Cybersecurity aims to protect individuals’ and organizations’ systems, applications, computing devices, sensitive data and financial assets against computer viruses, sophisticated and costly ransomware attacks, and more.
Cyberattacks have the power to disrupt, damage or destroy businesses, and the cost to victims keeps rising.
For example, according to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach 2023 report:
Malware—short for “malicious software”—is any software code or computer program that is written intentionally to harm a computer system or its users. Almost every modern cyberattack involves some type of malware.
Hackers and cybercriminals create and use malware to gain unauthorized access to computer systems and sensitive data, hijack computer systems and operate them remotely, disrupt or damage computer systems, or hold data or systems hostage for large sums of money (see Ransomware).
Ransomware is a type of malicious software. It is designed to extort money by blocking access to files or the computer system until the ransom is paid. Paying the ransom does not guarantee that the files will be recovered or the system restored.
Social engineering is a tactic that adversaries use to trick you into revealing sensitive information. They can solicit a monetary payment or gain access to your confidential data. Social engineering can be combined with any of the threats listed above to make you more likely to click on links, download malware, or trust a malicious source.
A DDoS attack attempts to crash a server, website or network by overloading it with traffic, usually from a botnet—a network of multiple distributed systems that a cybercriminal hijacks by using malware and remote-controlled operations.
Phishing attacks are email, text or voice messages that trick users into downloading malware, sharing sensitive information or sending funds to the wrong people. Most users are familiar with bulk phishing scams—mass-mailed fraudulent messages that appear to be from a large and trusted brand, asking recipients to reset their passwords or reenter credit card information. But more sophisticated phishing scams, such as spear phishing and business email compromise (BEC), target specific individuals or groups to steal especially valuable data or large sums of money.
Phishing is just one type of social engineering—a class of ‘human hacking’ tactics and attacks that use psychological manipulation to tempt or pressure people into taking unwise actions.
Understanding and staying ahead of ever-evolving cyber threats while deploying a consistent, coordinated network defense is critical to the success of your business. Planning the right defensive strategy will allow you to be prepared in case of an attack.
Email, social media and mobile devices are essential tools in today’s work, but they are also the tools most targeted by cybercriminals to launch their attacks. The more you rely on these new technologies and communication tools, the more effort you will have to put into protecting people, data and your brand from the new threats that surround them.
Today’s hackers are taking advantage of companies’ openness to these new technologies, targeting people wherever they work, no longer just within the company perimeter. It is therefore essential to always stay up to date on the latest attack methods and cybersecurity threats to be able to protect your company from data breaches and compromises.
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