Before we find the common cyber threats in the world let us understand what cyber threats actually mean, Cyber Threats refers to malicious activities intended to steal or damage data or disrupt a digital stable well being. These threats exploit vulnerabilities in software, networks, and human behavior to gain unauthorized access, steal sensitive data, or disrupt operations.
From data breaches to ransomware attacks, cyber threats come in various forms and can have devastating consequences. In this blog post, we’ll explore some of the most common cyber threats facing the digital landscape, shedding light on their characteristics, impacts, and preventive measures.
TOP 15 CYBER SECURITY THREATS
- Ransomware Attacks
- Internet Of Things (IOT) Vulnerabilities
- Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks
- Supply Chain Attacks
- AI-Powered Cyber Threats
- Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs)
- Zero-Day Exploits
- Cloud Security Risks
- Mobile Malware and Vulnerabilities
- Insider Threats
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) Misuse
- Data Breaches and Privacy Violations
- Advanced Phishing Techniques
- Nation-State Cyber Attacks
- Cryptocurrency-Related Threats
COMMON CYBER THREATS
- Phishing Attacks: Trapping people to give their credentials or sensitive information with the help of false websites or sending email, sms or fake calls claiming that they are calling from the bank, and there are other ways also.
- Malware Infection: Malware is short for malicious software, it consists of a wide range of programs designed to infiltrate and damage the computer or the network itself.
- Ransomware attacks: Here the cyber criminal tends to steal, have custody over the data and asks for ransom in terms or money or any other thing in order to delete the information he has, and if that ransom will not be paid he threatens to leak the data.
- Distributed Denial of Service Attacks (DDoS): DDoS attacks involve flooding target systems or networks with an overwhelmingly large volume or amount of traffic thus, rendering them to be inaccessible to legitimate users and disrupting services.
- Insider threats: These involve individuals, within the organization, misuse their authorized access to the systems and all. They can leak information or even hack the system and demand for some ransom. This is mostly due to lack of trust and many other reasons.
- Credential Surfing: Here automated tools and all are used to systematically input stolen or leaked credentials into various websites and services to gain their access. Credentials are like usernames and passwords.
- Social Engineering: Social engineering tactics exploit human psychology to manipulate individuals into divulging confidential information or performing actions that compromise security, often through pretexting, baiting, or tailgating techniques.
IMPACTS OF CYBER THREATS
Cyber threats cause many impacts in one’s life like their thinking and lifestyle change a lot. Here are some examples of the impacts,
- Financial Losses
- Reputation Damages
- Legal and regulatory Consequences
- Operational Disruption
PREVENTIVE MEASURES
Cyber Security Awareness training can be held in order to spread knowledge about these attacks or we can use CTI, i.e, a process of collecting, processing, and analyzing information related to adversaries in cyberspace to disseminate actionable threat intelligence. It involves understanding the attackers’ motivations, modus operandi, and capabilities to inform cybersecurity mitigation measures via enterprise security teams.
Implementing Security controls to manage the network and conducting regular software updates keeps us up-to-date with our systems. The classical strong password and multi-factor authentication also help us from the threats and attacks. And last but not the least, incident response planning just in case what to do after the incident has taken place.
