Top 4 Cyberthreats to Businesses

Business cybersecurity is a constant concern, and attacks are becoming more sophisticated and frequent. Understanding the most common threats is the first step in protecting your company. Here are four of the most frequent ways businesses get attacked.

Phishing

Phishing is a type of social engineering attack where a cybercriminal impersonates a trustworthy entity to trick an employee into revealing sensitive information, such as login credentials or credit card numbers, or downloading malicious software. Phishing attacks are a major cause of data breaches.

There are different types of phishing attacks:

• Spear phishing - This is a highly targeted attack that uses personalized information about an employee or company to make the scam more believable.
• Whaling - This is a specific type of spear phishing that targets high-level executives, like a CEO or CFO, to gain access to their privileged accounts.

Malware

Malware, short for malicious software, is designed to disrupt computer operations, steal data, or gain unauthorized access to a network. It's often delivered through phishing emails or infected websites. Once on your system, it can cause various types of damage. One of the most destructive types of malware is ransomware, which encrypts your files and holds them hostage until you pay a ransom. 

Distributed Denial-of-Service Attacks

A DDoS attack is a cybercrime where the attacker floods a server, website, or network with a massive amount of internet traffic. The goal is to overwhelm the target, making it slow down or crash completely, thus denying service to legitimate users. Imagine a store being flooded with so many people that real customers can't get in—that's what a DDoS attack does to a network. These attacks can be launched by a network of infected devices called a botnet. 

Insider Threats

An insider threat is a security risk that comes from within an organization. This isn't always a malicious act. There are two main types of insider threats:

Malicious insiders

These are current or former employees, contractors, or partners who intentionally misuse their access for personal gain, revenge, or to collaborate with outside attackers.

Negligent insiders

This is a much more common threat. These are employees who unintentionally create a security risk through carelessness or human error, such as falling for a phishing scam, losing a company device, or using a weak password.

If you would like some help managing the threats to your IT and operations, give the IT experts at Aspire Technical a call at (480) 212-5153 today.