With over one million cyber attacks every single day, it’s more important than ever to protect yourself.
A cyber attack is an attempt to steal data, cause damage, or breach a computer’s system in order to launch further attacks. They take many forms and anyone can be a target.
The first step to better cyber protection is simply knowing more. So, here are the most common ways cyber criminals try to attack your systems.
Malware
One of the most well-known forms of cyber attack. Malware is the blanket name covering all types of malicious software.
Malware includes:
Viruses – Attaches themselves to initialization sequences and creates copies of itself.
Trojans – Hides inside useful programs, often creating a backdoor into a system.
Worms – Self-contained programs that propagate across computers and networks, often through email attachments.
Ransomware – Steals data and threatens to destroy or publish unless a ransom is paid.
Spyware – Collects private information about the user, their system, or their browsing habits.
Phishing
Phishing is when a criminal attempts to use social engineering to steal important data, like login information or credit card numbers, thus bypassing cyber security.
While emails are still in use, phishing now includes instant & text messaging along with major social media platforms. Posing as a trustworthy source, an attack can result in unauthorized purchases, loss of money, and even identity theft.
This type of attack also goes hand in hand with malware. Many phishing attempts try to get you to open an unsafe link or download an untrustworthy program.
Man-in-the-Middle
Never send information or credit card information on an unsecure, public WI-FI. If you do, you’re vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks.
Attackers can wedge themselves into the middle of a two-party transaction to steal and manipulate data. This type of attack is very hard to detect as the victim believes the information is going to the right place.
Avoid public WI-FI for any computers (or phones) with critical information.
Denial-of-Service
Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks are those that attempt to overload a system, causing service denial and outages.
Individuals are not the target for this type of attack. Instead, it aims to take businesses and larger systems offline, priming them for further attacks.
Structured Query Language Injection
If you have any sort of data management system for your business, it uses Structured Query Language (SQL), which makes it vulnerable to an SQL Injection.
SQL Injection is when an attacker inserts malicious code into a system, forcing it to return information it would not normally reveal. It can be as simple as inserting the code into a website’s search box.
Zero-Day Exploit
A Zero-Day Exploit is when an attacker finds a vulnerability in a system before it is known to interested parties.
In the period directly after an exploit is found and before a solution is implemented is where Zero-Day Exploits live. They are especially troublesome if you don’t have constant monitoring of your systems or agile cyber security.
Domain Name System Tunneling
What is the Domain Name System (DNS)? It’s basically the phone book of the Internet and is the way people access information.
DNS Tunneling disguises malicious programs and protocols as DNS queries and responses. It can be used to extract information from a victim’s computer or even give the cyber criminal control of the computer.
While there are more types of cyber attacks, these are the most common.
Protecting yourself and your systems from these malicious attacks can be difficult. Knowing what they are and the best practices for avoiding them helps. What helps most is having a dedicated team of cyber security experts from Livelinx on your side.
Check out all our services such as IT Management Services, Phone Systems, and Network Cabling.
2 thoughts on “What Are The 7 Most Common Forms of hostile Cyber Attacks?”
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