Cybersecurity Risks and How to Prevent Them

“There are only two types of companies: those that have been hacked, and those that will be. Even that is merging into one category: those that have been hacked and will again.” – Robert Mueller, Director of the FBI

According to a Cybersecurity report by Cisco, 31% of organizations have at some point encountered cyber-attacks on their operations technology.

Here are the most common Cybersecurity risks and how to prevent them:

Password Theft: a third party managed to steal or guess your password to steal information.

Prevent password theft by using different, complex passwords for every account. Never use your password on unsecured wifi and we wary of social engineering tricks. To further insure that your passwords are protected, use two-factor authentication.

Phishing Attacks: Typically, phishing attacks are sent via a message like email, and requests sensitive information. These emails can appear legitimate with familiar logos and user names.

Prevent phishing attacks by using a spam filter and being wary of suspicious emails. If there are many spelling or syntax errors, vague details, suspicious links or files, and/or a domain name that does not match, do not respond.

Malware: Malware is software that is specifically designed to disrupt, damage, and gain unauthorized access to a computer system. Malware can steal information, gain access to programs, delete files, and spread itself to other systems.

Prevent malware by using an up-to-date anti-malware program and avoid clicking on suspicious links, files, and websites.

Ransomware: A variant of malware, ransomware prevents access to a system’s functionalities until a ‘ransom’ is paid to a third party.

Prevent ransomware by using an up-to-date anti-virus software and by avoiding suspicious links, file, and websites. You should keep a current back up of your system and files to further prevent a catastrophic loss in case of a ransomware attack.

Trojan Virus: a Trojan Virus disguises itself as legitimate hardware. For example, an ‘alert’ may be sent to a user’s system recommending a virus scan, whereby the scan will deliver the malware.

Prevent a Trojan Horse by never downloading programs from unrecognized vendors.

Traffic Interception: Traffic interception occurs when a third-party acquires information sent between a user and the host. This is often used to acquire log-ins and valuable data.

Prevent traffic interception by avoiding compromised websites and encrypting your network traffic via VPN.

Will you be prepared if there is a cyber breach?

We will perform a network assessment and vulnerability test to discover critical threats to your system.

Contact us at [email protected] , 706.426.6313, or here. 

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