An introduction to the basics of cybersecurity for beginners
Cybersecurity is the most worrying issue as cyber threats and attacks continue to grow.
Attackers are currently utilizing more complex methods to focus on the frameworks. Individuals, small businesses, or large organizations are affected. All of these companies, IT or non-IT, have understood the importance of cybersecurity and have focused on taking all possible measures to address cyber threats.
With the digital danger and hacking game, associations and their workers should move forward in managing them. Since we like to connect everything to the Internet, this also increases the chances of weaknesses, security gaps, and defects.
Gone are the days when passwords were sufficient to protect the system and its data. We all want to protect our personal and professional information. Therefore, you should know about cybersecurity in order to ensure data protection.
So let's define cybersecurity.
Cyber security is the process and techniques used to protect sensitive data, computer systems, networks and software applications from cyber attacks. The cyber attacks are general terminology that covers a large number of topics. However, some of the most popular are:
• Manipulation systems and data stored therein
• Exploitation of resources
• Unapproved admittance to the objective framework and admittance to private data
• Disruption of the normal functioning of the company and its processes
• Using ransomware assaults to scramble information and blackmail cash from casualties
The attacks are now becoming more innovative and sophisticated, which can disrupt security and hack the systems. It is therefore a major challenge for any business and security analyst to master this challenge and defend oneself against these attacks.
To understand the need for cybersecurity measures and their practices, let's take a quick look at the types of threats and attacks.
Ransomware
Ransomware is a document encryption programming program that utilizes a one-of-a-kind strong encryption calculation to scramble the records on the objective framework.
The ransomware threat authors generate a unique decryption key for each victim and store it on a remote server. As a result, users cannot access their files from any application.
The ransomware authors take advantage of this and demand a substantial amount of ransom from the victims to provide the decryption key or to decrypt the data. However, such attacks guarantee data recovery even after the ransom has been paid.
Botnet attacks
Botnets were originally designed to perform specific tasks within a group.
It is defined as a network or group of devices connected to the same network in order to perform a task. Yet, this is currently utilized by troublemakers and programmers who attempt to get to the organization and infuse malignant code or malware to disturb its working. Some of the botnet attacks include:
o DDoS attacks (Distributed Denial of Service)
o Distribution of spam emails
o Theft of confidential data
Botnet attacks are commonly carried out against large companies and organizations because of the huge amount of data they have access to. Through this assault, the programmers can handle countless gadgets and bargain them for their underhanded thought processes.
Social engineering attacks
Social engineering is a common tactic that cybercriminals use to collect sensitive information from users today.
It can deceive you by showing attractive ads, prices, great deals, etc., and asking you to enter your personal and bank account details. Any information you enter here will be cloned and used for financial fraud, identity fraud, etc.
It's worth saying about the ZEUS virus that has been active since 2007 and is used as a social engineering attack method to steal victims' bank details. In addition to financial losses, social engineering attacks can download other destructive threats to the system in question.
Cryptocurrency hijacking
Cryptocurrency hijacking is the new expansion to this digital world.
As digital currency and mining become more popular, cybercriminals also make it one of them. They have found their nasty advantage in cryptocurrency mining which uses complex computers to mine virtual currencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Monero, Litecoin, etc.
Cryptocurrency financial backers and brokers are the vulnerable objective for this assault.
Cryptocurrency Hijacking, also known as "Cryptojacking". It is a program that allows mining codes to be silently inserted into the system. Hence, the hacker silently uses the CPU, GPU, and power resources of the attacked system to search for the cryptocurrency.
The technique is used to mine Monero coins in particular. Since mining is a complex process, it consumes most of the CPU resources, which affects system performance. Plus, it gets this done at all your expense, so the victim could end up with a huge electricity and internet bill.
This also shortens the life of the affected device.
Phishing
Phishing is a fraudulent act that involves sending spam email by impersonating that it came from a legitimate source.
Such emails have strong subject lines with attachments such as a bill, job vacancy, major offers from reputable mailing services, or important emails from senior company officials.
Phishing scams are the most common cyber attacks aimed at stealing confidential data. Such as login information, credit card numbers, bank account information, and so on. To avoid this, you should learn more about phishing email campaigns and how to prevent them. One can also use email filtering technology to avoid this attack.
Together with these, 2019 will seek the potential for biometric attacks, AI attacks, and IoT attacks. Many companies and organizations have witnessed widespread cyber-attacks and there is no end to them. Despite the constant security analysis and updates, the rise in the cyber threat is consistent. Hence, it pays to educate yourself on the basics of cybersecurity and its implementations.
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