Tag Archive for: malware

The Most Common Types Of Cyber Threats

We live in a digital world. Most people are online multiple times a day, on their computer, their phone, their tablet. Every time a person goes online, they risk a cyberattack, and these cyberattacks can be detrimental to both a person and a company. 

The compromising of personal data can ruin a person’s credit, destroy their credibility, and create a mess that takes months to clean up. The compromising of a company’s data can ruin their reputation, send them bankrupt, and get the company charged with a crime or civil suit. 

It’s essential to protect this data against hackers and their attacks, but these attacks come from all different places, and they take different shapes. Here are some of the most common cybersecurity attacks.

Phishing attacks

Phishing happens when a hacker tricks someone into opening an email or text message. The victim is usually sent a link to open. Clicking the link causes the system to freeze, revealing sensitive information. Malware can also be installed at this time. It’s often used in an attempt to steal credit card numbers or login information. 

Phishing can be used to attack government or corporate networks. Employees are compromised so the hacker can gain access to the system. It can also be used to steal information from a small to mid-sized businesses, as often their security isn’t as tight. Using an MSP can mitigate this risk for smaller businesses. 

Malware attacks

Malware is a code written to compromise a system without user consent. Different types of malware, including ransomware, control, command, and spyware are often used in cyberattacks. It spreads across vulnerable networks, causing changes and damage, and it can remain undetected if the system is not monitored. Malware can easily destroy an infected network.

Man-in-the-Middle attacks

These breaches allow an attacker to listen to communications between two parties. Attackers listen to conversations between two entities having a legitimate conversation. By intercepting the public key message transmission, changing out the requested key with the hackers key, and retransmitting the message, the attacker can steal information they should not have access to. The legit parties have no idea the attacker has modified the key and ultimately controls the whole communication. 

SQL injection

SQL injection employs malicious code that ultimately manipulates backend databases, giving access to sensitive company data, customer details, and user lists. SQL injection attacks can delete entire tables, view user lists, and even give the attacker access to administrative databases. This can have a devastating effect on small to mid-sized businesses and quickly cause distrust from your customers. These attacks often target websites but can hit SQL databases as well. Monitoring your networks consistently can help protect against these attacks.

Distributed denial-of-service attack

These attacks look to shut down your network, causing it to be inaccessible to your customers and employees. It overwhelms the network with traffic and floods it with information, causing it to crash. 

Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks target web servers of high-profile companies like media, e-commerce, and banking. These attacks in and of themselves don’t result in the loss of information, but they can be used to distract from other attacks, as they take time and money to investigate. 

Password Attack

Password attacks attempt to obtain a user’s password. They often use computer algorithms to continuously try to guess the password. The computer will just keep trying different combinations until it figures it out. Once it does, the hacker has access to all of your data. The best defense for this attack is frequently changing your passwords and having perimeters for employees to use when setting their passwords. 

Many businesses are moving to the cloud to help prevent attacks, as the cloud offers better security to a company.  Managed service providers can monitor security 24/7 and help companies protect their data and ensure the company’s survivability. 

Choosing the Right Firewall for Your Business

As we covered in another post, firewalls are a critical aspect of any network security platform. That’s because a firewall stands as your network’s first line of defense from malicious external attacks. If your business is looking to upgrade to the latest in firewall technology, here are three critical factors you should consider before making a decision.

Threat Protection

Security threats are continuously evolving, so your security platform needs the flexibility to do so as well. An effective firewall solution offers these three capabilities:

  • Next-Level Visibility: The ideal firewall solution maximizes visibility across your network. From providing real-time data on your userbase, hosts, network, and devices, your firewall should allow you to monitor your network like never before.
  • The Latest Malware Protection: Your firewall needs to deliver continuous monitoring capabilities to detect, track, and remediate any potential threats on your network with minimal human intervention.
  • Responsive Threat Intelligence: To respond to the latest security threats, your firewall platform needs responsive threat capabilities to keep your operations protected today and tomorrow.

Balancing Costs and Benefits

Cost is frequently the No. 1 factor small- and medium-size businesses use in their decision-making. The right firewall platform should drive cost savings by freeing up your team and minimizing downtime. Here’s how:

  • Preventing Breaches: The right firewall effectively prevents breaches with minimal intervention, so you can reduce the downtime that comes with investigating potential network breaches.
  • Automating Processes: With advanced automation strategies such as intelligent tuning, analytics, monitoring, and threat correlation, your firewall solution should minimize the manual labor required to protect your network.
  • Prioritizing Alerts: To keep your network protected, you need a firewall system that sends alerts in real time, so you can be confident your network is ready to go.

Intuitive at Every Step

Since your team has limited time and resources, you need a straightforward firewall solution that never slows them down. The right firewall should be:

  • Easy to Buy: To take advantage of the latest network security solutions, you need a vendor that makes the purchase process as simple as possible. Find a partner that offers flexible financing options and monthly payments so you can access tomorrow’s technology today.
  • Easy to Deploy: Your organization can’t afford excessive downtime to deploy a firewall solution. With a firewall that’s easy to install and deploy, you can start protecting your operations from day one.
  • Easy to Manage: The right firewall solutions never slow your team down. Make sure your firewall offers an intuitive user interface that makes it easy to identify and address network issues.

Springfield IT Support

If you need help finding the ideal firewall solution for your business, a managed security service provider (MSSP) like PCnet can help. Get in touch with our security experts today, and we’ll start exploring the options for securing your network.