The cost of cyberattacks on a global scale is predicted to increase by 15% per year and surpass $10 trillion. Attacks by ransomware, which currently cost US firms $20 billion annually, are a significant component of this cost. In the US, a data breach typically costs $3.8 million. Public companies lose, on average, 8% of their stock value following a successful breach, which is another worrying fact. We\u2019ll discuss what a cyber security threat is, why it\u2019s important in engineering, and some examples in this post.<\/p>
The term \u201ccyber security\u201d covers all facets of safeguarding a company\u2019s assets, personnel, and operations from online dangers. A variety of cyber security solutions are needed to reduce business cyber risk as cyberattacks become more frequent and sophisticated and corporate networks become more complicated.<\/p>
The field of cyber security is broad and includes several academic fields. Its seven main pillars are as follows:<\/p>
The majority of attacks take place across networks, and network security solutions are made to spot and stop these attacks. These solutions incorporate data and access controls, including Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) application restrictions, Network Access Control (NAC), Data Loss Prevention (DLP), Identity Access Management (IAM), and NAC (Identity Access Management), to enact safe online use regulations.<\/p>
Securing the cloud becomes a top priority as businesses utilize cloud computing more and more. An organization\u2019s whole cloud deployment (applications, data, infrastructure, etc.) can be protected from attack with the help of cyber security solutions, controls, policies, and services.<\/p>
The zero-trust security concept advises enclosing data wherever it may be in micro-segments. Using endpoint security with a mobile workforce is one method to achieve that. Employing advanced threat prevention techniques like anti-phishing and anti-ransomware, as well as technologies that offer forensics like endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions, businesses may secure end-user devices like desktops and laptops.<\/p>
Mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones, are frequently disregarded but have access to corporate data, putting firms at risk from phishing, malicious software, zero-day vulnerabilities, and IM (Instant Messaging) assaults. These attacks are stopped by mobile security, which also protects operating systems and devices from rooting and jailbreaking.<\/p>
Although deploying Internet of Things (IoT) devices undoubtedly increases productivity, it also exposes businesses to new online threats. Threat actors look for weak devices that are unintentionally connected to the Internet in order to utilize them for illicit purposes like gaining access to corporate networks or joining another bot in a large bot network.<\/p>
Like anything else that is directly connected to the Internet, web apps are a target for threat actors. Since 2007, OWASP has kept track of the top 10 risks to serious online application security issues such as cross-site scripting, injection, and weak authentication, to mention a few.<\/p>
The traditional security paradigm focuses on the perimeter, creating fortified walls around a company\u2019s most important assets. This strategy has a number of drawbacks, including the possibility of insider threats and the quick demise of the network perimeter.<\/p>
Here are a few current examples of cyber security that affected the entire world.<\/p>
A supply chain attack against the US-based remote management software vendor Kaseya was made public on July 2, 2021. The business disclosed that ransomware could be installed on consumer computers by attackers using its VSA solution.<\/p>
This enormous, extremely creative supply chain attack was discovered in December 2020 and was given the name SolarWinds in honor of its Austin-based victim, an IT management company. It was carried out by APT 29, a gang that regularly commits cybercrime and is linked to the Russian government.<\/p>
Amazon Web Services (AWS) was the victim of a significant distributed denial of service (DDoS) assault in February 2020. A 2.3 Tbps (terabits per second) DDoS assault that had a request rate per second (rps) of 694,201 and a packet forwarding rate of 293.1 Mpps was experienced by the company and mitigated. It\u2019s regarded as one of the biggest DDoS attacks ever.<\/p>
A significant cyberattack against Microsoft Exchange, a well-known enterprise email server, was launched in March 2021. It made use of four different zero-day flaws found in Microsoft Exchange servers.<\/p>
Three attackers broke into Twitter in July 2020 and took control of well-known Twitter accounts. They carried out social engineering attacks\u2014later recognized by Twitter as vishing (phone phishing)\u2014to acquire employee credentials and gain access to the company\u2019s internal management systems.<\/p>
Cybersecurity threats are actions taken by people with malicious intent in order to steal data, harm computing systems, or disrupt them. We go into more detail about each of these categories below. Common categories of cyber threats include malware, social engineering, man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks, denial of service (DoS), and injection attacks.<\/p>
Cyber threats can come from a wide range of sources, including adversarial nation-states and terrorist organizations, lone hackers, and legitimate users like employees or contractors who use their privileges for bad purposes.<\/p>
Here are a few typical sources of cyber security threat to businesses:<\/p>
Although cybersecurity experts put a lot of effort into closing security gaps, attackers are constantly looking for novel ways to avoid IT detection, get around defenses, and take advantage of developing weaknesses. The most recent cybersecurity risks are reinventing \u201cknown\u201d risks by utilizing work-from-home settings, remote access technologies, and new cloud services. Among these rising threats are:<\/p>
The term \u201cmalware\u201d describes nefarious software variations, such as worms, viruses, Trojan horses, and spyware, that grant unauthorized access or harm a computer. Attacks by malware are becoming more \u201cfileless\u201d. They are made to avoid common detection techniques, like antivirus software that checks for malicious file attachments.<\/p>
Ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts files, data, or systems and demands a ransom payment from the cybercriminals who attacked the system in order to unlock it. If the ransom is not paid, the data may be erased, destroyed, or made public. State and local governments have been the target of recent ransomware attacks because they are easier to hack than organizations and are under pressure to pay ransom in order to restore the websites and applications that citizens depend on.<\/p>