Cyberattacks are a big issue. While technology can be an incredible boost to your business, be it through an online store or through social media presence and representation, it can also open your facilities up to malicious attacks designed to damage or steal information about your products and customers.
As reported by The National Cyber Security Centre, the UK alone has been affected by over 1,131 cyberattacks in a year, from October 2016 to October 2017, 590 of which has been classed as “significant”. This is a big threat, and the Centre are doing their best to prevent them, but what can users do? What cyberattacks should you be looking for? And how do they operate?
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Malware and Ransomware
Malware are programs designed to damage and steal data from computers. To avoid confusion, a computer virus is not necessarily malware; simply put, all computer viruses are malware, but not all malware are viruses. Ransomware is a particularly dangerous form of malware. It is a type of attack where an external program is downloaded onto a computer with access to a database. That program will then periodically lock and encrypt all the data on that database, and it will then demand a payment to release the data. As with phishing, malware attacks can begin from dangerous emails, but malware can also be introduced through infected websites, programs and social media applications.
Phishing
Phishing is a communication-based interaction, whereby an individual pretends to be part of a legitimate institution in order to lure other individuals into providing sensitive data such as personally identifiable information, banking card details and passwords through email, text messages and other methods. Phishing is a significant issue, as although certain schemes may seem obvious, others are a lot harder to spot. And once the information phishers are after has been obtained, they quickly act to cause damage and steal further data.
SQL Injection Attacks
A SQL injection, unlike malware, damages in an obvious manner, and is quite insidious in its operation. Essentially, a string of malicious code is inputted into your business databases through a security hole. This code then grants the attacker access to the infected database, and they can change and remove data at will, often for a period without being noticed.
DoS/DDoS Attacks
Unlike SQL injection attacks or phishing, DoS (Denial of Service) or DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks are purely designed to bring systems offline, with no theft of data. A good example of this in effect is the relatively recent DDoS attacks on Blizzard Entertainment. DoS attacks operate by flooding a server or website with connections, to the point where the online facilities cannot handle the number of connections being made. As the infrastructure struggles under the weight of the attack, systems are often forced to go offline.
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There are many more ways for online attacks to occur, but these are four incredibly common types that are particularly focussed on businesses. It is important to make a distinction between attacks designed to force infrastructure offline, like DDoS attacks, and attacks which try to steal data, like phishing and SQL injections. But with a bit of research, you can put into practice the safeguards required to protect your business from all of these threats and more.
