These are difficult times in the world of cybersecurity, as experts come under more and more pressure to be able to protect the security of networks of businesses, organizations, public administration and more. According to a press release published in March 2022 on the website of the UK government, in which the findings from a report by the government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport were discussed, businesses and charities are having to tighten up their cybersecurity even further because the frequency of cyberattacks is increasing.
Over the last 12 months, more organizations had reported cybersecurity breaches. In the report, almost one in three businesses declared they experienced either breaches or attacks at least once per week. Below is a look at some of the most common types of cyberattacks, some cybersecurity fundamentals and firstly how you can be protected through using a trusted provider.
Protecting your network
If you’re a business, charity or organization and are looking to ramp up the security of your network, you may wish to consider a provider like Perimeter 81. This company’s platform makes it much easier to manage your network security, which you can do all from a single dashboard if you invest in the platform. The setup is straightforward, and you can configure it quickly. Not only can you save time on configuring your cybersecurity, but they will also save you time on network deployment and helpdesk support.
Naturally, as a business or organization, you want to cut costs wherever it’s safe and non-detrimental to your business to do so. Investing in a trusted provider will help you with this. In fact, you can cut the total cost of ownership (TCO) by as much as 60%. This is because using a platform will help you to eliminate some of the costs of data center hosting, of the maintenance and installation of hardware, and helpdesk incidents.
Good, strong cybersecurity is essential, as threats and attacks are on the increase. Hackers are creating new ways constantly to breach cybersecurity networks. Understanding the fundamentals of cybersecurity is paramount so that you can protect yourself adequately against them and tighten up your cybersecurity from there.
Common cybersecurity attacks
Unfortunately, business and organizations face a variety of threats. Here are some of the most common ones:
Ransom ware
Falling foul of ransomware is particularly damaging. It involves holding a computer or a system hostage until the business owner meets the hacker’s demands. In this attack, the target downloads the ransomware from a website or from within an email attachment, and then this ransomware encrypts the targets workstation. It can attack more than one party by denying access to numerous computers or by targeting the central server.
Web attacks
Web attacks entail targeting web-based applications. This kind of attack includes cyber assaults such as SQL injections, parameter tampering and cross-site scripting.
Denial of service (DOS) and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks
These attacks are especially malicious but whereas with some attacks, the hacker benefits from the attack, in these types the hacker is merely interrupting service. A successful attack can force the system to come offline, which then leaves it more vulnerable to other attacks.
In a DoS attack, the hacker simply overwhelms a server with requests. The server struggles to respond to all these requests and either slows down or collapses completely. DDoS attacks also drain a system’s resources. These attacks are triggered by a host of malware-infected systems controlled by the cyberhacker.
The fundamentals of cybersecurity
When it comes to forming your cybersecurity strategy, there are some fundamental elements to consider:
Managing assets
To protect your network, you should know what assets are part of your network. Understanding the devices and systems connected to it is the first step in closing any gaps in your network and protecting it.
Managing risks
Often, you’ll identify some security risks when you’re identifying your assets. Conducting a risk assessment can determine cybersecurity risks to your network and the potential impact, and then you can take steps to protect yourself against them.
Managing access
Managing access means deciding who has access to your system and the level of access they need. It is necessary? You’ll have to set out policies and classify data, decide access and levels of access privilege.
Threat management
This means making yourself aware of vulnerabilities in your system and how a hacker may exploit this. You’ll have to manage vulnerability, in which you’ll run vulnerability scans, and conduct penetration testing and patch management.
Security control
Security control consists of a range of physical, administrative and technical controls to stop access to sensitive information. This can include network security, content filtering, endpoint security, segmentation of networks, multi-factor authentication and more.
Disaster recovery and business continuity
This is all about the contingency plans and systems you have in place to keep your IT infrastructure up and running when an attack strikes. DDoS attacks, power grid failures and other events that can damage your infrastructure.
Managing incidents
What do you when a security breach takes place? Your incident management policies and procedures will address the circumstance. A solid incident management framework is likely to consist of containment, eradication, recovery, the learning of lessons from the incident and preparation for if the specific circumstance should it materialize again.