Cyber Security: Combating Malware, Botnets & Phishing AttacksPW Data
Cyber Security: Combatting Malware, Botnets & Phishing Attacks
Is your company losing to cyber criminals
As organisations put barriers in place to protect their data, attackers continue to release new varieties of computer crime and advanced ways of discovering and exploiting weaknesses. From powerful Botnets that can take websites offline for days to browser malware that undertakes fraudulent financial transactions.
Cybercrime is no longer a market for the faint-hearted, with highly skilled online criminals creating, buying and exchanging forward-thinking tools that enable them to embezzle confidential business data, disrupt business operations and steal personal information.
Given the current climate of cyber-attacks and the sheer scale of data theft that’s happening worldwide, it’s never been more important to implement effective data security to help keep your company safe. Cybercrime is more advanced than ever before. Sophisticated attackers wield compelling weapons in a bid to steal your data for financial gain. But how do they do it? What are these advanced cyber security attacks that are taking place and how do they work?
- Brutal Botnets
Bots are the most prominent form of malware threat to companies. They are a forceful weapon that attackers can use to target companies and individuals they consider to be threats. With a few keystrokes, botnets have the ability to control thousands of infected computers and, respectively, cause havoc for businesses.
Being able to launch DDoS attacks lets the owner of the bot network punish rivals, extort money under the threat of such an attack, and offer attack services to others.
Sending spam messages is another common motive for employing a botnet. The spammer uses infected computers as spam relays, which provides the spammer with effectively unlimited bandwidth, making it incredibly hard for the defenders to block or trace the source of the unwanted messages.
- Malicious Browser Malware
While botnets have become powerful tools for cyber attackers, online thieves are also turning their focus to the web browser. The browser is the most utilised application to access data, be it at home or at work, making it an attractive target. Cyber criminals can access a variety of sensitive transactions, from online banking to corporate sales management, all from your browser.
The browser includes powerful functionality to support the sophisticated requirements of modern web-based applications; these features create an ecosystem for malicious code to survive without directly interacting with the operating system.
Despite browsers having their own protection, browser hijacking is still a potential threat and requires close monitoring in order to improve the security level of the rapidly changing extension ecosystem.
- Fierce Phishing Attacks
Targeted email attacks are profitable, as they can easily fool victims into revealing sensitive data. It remains a popular tactic of phishing attacks because they’re able to obtain information such as credit card account details.
Targeted attacks often take the form of spear phishing campaigns, which personalise the attacker’s message to his audience. This increases the probability that recipients will be fooled into revealing confidential information. That said, many financial organisations have been adopting two or even three-factor authentication in an attempt to restrain this threat.
Email remains a popular attack trajectory because it’s efficient at bypassing network perimeter defences such as firewalls. And despite companies blocking dangerous email attachments from entering their network, attackers can rely on phishing-style social engineering techniques to download a malicious program via a connection that originates from the victim’s computer.
How Do I Make Data Security My Number One Priority?
Today’s cyber threats are multifaceted and continually adapting. Companies are facing a marketplace that encourages attackers to invest in better organisation and tools. This combined with single entity businesses often possessing only moderately static measures for protecting their data makes for a prevalent problem. After all, it takes time to organise new defensive technologies, correct the IT security architecture, and update employee proficiencies.
Unfortunately, the consequences of such cyber-attacks not only result in huge data loss, but also job losses, not to mention costly fines, so how can you ensure you’re not the next victim of an attack, and more importantly, how can you keep your business data safe?
Having a backup disaster recovery contingency plan can help! PW Data Group offers a dedicated backup and disaster recovery solution. For more information about how we can keep your data safe, contact PW Data Group today.