In an increasingly digital world, there is an increasing number of cybersecurity risks that businesses need to address. Criminal hackers are good at spotting weaknesses, but organizations don’t do themselves a favor when they fail to adequately protect their systems.
IT Governance Confirmed More than 1,200 Public Data Breaches in 2021 average around 3 million pounds.
These numbers are growing and show the growing importance of effective cybersecurity. The key to preventing an attack is to understand how it occurs. In this blog, we take a look at the top five cybersecurity risks facing businesses and explain how you can prevent them.
1. Bad patch management
Patch management is an essential part of cybersecurity. A patch is an update of an application or software that fixes vulnerabilities and bugs.
When a new patch is released, organizations must apply the patch immediately. This is because vulnerabilities are disclosed, giving cybercriminals an opportunity to exploit them.
To ensure that patches are applied immediately, organizations typically create patch management programs. Through this process, notifications are sent to the person responsible for managing the application or software when a patch is released.
When creating a patch management program, organizations should follow the best practices outlined in Cyber Essentials or ISO 27001.
Cyber Essentials is a UK government initiative that outlines five key controls, including patch management, that can prevent up to 80% of cyberattacks.
Meanwhile, ISO 27001 is an international standard that describes best practices for information security management. Appendix A.12.6.1 of the standard addresses technical vulnerabilities and patches.
2. Phishing
Phishing is the most cost-effective and low-tech way to compromise sensitive data. It’s a scam and starts with malicious emails that look like genuine messages from a trusted organization.
Email attracts people. Often the recipient claims that they have received the item or that there is an account issue that needs to be addressed. The message then encourages you to follow the link and provide your personal information.
Although email systems are becoming increasingly proficient at detecting malicious email, cybercriminal tactics continue to evolve. So fake messages regularly enter people’s inboxes.
When that happens, organizations must rely on people’s ability to detect signs of phishing emails.
Organizations can also implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) to secure employee accounts. This is a security mechanism that requires you to enter a second piece of information in addition to your password to log on.
This is usually a one-time code sent to your phone, but advanced authentication systems require you to provide biometric information, such as a fingerprint or retina scan.
MFA authentication can also be used to protect your organization from the following listed risks:
3. Weak passwords
Despite all the advances organizations have made to secure their systems, cryptographic practices are still a huge problem. Most accounts are only protected with a username and password, and if a malicious actor compromises these details, it can do a lot of damage.
Passwords are usually compromised in one of two ways. The first is a phishing scam (described above), and the second is a brute-force attack, in which cybercriminals guess people’s passwords by trial and error.
Sometimes brute force attacks happen when people use passwords related to their personal life, such as the names of soccer teams or children they support.
Attackers can guess these details if they know the victim personally or if they can find information online (for example, by searching on social media sites).
Even if this information is not readily available, cybercriminals know that this kind of personal information is the most common password. So they can keep guessing popular names, football teams and other similar details.
Automated decryption machines allow crooks to guess thousands of passwords per second. This ensures that unambiguous or uncomplicated login credentials can be compromised within minutes.
Cybersecurity experts have traditionally advised people to create passwords that combine letters, numbers, and special characters. However, this advice is less effective as it usually produces a standard password with a string at the end.
Recent guidelines suggest that you can strengthen your passwords simply by making them longer. The more characters in the password, the more potential combinations there are.
A series of three unrelated words of at least 6 letters is safer than a single word along with numbers and special characters.
4. Ransomware
Ransomware is the fastest growing threat facing organizations. A type of malware that encrypts files to prevent victims from accessing the system. The attacker then sends a ransom note asking for money to be paid, usually in Bitcoin, to return the information.
This type of attack has become very popular with cybercriminal organizations because it is inexpensive to acquire malware and can easily be implanted into an organization’s systems through phishing emails and exploiting system vulnerabilities.
Another advantage of cybercriminals is the willingness of most victims to meet ransom demands. You can see the victim’s logic. You need access to your files to work, and if you don’t have access to those files, paying is the simplest way to get back to work.
But experts are urging organizations to oppose it. As they explain, there is no guarantee that attackers will keep their promise and return data once the payment is made.
Besides, paying only solves one part of the problem. Organizations still face outages for days instead of weeks when restoring systems, and are still subject to data breach notification requirements.
To mitigate the risk of ransomware, organizations must address both preventive and countermeasures. By implementing controls to protect against phishing and system vulnerabilities (using the advice covered in this blog), organizations can mitigate the risk of ransomware infection.
But there is no perfect defense. This is why organizations should regularly back up sensitive information and store it on external servers. This allows organizations to restore information in the event of a ransomware attack without dealing with criminal hackers.
5. Malware
Ransomware is the most talked about form of malware, but there are many other types that organizations should be aware of.
Malware comes in many forms and performs a variety of nefarious tasks. Some forms are relatively benign. For example, adware displays pop-up advertisements on the victim’s computer, while bots deplete the infected device’s resources to perform automated tasks.
In contrast, spyware monitors a user’s Internet activity and collects entered information such as username and password. The person responsible for planting the malware can then sell this information on the dark web, potentially compromising user accounts.
Similarly, viruses copy themselves and spread undetected through devices. They attach themselves to programs, files, and scripts with the intention of stealing information. Again, criminal hackers can use this information to sell on the dark web.
Organizations should implement anti-malware software and run regular scans to prevent malicious software from infecting their systems. Malware often gets into people’s devices through addicted attachments. Therefore, employees should receive employee awareness training to help them understand the risks of downloading files from untrusted sources.
fight cyber crime
The risks listed in this blog are only the starting point for cybercriminals. They have many tricks that can outperform the organization and their skills are constantly evolving.
To fully protect yourself from cybersecurity risks, you need expert assistance. Cyber Safeguard, a new service from IT Governance, is right here.
Combining consulting assistance, vulnerability scanning and employee awareness training, our experts ensure your organization is one step ahead of criminal hackers.
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