Keeping in mind the onslaught of cybercrimes in the past few years, the emergence of fraudsters, and the ever-evolving security regulations, there is no surprise why organizations and companies are making cyber security their top priority. Hackers aim to steal your sensitive information and your hard-earned money by targeting both government and private organizations. However, seeing the current trends, their focus has drifted towards attacking small businesses and individuals.
Cyber security is a buzzword, but do you know why it is essential. After all, you all are living in a digital world where data is everything. In the digital era, you need to understand that private information is much more prone to threats than ever before. The cases of data breaches and cases of identity theft are on the rise. Do you want to know about the data breaches that took place in 2021?
Read Next: 5 Worst Cases of Data Breaches happened in 2021.
Cyber attacks do not discriminate when it comes to industry, no matter the size of your company. Even though data breaches in large corporations and government organizations tend to be on top of the news, the truth is that small business are at the top of the list. Small businesses are generally under-protected, often because they can’t afford the same level of protection as large organizations. Cyber security is not only involved in organizations, but even personal computers, mobile phones, and tablets.
Before moving to the next chapter, you need to understand what is cyber security?
What is Cyber Security?
What exactly is cyber security and why does it matter cyber security matter to every person and organization? Cyber Security, also referred to as information technology security – refers to the range of techniques used to protect your networks, programs, hardware, software, sensitive data from an external attack from cybercriminals. These digital attacks are designed with the only intent of accessing, stealing or destroying your pertinent data to put a halt to normal business operations or gain control of sensitive information.
In the worst-case scenario, cyber attacks can also be used as a means to extort your hard-earned money. All the above risks make cyber security an urgent necessity for every organization, be it big or small. Government, corporate, and financial organizations deal with an unprecedented amount of information daily.
The data highly comprises sensitive information that can incur huge losses if deleted, leaked, or is exposed. Not having proper cyber security in your organization can put the entire organization at great risk, right from your employees to your valuable customers. Hence, cyber security has become a compelling necessity.
Protecting the organization against the threat of cyber-attacks should be the topmost priority. Businesses are becoming increasingly aware of the dangers lurking around their organization, that’s the reason they are doing their best to implement cyber security in their organization. By continuously updating their software, providing employees with cyber security training, both small and large organizations are finding ways to better equip themselves against the ever-increasing cyber-attacks.
What are the risks of Poor Cyber Security?
Poor cyber security comes with countless risks. In the hyper-connected world, attackers continue to innovate and find lew loopholes that they can exploit aggressively in your organization. Any vulnerabilities in your network system and no cyber security in your organization can lead to disastrous consequences for everyone.
Cyber Security is much more than a buzzword today, and that’s for a good reason. Failing to have adequate cyber security measures in place could harm your business beyond your imagination.
Here’re 6 ways poor cyber security hurts businesses.
- It has a broad and adverse impact on your clients and markets
- It could put your sensitive data at a great risk
- It could put your organization at risk for legal and regulatory fines
- It could put a halt to your running business operations
- It could reduce your resources for future business growth
- It may put your inventory management at a great risk
What is the Importance of Cyber Security?
In the digital world, dependency on the internet has become more intense. And the increasing dependency on the internet provides numerous opportunities to the fraudsters to deceit you and your sensitive data in case you’re not cautious. This is where cyber security comes into the picture.
If you are thinking you are safe and why do you need cyber security and that only bigger organizations get into the malicious trap of hackers, then you’re completely wrong! A normal customer, who’s connected to the internet if not vigilant enough can get easily trapped inside the net laid down by the cybercriminals.
Cyber Security is crucial when working with any business. It’s necessary to implement cyber security when working from your home computer. Cybercrimes are spreading like wildfire and damaging the reputation of a lot of companies.
Here’re some of the best reasons why Cyber Security is essential.
- Businesses and Individuals need protection
- It saves costs and protects you from identity thefts
- You can make a career in cyber security
- Cyber attacks are becoming more prevalent and sophisticated
- Cyber-attacks cause real-time threats
How can you safeguard yourself against cyber attacks?
Here’re some of the few tips that will help you stay protected from the ever-increasing cyber-attacks. Have a look!
- Use online banking safely
- Be careful while playing games online
- Update your software frequently
- Choose strong passwords and don’t forget to change them frequently
- Install antivirus software in your system
- Manage your social media footprint
- Keep yourself informed about the data breaches
- Don’t fall prey to identity thefts
- Keep a vigilant eye on your kid’s activities
- Install a firewall in your system
- Download VPN apps
- Don’t click on malicious links sent to you over the email
Types of Cyber Attacks that you need to know in 2022?
