CYBER SECURITY

 What is Cybersecurity?

Cybersecurity is means securing your system, application, information, etc., from cyber-attacks. It aims to reduce the risk of cyber-attacks and protect against the unauthorized exploitation of systems, networks, and technologies.

Cybersecurity applies in various contexts, from business to mobile computing, divided into a few common categories.

1. Network Security: The technology used to secure the accessibility or integrity of the computer network using hardware and software technologies.
2. Application Security: Process of adding a\security features in the software applications in a computer.
3. Information Security: Protects the data in the system.
4. Operational Security: It includes processes for protecting data assets.
5. Disaster
   
   
   
   
   recovery and business continuity: It tells how an organization responds to data loss or operations.
6. End-User Education: It is the information given to people in an understandable language which will help them learn how to secure their systems.

 

 

Cyber Threat

It is s malicious activity which steals, damage, or disrupts your digital data and life.  

A cyberattack is an attack on our systems through cyberspace. While Some cyberattacks are a nuisance, but some are serious which are even threatening human lives. Cyber threats are to be taken seriously by everyone. Cyber-attacks can cause a fault in military equipment and can break national security secrets. It can result in the stealing of valuable, sensitive, and important data. They can disrupt phone and computer networks or paralyze systems, making data unavailable. 

We see and hear many cybercrimes taking place every day, increasing at a very high rate. However, it is shocking to know that there are 1.5 million cyber-attacks every year, which means that over 4,000 attacks a day, 170 attacks every hour, or nearly three attacks every minute. 

 

 

Types of Cyber Security Threats:

There are six most common cybersecurity threats. These are as follows:

1. Malware: It corrupts the data or takes over your system.
2. Phishing: Suspicious email is sent in which if the user opens the email, they end up disclosing their personal information.
3. Spear Phishing: It is a form of phishing where the mail is sent to the victim from a known or trusted person's account.
4. Man in the Middle (MitM) attack: An attack where the attacker includes themselves in the middle of the conversation and pretends to be one or the other among sender and receiver.
5. Trojans: This malware misleads users to its work and enters their system and tries to take their money using their information.
6. Ransomware: The victim's data is encrypted, and then the victim cannot have access to his files in the system. Then, a certain ransom is demanded in return for access. Ransomware can be a slight nuisance or a severe case. For example, in 2018, the entire city of Atlanta was locked down due to ransomware.
7. Denial of Service attack or Distributed Denial of Service Attack (DDoS): The attacker takes over many devices and uses them to stop the features of a target system.
8. Attacks on IoT Devices:  IoT devices like industrial sensors are vulnerable to multiple types of cyber threats. These include hackers taking over the machine to make it part of a DDoS attack and unauthorized access to data being collected by the device.
9. Data Breaches: It is stealing data for crime or for taking identity.
10. Malware on Mobile Apps: Mobile is attacked by malware through various app downloads, websites, phishing emails, or text messages. 

Emerging Cyber Threats

The count of cyber threats are never stable. On the contrary, there are a lot of new ones which are created from time to time.

One can take several steps to prevent these attacks. 

1. Strong password: The passwords that we set for our account should be complex, set tricky passwords, and use symbols.
2. Use Anti-virus Software: One should have an antivirus installed in their system. The antivirus software will protect viruses as well as will warn the user if they are attacked.
3. Caution against phishing attacks: These emails, as mentioned above, look genuine but be careful! If the email has an attachment with it, then don't open it until you are 100% sure that the email is real.

 

 

***...Be Smart, Stay Safe...***

By: Sanjeevani Agarwal