains a diverse use of alphabets(both cases), numbers and symbols (and
spaces). Setting a really unbreakable password should not be difficult
specially when there are help available as random password generators. You can
use this one or this one. 3. Keep Your Software Up-to-Date: Despite the
developer’s best intention to create secure software and thorough reviews from
the security teams, there are unfortunately many zero-days that are revealed
once the software is being used by a large user base. Companies are well aware
of this fact and that is why they release frequent updates to patch these
vulnerabilities. This is the reason why those updates, however annoying they
may be, are important. They help in preventing attacks that can easily skip the
radar of the antivirus programs on your computer. 4. Avoid Identity Theft:
Identity theft is when someone else uses your personal information to
impersonate you on any platform to gain benefits in your name while the bills
are addressed for you. It’s just an example, identity theft can cause you to
damage more serious than financial losses. The most common reason for identity
theft is improper management of sensitive personal data. There are some things
to be avoided when dealing with personally identifiable data:
·
Never
share your Aadhaar/PAN number(In India) with anyone whom you do not know/trust.
·
Never
share your SSN (in the United States of America) with anyone whom you do not
know/trust.
·
Do
not post sensitive data on social networking sites.
·
Do
not make all the personal information on your social media accounts public.
·
Do
not fill personal data on the website that claim to offer benefits in return.
Implement
multi-factor authentication and password management: Password
management policies and multi-factor authentication (MFA) are essential when it
comes to securing your devices. While a password’s role is straight forward,
consistently rotating a strong and randomized password is just as crucial. It’s
important to change all default passwords on your devices, as this is a
vulnerability often exploited by threat actors. And of course, never share your
passwords — with anyone. MFA is also key to securing your systems, as it forces
the user to confirm their credentials through a secure, secondary application
every time a device is used.
Keep
up with software and hardware best practices: Software and
hardware physical security best practices help to ensure that you’re doing all
you can to secure your organization, whether it be choosing systems with
built-in defense functions or regularly updating your software and hardware.
Choosing systems with built-in layers of defense strengthens your
organization’s cybersecurity the minute they’re up and running. With many solutions
containing built-in security functions like data encryption and endpoint
protection, these obstacles make it harder for threat actors to penetrate your
systems. When it comes to software updates, many overlook the important role
that they play in helping to secure your organization. Prioritize updating the
software and firmware on all your devices, as this allows them to function at
their optimal level. Product updates often provide critical fixes for newfound
vulnerabilities.
Choose
the right technology:
Finding a technology provider that offers the solutions you need, all while
operating with transparency, is not easy. While it may take time to decide
which vendor is the right fit for your organization, it’s an important step
towards shaping your ideal security solution. Most vendors offer their
customers hardening guides — guides that provide tips on how to keep your
system secure — so ask the right questions to ensure you receive your vendors’
relevant data and privacy protection policies. Choosing the right technology is
central to a strong cybersecurity strategy, as operating with transparency and
maintaining clear communication around vulnerabilities allows your organization
to create an optimal cybersecurity strategy.
The
more people and devices a network connects, the greater the value of the
network, which makes it harder to raise the cost of an attack to the point
where hackers give up. Metcalfe's law asserts that the value of a network is
proportional to the square of its connected users. So, security teams have to
accept that their networks will be under constant attack, but by understanding
how different types of cyber attacks work, mitigating controls and strategies
can be put in place to minimize the damage they can do. Here are the main points
to keep in mind: Hackers, of course, first need to gain a foothold in a network
before they can achieve whatever objectives they have, so they need to find and
exploit one or more vulnerabilities or weaknesses in their victim's IT
infrastructure. Vulnerabilities are either human- or technology-based, and
according to a recent IBM "Cyber Security Intelligence Index Report,"
human error was a major contributing cause in 95% of all breaches. Errors can
be either unintentional actions or lack of action, from downloading a
malware-infected attachment to failing to use a strong password. This makes
security awareness training a top priority in the fight against cyber attacks,
and as attack techniques are constantly evolving, training needs to be
constantly updated as well to ensure users are alerted to the latest types of
attack. A cyber attack simulation campaign can assess the level of cyber
awareness among employees with additional training where there are obvious
shortcomings. While security-conscious users can reduce the success rate of
most cyber attacks, a defense-in-depth strategy is also essential. These should
be tested regularly via vulnerability assessments and penetration tests to
check for exploitable security vulnerabilities in OSes and the applications
they run. End-to-end encryption throughout a network stops many attacks from
being able to successfully extract valuable data even if they manage to breach
perimeter defenses. To deal with zero-day exploits, where cybercriminals
discover and exploit a previously unknown vulnerability before a fix becomes
available, enterprises need to consider adding content disarm and
reconstruction to their threat prevention controls as it assumes all content is
malicious so it doesn't need to try to detect constantly evolving malware
functionality. Finally, security teams need to proactively monitor the entire
IT environment for signs of suspicious or inappropriate activity to detect
cyber attacks as early as possible -- network segmentation creates a more
resilient network that is able to detect, isolate and disrupt an attack. And,
of course, there should be a well-rehearsed response plan if an attack is
detected.
With
the broad range of opportunities that Internet has opened for you also comes
the risk of cyber attacks. Attackers are on the lookout to try to steal your
money, information, or even disrupt your business. It is time to fight these
attacks, as most of such cyber attacks can be prevented or detected with basic
security practices. Being diligent about cyber security at the workplace as
well as at home can make an enormous difference towards efficient cyber
resilience.
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