Our life is a beautiful game that revolves around the internet. And while the internet gives you numerous benefits and eases your life, it brings a lot of numerous threats too. These cyberattacks target everyone, but trends show how small businesses top the list. Thankfully, there are software and online security measures available in the digital era to protect your business from cybercriminals.
To help you and your business be prepared and secured for this new year, Unistal has identified the top cyberattacks for 2022 and what your team can do to prevent these cyberattacks.
Keep reading to equip your business with proper Cyber security for 2022 and beyond.
- Phishing
Phishing is one of the most common cyberattacks due to the high level of human interaction in the electronic and social media world. It comes as no surprise that office employees become tired after attending a lot of meetings with either juniors or seniors. At the end of the workday, human minds become tired, making humans more susceptible to making bad decisions. A hacker can destroy business integrity with one employee making a mistake.
Attackers know this, and they use the same information to flood employees with fake emails and social media handles. After all, a hacker needs only one loophole to destroy a business’s integrity.
How to prevent Phishing?
One of the most preventive measures is training and awareness. The organization must make its employees aware of the different types of cyber-attacks that exist in the digital era.
- Malware and Ransomware Attack
You already might be aware of the devastating impact caused by Malware and Ransomware when they enter your system. Data loss and hijacked software are some of the few consequences of Ransomware attacks in the absence of cyber security.
Hackers are well-aware of the fact that businesses keep all their data on servers with excellent internet connectivity. All you need is one crack in the security, that enables them to plan an attack.
How to prevent Ransomware?
- Always take backup of your data
- Don’t forget to update your software
- Avoid opening suspicious email attachments and unsafe links
- Do everything possible to avoid paying the ransom
- Install a firewall and use a VPN
- Insider Threats
It is one of the most common types of cyberattacks. It generally occurs when an employee intentionally or unintentionally misuses official information or authorized access in a malicious way that would either harm the reputation of the company or steal sensitive data. In most cases, this is due to the non-compliance with organization’s policies and procedures.
Not having a proper cyber security system and increasing cyber threats can disrupt normal business operations and damage your reputation as well. Well, do you want to know how to prevent insider cyber security threats? Well, have a look!
- Limit the authorized access given to employees
- Train employees about cyber security
- Implement two-factor authentication in your organization
- Install employee monitoring software
- Password Attacks
Passwords have always been a favorite target amidst the hackers, hence making it important for you to be familiar with the password attacks that are used most often. One of the biggest mistakes while creating passwords is using easy-to-guess passwords like 123456, or admin1234. Passwords can be done either ethically or criminally.
There are many reasons why attackers want to crack passwords. First, they try to obtain unauthorized access to restrict data and systems, to get a foothold in the company’s network, or to take control of an account and use it for malicious purposes. On the other hand, if you have proper cyber security in your organization, the chances of getting trapped by hackers are less.
How to prevent password attacks?
- Keep your passwords at least 12 characters long
- Includes a mix of special characters, capital letters, and lower case letters
- Change your password frequently and keep it strong
- Don’t write passwords or email your passwords
- Man-in-the-middle attacks
A man-in-the-middle attack is when an attacker grabs communication between two parties either to intrude or spy on one of the parties. This attack can potentially get unnoticed until it’s too late. The goal of this cyber attack is to steal sensitive data such as your credit card details and login credentials.
The information once gained is used for malicious purposes including bank transfer, identity, or data theft, thereby destroying your cyber security.
Here’s how to prevent Man-in-the-middle attacks:
- Implement a comprehensive email security solution
- Educate your employees on cyber security
- Keep your credentials safe and your passwords strong
Types of Cyber Security you need to know in 2022?
Cyber security protects the integrity of your computer network and system protecting hardware, software, and data from ongoing cyber-attacks. Without a proper cyber security system, hackers can easily enter your organization and gain a foothold to steal your confidential information and share it with third parties for malicious purposes.
Here’re the 5 types of Cyber security that you need to know in 2022:
- Application Security
In a world where technology is the key to staying competitive in any business, the demand for various application software is on the rise. Hence, it’s important to keep your applications safe and secure. This is where application security, a part of cyber security kicks in. Application security is a set of s measures and practices that only aim to keep your applications safe and maintain cyber security.
- Network Security
Today’s network architecture is complex and faces a lot of changes that give attackers a newfangled way to find and exploit new vulnerabilities. After all, you know that even a few minutes of downtime can cause widespread disruption and massive damage to an organization, these protection measures must be in place.
