The most common cyber attacks
The cyberattack is any malicious and deliberate attempt by hackers, foreign intelligence services, or cybercriminals, with the intent to expose the information system or infrastructure, to gain economic advantage depending on their motivation, or they might be doing it for political motives.
The information systems can be compromised in numerous ways, and for that reason, strong cybersecurity controls are more important now than ever.
As technology is increasingly emerging, cybercriminals work 24/7 to find new attack vectors to deploy harmful cyberattacks. Organizations, as well as individuals, have to look out for different kinds of cyberattacks that are coming by the dozens, ranging from phishing to a full-scale denial of service.
Cyberattacks can be categorized into 2 groups: passive and active attacks.
- Passive cyberattacks mostly employ covert methods to gain access to the computer to collect data without getting attention.
- By contrast, active cyberattacks are blatant attacks, which are highly malicious in nature. These attacks are destroying personal information, forcefully gaining access to the system.
It should also be noted that cybercriminals can use both of these methods for their purposes, and in this case, the passive attacks will be implemented first, then they launch an active attack to accomplish their goals. The following are only some of the most widespread forms of cyberattacks:
- DDoS attacks: overwhelm the network or server with unwanted traffic, making the network unavailable or crushing the system. These attacks can easily be implemented from literally any location, and therefore, it is difficult to find out who is responsible.
- Phishing: fraudulent use of e-communications to gain sensitive information of users, such as passwords, credit card information and more. Big organizations have long been at risk of these attacks due to their size.
- Ransomware attacks: can be spread to computers through links in emails, or by infected web sites. Technically speaking, malware blocks access to the system, and eventually encrypts the data.
It goes without saying that each organisation has something of value that is worth something to others. Despite the fact that cyberattacks are on the rise, there are effective defense methods. Companies and individuals must consider their vulnerabilities, and preventing the cyberattack at the earliest opportunity will tremendously reduce the likely damages.
