The 8 Most Common Forms of Cyberattack in 2023
As cyber attacks become more advanced and intricate, being aware on the different kinds of threats you could face is vital.
There are a plethora of different attacks in the arsenal of the modern attacker, by preparing yourself and knowing what you’re up against, you can ensure that you’re secure.
In this article, we’re going to explain the eight most common forms of cyberattack that you could face in 2023, and how you can get started in protecting yourself today.
Phishing
Phishing — the most common form of attack — attempts to trick someone into providing personal details. Usually using realistic-looking emails, a phishing attack aims to trick the victim into thinking that the email came from a reputable source.
For example, common phishing attacks tend to be scammers pretending to be Amazon or a bank, trying to get card details from unaware victims. These scams are easy to fall for if you’re not vigilant.
Malware-based Attacks
Malware is software that is used in a malicious manner. This will be software within your system that is usually designed to do damage to your infrastructure. With this, hackers can easily cause significant damage throughout your system and steal your data.
Malware traditionally comes in the form of a trojan attack — named after the trojan horse, in which the malware is bundled with another piece of harmless software. This is an easy way to get the ‘payload’ (the virus) into your system to wreak havoc.
Enforcing security compliance throughout your organisation and educating on the dangers of downloading files from unknown sources is the best way to stop malware from entering your organisation.
Investing in good antivirus software throughout your business is also a way to stamp out malware at the roots. If you’re looking to get started with good antivirus and malware protection software, get in touch with us today.
Denial of Service (DOS)
Denial of service (DOS) attacks aim to disable the day-to-day infrastructure of a business. DOS attacks will usually send lots of requests to a server with the aim to overload it. This can deny service to your whole organisation and can be very crippling.
Tools like Azure DDOS Protect offer protection from DOS attacks by enforcing limits on the number of requests that can be sent to your server in one go. These attacks are can be stopped with the correct security — to make sure that you’re secure against DOS attacks, get in touch today.
Spoofing
Spoofing attacks are where the attacker masquerades as trusted personnel to persuade someone to do something. This attack uses social engineering to take advantage of a victim and manipulate them to the attacker’s ideal outcome.
IP Spoofing attacks are a specific kind of spoofing attack that comes with your typical DOS attack. This is when data packets are altered to appear that they’re coming from a trusted network, to gain access to the server. This is why monitoring network activity within your organisation is crucial but often overlooked.
Credential Stuffing
Credential stuffing is when an attacker uses stolen credentials to try to log into as many websites as possible. The aim is to target those who reuse credentials — when the credentials are breached on one website, credential stuffing allows the attacker to try to access other websites and accounts using the same credentials.
If a victim is successfully breached, a hacker could potentially gain control of every account they have — including work accounts. This is why encouraging and enforcing good password hygiene is crucial.
Supply Chain Attacks
Supply chain attacks are intricate attacks in which an attacker would target a third-party organisation to try to launch an attack into your system by infecting their services with some kind of payload.
This is usually to try to cause crippling damage to your organisation in a completely unexpected way or to cause damage to multiple organisations at once.
The aim of this is to access a secure system from a much less secure breach point, to try to gain access to the organisation and breach through the security that is currently protecting your system.
It’s therefore essential that you confirm that your supply chain is operating in a secure manner and can prove they have taken measures to to pretect you from a supply chain attack.
Insider Threats
Insider threats are when an insider — someone within your organisation — does something to harm your organisation. This is uncommon, but can sometimes happen as part of revenge attacks or other forms of corruption.
The number of types of attacks that can occur from an insider is endless — from theft, to sabotage, and even physical violence, these can be hard to protect yourself against.
The best way to make sure that this isn’t a threat to you is to make sure to monitor staff and security and ensure that employees only have access to what they need to complete their tasks.
Man-in-the-Middle Attacks
A man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack is when something is intercepting communications between two points. This can be either to collect information or possibly even sabotage the communication between two points.
This attack can be thwarted using end-to-end encryption. End-to-end encryption is a must for any modern organisation, as it ensures that all data is transmitted between two points securely.
How We Can Secure Your Business
Cybersecurity knowledge is of utmost importance for any organisation looking to fend off attackers and malicious users. By educating yourself and your organisation on these threats, you can ensure that your organisation is prepared and protected going forward.
There are software, tools and training available to help counteract cyber attacks, and they can be a huge help in keeping your organisation secure. If you’re looking to get started with security tools or awareness training, get in touch with us today. We’ll be able to help secure your organisation and ensure that your security posture is unbreakable.