- Cloud Security
To be true, most of your online and social life is stored in the cloud. Hence, securing the different cloud platforms is of utmost importance as a massive amount of data is stored on these platforms. Improved cyber security is one of the main reasons why the cloud is taking over the world by storm. Cloud security is a discipline of cyber security that’s dedicated to securing your data stored on the cloud.
- IoT Security
IoT is a buzzword because every device you use is connected to the internet in some way or the other. As a result, anything connected to the internet can be vulnerable to cyber-attacks. The overall goal of IoT security, a part of cyber security is to protect the entire system from external attacks. IoT security helps you fend off all the vulnerabilities from a range of devices that pose a serious threat to your business and organization.
- Organizational Security
Organizational security is a set of rules and procedures imposed by an organization to protect its sensitive data from hackers. Implementing organizational security, a part of cyber security minimizes the risk of unintentional exposure of confidential information to dirty parties. So, if you haven’t implemented organizational security in your organization, it’s time to make a smart move now and make cyber security your top priority.
Want to learn more about the types of cyber security? Click here to know more
5 Ways to Improve your Cyber Security
Would you dare to take a ride without a belt loop? A big No, isn’t it? Or would you do rafting without a life jacket? No! So, how can you use your system without antivirus software? Whether you like it or not, you’re in the digital age. The world without the internet is unimaginable.
- Install an Antivirus in your system
Do you need an antivirus for your system? Does it protect your system from ongoing cyber-attacks? Is installing antivirus software the best way to improve cyber security? These are the questions that might come to your mind while installing one in your system. So, do you know the answer to these questions?
Having antivirus software will protect you from dangerous software such as Malware, Ransomware, Trojan, phishing scams, adware, spyware, etc, and will help you maintain cyber security. In addition to installing antivirus software in your system, it’s pertinent to take a proper backup of all your files such as photos, videos, important documents. Having a proper backup will help you treasure your important files even if you fall prey to a Ransomware attack.
Read more: Ransomware V/s Malware – The Difference You Should Know
- Weave strong, hard-to-guess passwords
There are some rules that you need to follow at the time of creating secure passwords for multiple platforms.
- First of all, don’t be a layabout. Indeed, 123456 may be an easy password to remember, however, it’s one of the easy-to-guess passwords for a hacker to crack.
- Secondly, be unique! Don’t include any kind of personal information in your password such as your date of birth, your phone number, etc.
- Thirdly, try to keep your password 15 characters long.
- Fourthly, mix and play with numbers and alphabets. The more you mix up the letters, play with numbers, the harder it is for the hackers to crack the password.
- Last, but not least, avoid using the keyboard paths as a password. So, don’t use keyword paths such as Qwerty@1234. It is amongst the easiest ones to crack.
Hence, follow the above rules to improve cyber security in not only your professional life but your personal as well.
- Update your software frequently
Just like cleaning is essential for your house, your devices need to be kept clean and stay updated with the recent technology trends in the market. It’s essential to keep your software updated. These updations are important as they fend off the possible vulnerabilities and threats that your system is prone to. Updating your software frequently is one of the best ways to improve cyber security.
So, if you’ve been constantly postponing software updation, it’s a gentle reminder to update the software as early as possible. You can also turn on the reminders for software updation or turn on the notification when a new update becomes available.
- Limit your social media presence
Limiting your social media presence is one of the best ways to improve cyber security. Here’re some ways to help you think about how you can manage your digital footprint on social media:
- Don’t share anything personal on your profile that can make it easy to identify and locate, like your location, your hometown, or phone number.
- Only be friends with your actual friends. Don’t accept a friend request from anyone you don’t know.
- Never share your location. Turn it off on social media handles such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. These social media apps give you an option to turn off or off the location.
- Know the privacy settings on social media and check them regularly before posting anything.
- Train yourself about cyber security
More awareness about the ongoing scams and how prevalent they are will help you keep a clear check on what’s happening in the digital world. Phishing is the most prevalent form of cyber attack that can inject Ransomware into your system, which can result in data loss or theft. Links in emails and phone scams are some of the easiest ways for cybercriminals to get their hands on your sensitive data.
Always be cautious of clicking on links or downloading any suspicious email attachments coming from someone you don’t know or you weren’t expecting. Hence, make sure to train your employees about cyber security if you want to run your business operations smoothly.
Read more: Data Security – A Comprehensive Guide
That’s a Wrap
With the digital world evolving as fast as it does today, understanding the importance of cyber security has become the need of the hour.
We hope this article gives you a clear idea about what is cyber security, its importance, different types of cyberattacks in the digital age, types of cyber security, and the top ways to improve your cyber security. Well, have a look and gain a comprehensive understanding of cyber security and leap ahead of the digital curve.
