While it’s a good idea to never underestimate the ingenuity of a cybercriminal, it’s also a good practice to be mindful of the most common types of cyberattacks.
Specific techniques are in wide use today, and knowing how to mitigate them is essential to establishing and maintaining a strong sense of security for your employees, data and business relationships.
First, though, let’s address some of the impacts an attack might bring on an unsuspecting company. For instance, look no further than the third-quarter report from the Identity Theft Resource Center.
They noted that the number of victims of data-compromising attacks in Q3 of 2021 was 160 million. That’s higher than both Q1 and Q2 of that year combined, at 121 million. Unsecured cloud databases were a major culprit.
Be wary
In addition, there’s a physical cost to these breaches. IBM and the Ponemon noted in their 2021 cybersecurity report that the average cost of a data breach was $4.24 million, the most ever recorded. It also notes that breach costs are lowered when companies apply an AI solution (between $1.25-$1.49 million in savings) or a hybrid cloud approach ($3.61 million saved).
The online education resource Springboard details some of the more common types of cyberattacks in the past year, noting that prevention can lead to cost savings and more security overall for a company.
Phishing
This means emails or texts are used to fool unsuspecting users into downloading malicious code from a link on the device. Security software, better authentication and employee education can help prevent phishing.
Malware
In this case, malicious software can slow down or prevent work from other software. They are often downloaded from email attachments or through file-sharing unprotected material. Firewalls, prevention tools and code isolation can all be used to prevent it.
Ransomware
When a cybercriminal asks for a payment to unlock your own software, that’s ransomware. This can happen through engineering encryption and spam. Robust protection is necessary, usually even before it can take place.
Other threats — and ways to prevent them
Other attack methods include data breaches, Distributed Denial of Service Attacks (which add too much traffic to overload a system) or Man in the Middle Attacks (modifying or interception messages to breach security).
As for solutions to prevent cyberattacks, CHIPS has developed AppGuard, a Zero Trust endpoint protection product that stops the attack in its tracks — and even prevents it from taking place.
We have several webinars set for the winter to demonstrate AppGuard to see if it’s a solution for you. Go to our Calendly site to see dates and times. You can also learn about what we have to offer on our website.
