What Are the Biggest Cyber Threats?

We have discussed in this blog the importance of cybersecurity, especially for small businesses. Smaller companies risk bigger losses in case of hacking, and with cybercriminals constantly evolving their techniques and exploiting vulnerabilities, prevention is key.

When it comes to cyber threats, proactivity can be the difference between significant data loss and a prosperous business.

The first step in avoiding cyber threats is understanding how hackers operate and what are the most common issues businesses may face. In this article, we’ll dive into everything you should know to start with cybersecurity.

How do hackers work?

Hackers aim to gain unauthorised access to systems, exploit vulnerabilities, and manipulate or steal information. When businesses are victims of hacker attacks, they can lose data, resources and damage their reputation.

To protect your company and your systems from potential attacks, it is worth understanding how criminals work.

Reconnaissance

The first thing a hacker will do is gather information. In this reconnaissance phase, they will try to collect as much data as possible about the target, such as IP addresses, domain names, employee information, or system configurations.

To do so, criminals will use publicly available information to identify vulnerabilities or weak points.

Scanning and enumeration

After the reconnaissance phase, hackers scan the target’s network or systems to identify specific vulnerabilities or weaknesses.

They use automated tools to probe for open ports, identify network services and gather information about the target’s infrastructure.

At this stage, criminals will actively identify and extract valuable information like usernames, network shares, or system configurations.

Exploitation

Once hackers identify vulnerabilities, they attempt to exploit them to gain unauthorised access. They leverage various techniques, such as software issues, executing code, or social engineering, to deceive employees into revealing sensitive information or granting access.

Maintaining access

With access, hackers aim to maintain their foothold within compromised systems or networks.

They may create backdoors, install rootkits, or create hidden user accounts to ensure continued access if their initial entry point is discovered or closed.

Privilege escalation

After gaining initial access, hackers often seek to escalate their privileges to gain higher access levels within the system. This involves exploiting vulnerabilities or misconfigurations to obtain administrative or root-level access, allowing them to control and manipulate the system more effectively.

Post-exploitation

Once hackers have control over the compromised systems, they can carry out various malicious activities. These may include stealing sensitive data, modifying or deleting files, spreading malware, launching attacks or other systems, or establishing persistence within the network to maintain long-term access.

Covering tracks

Skilled hackers aim to cover their tracks to avoid detection and maintain their anonymity. They delete log files, alter timestamps, or manipulate system logs to hide their presence and actions.

By obscuring their activities, they make it difficult for system administrators and security professionals to identify and respond to the breach.

10 most common cyber threats

Now that we covered what hackers might do, we can look at the most common cyber threats businesses can fall victim to.

Understanding the dangers of digital life is a significant part of protecting your assets and interests from potential threats. Here we will cover ten issues that you should be aware of. If you’d like to learn more about cybersecurity and how to stay safe online, read some of our previous articles.

Phishing attacks

Phishing attacks can affect organisations and individuals. It is one of the most common threats in digital communication, and it involves fraudulent emails or messages designed to trick individuals into revealing sensitive information.

For example, it can come as a friendly email from a client, a partner or a person you know. The message will carry a link, and once you click on it, hackers might have access to your login credentials or financial details.

Since this is a threat targeted at individuals, people should be educated about phishing and how to avoid it, learning how to recognise fraudulent links and protect their data.

Ransomware

Ransomware has become increasingly common. It is a type of malware that encrypts a victim’s files, holding them hostage until a ransom is paid.

This type of attack can severely disrupt business operations and lead to data loss.

Regular data backups, robust security measures, and employee awareness are crucial to mitigate the risk of ransomware attacks. If you still have access to all your data elsewhere, hackers will have a hard time convincing you to pay a ransom.

Data breaches

When cybercriminals gain access to sensitive data, such as customer information, intellectual property, or financial records, it is a data breach.

Breaches can result from various vulnerabilities, including weak security protocols, insider threats, or targeted attacks.

There are many ways to protect data, and encryption, access controls, and systems for early detection are some of the most essential ones. Make sure you have security systems in place to avoid data breaches and potential legal liability.

Insider threats

Employees or individuals with authorised access to company systems might misuse their privileges. It is possible that they get involved in stealing data or sabotage.

Due to this, access controls are an essential part of cyber security. Not everyone needs access to every folder, file, or system. Also, make sure to monitor your infrastructure regularly, revise access privileges constantly and train your staff to mitigate the risks of insider threats.

Social engineering

Cybercriminals can manipulate individuals to obtain information or gain access to systems. Social engineering techniques include impersonating someone online, pretexting, or baiting.

The prevention of this type of threat lies heavily in training employees and implementing security protocols to validate identities. Ensure your staff understands their role in data protection and help them identify potential issues.

Advanced persistent threats (APTs)

APTs are long-term targeted attacks aimed at compromising specific targets, often with the goal of stealing sensitive information.

APTs involve sophisticated techniques like spear-phishing, zero-day exploits, and multi-stage attacks.

With such complex risks, businesses should have robust network security measures, threat intelligence, and regular monitoring systems to detect and mitigate ATPs quickly.

Malware infections

Malware, including viruses, worms, and spyware, can infect business systems through various means.

Once systems are infected, companies might experience operation disruptions, have data stolen or witness hacker attacks.

Antivirus software can help businesses avoid malware. Ensure systems are up-to-date to avoid vulnerabilities and educate employees about safe browsing.

DDoS attacks

Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks aim to overwhelm a target’s network or website, rendering it inaccessible to users.

This type of attack can disrupt business operations, cause revenue loss, and damage reputation.

To avoid DDoS attacks, businesses should implement robust network infrastructure, utilise mitigation services, and regularly test resilience against these threats.

Supply chain attacks

These attacks target vulnerabilities in the interconnected networks and systems of trusted third-party vendors or suppliers.

To perform this type of attack, criminals will compromise a weak link in the supply chain to gain access to the ultimate target. For this reason, it is important that companies also assess and monitor the security practices of their vendors and implement controls to reduce risks.

Internet of Things (IoT) vulnerabilities

IoT devices are becoming increasingly popular, even in business environments. However, they are also potential attack vectors.

Hackers can exploit insecurely configured or poorly protected IoT devices to gain unauthorised access to networks or gather sensitive data. Therefore, companies should implement security measures such as strong passwords, regular updates, and network segmentation to avoid attacks.

Conclusion

We have mentioned in this blog before that being the victim of a cyber security threat is a matter of when and not if. Technology plays such a central role in our daily lives that it is no surprise the biggest risks we currently face also come from digital environments.

Cyber security should be a priority for your business once you’ve learned about how system vulnerabilities can be exploited and what are the most common risks you might find.

Stratiis has a range of services to help you with all of your IT needs. Contact us to learn more.