Ransomware

Ransomware is software that takes your data hostage and paralyzes your system while waiting for a ransom, most often in cryptocurrency.
Often attackers threaten to disclose certain personal data publicly. Attackers seek to create a sense of urgency and panic by issuing an injunction and sometimes a ransom that increases over time.

Intrusion Into Your Information System (IS)

In this attack, the attackers manage to break into your IS to alter its operation or steal data to resell it. In the first case, we are faced with a desire for destabilization or sabotage. In the second, it is more akin to espionage or theft.
Most of the time, a human error is at the origin of this intrusion which occurs via an email containing an attachment, a visit to a corrupted site, or a connection from an unsecured public network.

Account Hacking

Account takeover is taking control of an account from its owner. From then on, the attackers can access all the functionalities and information this account is entitled to. It can be an email account or social networks but also access to an intranet or management tools.
Most often, the attackers only had to force a password that was too simple or send a phishing email asking you to enter your password. Sometimes, they may use spyware capable of recording letters typed on a keyboard.

Identity Theft

Historically, it was about taking a person’s identity to carry out fraudulent actions. Today, criminals prefer to impersonate companies to trick their customers, place large orders or take out loans.
To do this, they do not hesitate to recreate a complete digital identity with email addresses and mirror sites similar to their victims. Some falsify purchase orders and invoices and even go so far as to register with the commercial register.

Phishing

Phishing, or Phishing in English, is not an attack but rather a way to prepare for future attacks such as account hacking, intrusion, or even Ransomware.
This involves pretending in an email to be a reliable and trustworthy source to deceive the victims and thus obtain confidential information, such as access codes, or encourage them to act: click on a malicious site, open an attachment, install software, enter a form, etc.

Denial of Service Attack or DDOS Attack

A denial of service attack aims to make an online site or service unavailable by saturating bandwidth or mobilizing system resources. This artificial peak in stress considerably slows down the operation. It can go as far as causing a breakdown and, therefore, a system shutdown with the consequences that can be imagined in the case of a merchant site, for example.
It also happens that this type of attack serves as a diversion for intrusions or data theft.

Transfer Fraud

Wire transfer fraud is a variant of identity theft that often uses the technique of Phishing. It consists of contacting an accounting department employee and obtaining from him that he “voluntarily” makes a transfer.
To do this, the attackers can pretend to be a supplier awaiting payment whose bank details have changed. Some even go so far as to pretend to be employees who have changed banks and thus have their wages paid. It can sometimes take several months before the company realizes the deception.
A variant of this type of attack consists of contacting the accounting department, pretending to be the manager or one of his representatives, and asking to execute transfers to accounts abroad urgently. The scenarios have often been very carefully studied to make them believable and create a sense of urgency.

Disfigurement

Disfiguration is a deliberately very visible and sometimes publicized attack that aims to damage the image and credibility of a company by modifying the appearance and content of its website or its accounts on the networks. Most often, the motivations are political or ideological. However, it is not uncommon for this type of attack to be identified as former employees acting out of revenge or on behalf of competitors.

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Nowadays, leaks of personal data are a phenomenon that we encounter both in our private and working lives. Anyone who processes personal data must avoid situations where personal data may be lost or stolen and take measures that reduce the risk of a security incident.

Companies and other organizations are increasingly on the alert. The question is no longer if a cyberattack will occur but rather when. For businesses, cyberattacks are often accompanied by data breaches. This overview summarizes important recommendations for action for companies. The proposed measures are, of course, not conclusive, and it must be checked in each case whether further measures might be necessary.

What Is A Data Breach?

A data breach or loss is a security incident in which hackers steal or gain access to sensitive data by bypassing security mechanisms. This data may contain confidential company information, such as credit reports or bank account credentials, or customers’ email addresses or social security numbers.

Hackers try to attack data leaks through methods that threaten cybersecurity, such as identity theft, introducing viruses into the system or manipulating the IT infrastructure to prevent users from accessing resources.

How Does a Data Breach Occur?

A data leak can occur in different ways, as shown by PIA’s guide on hacking. They can occur through web pages, email, use of applications or programs, and the theft of electronic devices such as computers, USB flash drives or external hard drives that store confidential information.

Although the causes behind an accidental data leak or the methods used by cybercriminals to steal data are quite varied, the most common types of data leaks are the ones we will see in the following points.

Accidental

“Unauthorized” data breach does not necessarily mean intentional or malicious. The good news is that most data breach incidents are accidental, Security Magazine mentions.

For example, an employee may inadvertently choose the wrong recipient when sending an email containing sensitive data. Unfortunately, accidental data breaches can still result in the same penalties and reputational damage, as they do not mitigate legal liabilities.

Disgruntled or ill-intentioned employee

When we think of data breaches, we think of data stored on stolen or misplaced laptops or leaked via email.

However, a large part of data loss does not occur in an electronic medium but through printers, cameras, photocopiers, removable USB drives and even immersions in discarded document containers.

Electronic Communications With Malicious Intent

Many organizations give employees access to the Internet, email, and instant messaging as part of their role. The problem is that all these media can transfer files or access external sources over the Internet.

Malware is often used to attack these media with a high success rate. For example, a cybercriminal could easily spoof a legitimate business email account and request that sensitive information is sent to them, as given in this spoofing guide. The user would inadvertently submit the information, which could contain financial data or sensitive pricing information.

Phishing attacks are another cyberattack method with a high success rate of data leakage. By clicking on a link and visiting a web page containing malicious code, you could allow an attacker to access a computer or network to retrieve the information they need.

5 Actions To Implement To Avoid Data Breach

Cybersecurity teams are faced with determined cybercriminals who are professionalizing in ransomware. Several actions are possible to anticipate this phenomenon, prepare for it… and learn for the next cyberattacks:

• Create internal company prevention campaigns to raise the awareness of each employee, especially with the democratization of teleworking.
• Set up secure access systems such as double identification during connections.
• Place restrictions on the email domains employees can send attachments to on company systems. Some email clients and applications allow you to organize people into groups or organizations and manage communication outside of the group to a degree. For example, Google Drive can be configured to generate a confirmation screen/warning when sharing access to a file with someone outside of the employee’s organization/group. Using these alerts can make it much less likely that data will be accidentally shared.
• Maintain a record of documentation of all past cyberattacks and technological developments. This record is called a compliance record.
• Simulate fictitious attacks to train and prepare teams to react well in the event of a cyberattack.

Also Read: Advances In AI-based Cybersecurity

The post Why Do Data Breaches Happen, And How To Protect? appeared first on TechReviewsCorner.