With the advent of technology and the increasing interconnection of organizational systems and networks, effective security management and strategy are a necessity for organizations of all sizes and types.
Cyber security refers to the protection of devices, processes, infrastructure and assets of the organization from digital attacks, data theft, breaches, and unauthorized access.
Cyber security protects the data and integrity of computing assets belonging to or connecting to an organization’s network. Its purpose is to defend those assets against all threat actors throughout the entire life cycle of a cyber-attack.
TYPES OF CYBER SECURITY THREATS
Malware
Malware is a type of software designed to gain unauthorized access or to cause damage to a computer. It has been around for a long time, and continues to plague computers to this day. Malware is a catch-all word for any software designed to damage a computer or computer system.
The first widely spread malware, known as the Melissa Virus, was unleashed in 1999. Malware remains a dangerous weapon, used by cyber criminals to harvest information, commit fraud, or just cause havoc.
Cyber security strategies for malware
For both homes and businesses, good anti-malware software is essential. Anti-malware programs can both find and remove malware that has been installed on a computer, and prevent malware from installing itself in the first place.
Also essential is instructing users to practice common sense when using the internet: never open unexpected email or chat attachments, and be careful when clicking links on the internet if you can’t be certain where they’ll lead.
DoS (Denial of Service) Attacks
One of the simplest forms of cyber-attacks are DoS attacks which shut down a target’s servers, making it impossible to access their websites or use their online services.
This is most commonly done by flooding a target’s servers with traffic until they overload and crash. One of the most common forms of DoS attack involves getting large numbers of attackers to flood their target’s servers at once, making it almost impossible to block the incoming traffic.
Cyber security Strategies for DoS attacks
The simplest method for thwarting DoS attacks is having extra bandwidth. If you fear your business might be targeted for DoS attacks, simply having enough server space to handle the increased traffic can render the attacks moot. There are also third-party services that can help your company stay online during a DoS attacks.
Phishing
In a phishing attack, a cyber-criminal attempts to extract personal information out of you by tricking you into giving it to them.
However, many phishing scams involve tricking a victim into giving away their password for a single website or app. A recent phishing scam used Google Docs to trick users into entering their Google login information.
Cyber security Strategies for Phishing attacks
Phishing attacks are particularly annoying because they involve tricking users through the appearance of legitimacy; the Google Docs scam spread by tricking users into opening a shared document sent to them by someone they knew and submitting their login info. Their attackers could then steal that information and send the document to everyone on the victim’s contact list, causing the scam to spread rapidly.
The simplest way to combat phishing is to make sure employees know both of how common and damaging attacks can be; remind them to keep their guard up when checking emails and to report any email they find suspicious.
Additionally, have employees use two-factor authentication for their email accounts. This can prevent scammers from accessing compromised accounts.
In a nut shell
In today’s connected world, everyone benefits from advanced cyber defence programs. At an individual level or organizational level, a cyber-security attack can result in everything from identity theft and information, to extortion attempts, to the loss of data valuable to an organization.
Therefore securing your organizations cyber assets is essential to keeping your systems working. The organization must adapt the following security measures to avoid cyber-attacks: network security, website security, disaster recovery, information security, endpoint security and application security.