Cyber attacks technologies have become more sophisticated and sophisticated in the world. Any website is subject to these attacks, from which side is not clear, but you have to understand this since you use the Internet and enter your data. Yes, personal data is one of the tastiest things for intruders. They abuse your data, use it for their purposes, and even sell it.
Cybercrime is a whole world, an organization. Which can collect the information they need, change it by falsified method, manipulate it, and even threaten it with this information. To understand what we are talking about, what the threats are, where to look for them and what they are, we will give examples of the most common cyber threats in our time. We will provide a list of these threats and a description below.
To understand what we are talking about, what the threats are, where to look for them and what they are, we will give examples of the most common cyber threats in our time. The main thing to remember is that there are many cybersecurity myths that you should not believe. Then, we will provide a list of these threats and provide a description below.
1. Denial-of-service (DDoS) Attacks
DDoS attack 1 can be identified as an attack on system resources. It is run to distribute malware through many host machines that an attacker controls. The primary purpose of this attack is to get a denial of service. If a competitor does not need only an attacking target, but when this goal depends explicitly on a competitor, then, in that case, the attacker is ready to do more harm to his rival.
Also, DDoS may have another target for its attack – disabling the system to implement a different type of attack. In other words, it is the interception of a session to execute its attack. You probably think about which DDoS to attack. But DDoS is divided into different types, which we will consider below:
- TCP SYN flood attack. The attacker uses the buffer space while recognizing the transmission control session. It then throws a bunch of connection requests and creates a target system’s process queue inside. Then this target system fails, and the system fails. After that, the system is unusable.
- Teardrop attack. If this attack works, fragmentation in sequential Internet protocols is offset on the attacking field. The system tries to counter this and reconstruct the packages, but it fails. In this case, it is worth blocking ports 139, 445 and disable SMBv2 if you do not have patches to protect from these DDos.
- Smurf attack. This attack uses IP spoofing and ICMP to saturate the network with traffic. If you’ve heard the term echo queries, it’s used in this attack method. Use shutting down IP broadcast mailing on routers to protect your computer from this smurf attack.
- Ping of death attack. In the case of this method, the attacker uses IP-packs “ping.” Such packets are not allowed because of the size of the IP address, so the attacker has to fragment the IP packet. After such operations, the target system will not be able to collect packets because the buffer will be complete.
- Botnets are a vast number of bots to carry out DDoS attacks. These bots are infected with malware and are controlled by intruders. Botnets 2 target systems and are difficult to track.
2. Man-in-the-middle (MitM) Attack
Man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks occur when the user passes their data to the server but does not encrypt the data. You can check if you are at risk. Look at the URL, it should start with HTTPS, “S” shows that the data is encrypted. This attack aims to capture sensitive data when it is transmitted between the two sides. And if this data is not encrypted, it is easy to read all passwords and logins for the attacker. To warn yourself against this attack, you should install SSL(Secure Sockets Layer) on your site. Many hosting providers already use this certificate; it encrypts your data when used.
3. Phishing and Spear-phishing Attacks
These attacks are aimed at social engineering and play a prevalent role in cybercrime. They are easily caught, as these attacks are made through e-mail. Intruders distribute letters disguised as something familiar to your person or company to commit their fraud. By manipulating pressure on you, they force you to transfer your bank account data, some personal data, and others. You should be attentive and look at the address bar and the letter’s handwriting. If it seems strange to you, better send it to spam.
4. Drive-by Attack
This attack involves introducing a malicious script into the code of HTTP and PHP on unsafe sites to distribute malware. The user gets to the site, which is controlled by the intruder, and thus receives malware. Sites of this kind appear in front of you in the form of pop-ups or fall through the view of messages in email. In the case of this attack, the user does not need to press anything or move somewhere. This attack is embedded into the operating system or a web browser that contains a weak security system or lack of updates.
5. Password Attack
Passwords are most often used for any authentication in an information system. Therefore, this is one of the most common attack methods. The user’s password can be purchased in many ways: guess, get access to the database, password spraying, etc., we will highlight two main ways to get the password.
- Brute force. This method means selecting a password hoping that at least some will fit. Here you should include logic and stay all information about the user, his preferences, and what he is interested in, with these conclusions to guess what combination of numbers and letters he could put as a password.
- Dictionary attack. It would help if you remembered all the basic passwords that users can put. For example: 1111, qwerty, password1, and other similar passwords. After selecting all common passwords, you should encrypt the file in which they are contained and compare them with the dictionary of frequently used passwords. Set a lock policy to prevent an attacker from logging into your account, which will only give a certain number of login attempts or accounts. Use strong passwords so they can’t be cracked.
6. Adware
Adware 3 is advertising software that can be classified as a type of malware. It can hack into your browser, infect it, distribute spyware, and damage your device. Most often, adware appears on your window in the form of pop-ups. Users often react to this with ignorance, considering it harmless advertising. But this advertisement often hides links to various infected sites that aim to infect your computer.
7. Ransomware
This is ransomware 4. The purpose is to encrypt or block the user’s device to extort money. Intruders of this program assure you that they will immediately fix your device but do not give you any warranties. This program works according to this scheme: it encrypts the entire disk, does not give access to the operating system, blocks access to your screen, and extorts ransom.
8. Trojan Horse
This is a kind of “malware,” which differs from the virus in that it cannot block or infect files by itself. Let’s say this pest has other methods of attacking the victim. Trojan horse is looking for vulnerabilities, downloading from disk to social engineering techniques or other malicious code. This program is masked under a different function to get to the primary goal. This malicious software aims to exfiltrate user data and send them to the user, gain control over the infected device through the opening of backdoors, and other evil purposes. A computer Trojan, or just Trojan Virus, is a type of malicious code or software that looks legitimate but can take control of your computer. Source: https://howtofix.guide/trojan/
9. Spyware Malicious Software
The purpose of this program is to infiltrate your device, steal your data and sell them to third parties. This method is illegal because it is used without the user’s knowledge and aims to collect passwords, bank accounts, credit card numbers, and other data. Collected information about users is used in different ways, sometimes for financial purposes and sometimes for sale to third parties. Sometimes this type of malware collects confidential information about users and harms the browser, making changes that lead to a crash.
10. Malicious Cryptominers
These malicious crypto miners capture the idle computing power of the device with malicious code, which is later used for cryptocurrency mining. Naturally, this is done without the knowledge of users. This method is quite convenient for intruders, as it allows you to carry out any activity without installing the software.
Protection From Cyber Attacks Today
In this article, we covered both attacks and malware. By any means and methods, each pest from the above list tries to harm the device and the user. But this article is not about turning off your computer screen, throwing out your phone, and no longer using the Internet and communicating because there are attacks from cybercriminals. We have shown you how unsafe it is, but we can also offer you protection from these pests. This protection will control your network activities. It will encrypt your data and scan all files that come to you on your device.
We offer you to protect yourself from cyber security threats with Gridinsoft Anti-malware. Truth be told, this is the best cybersecurity tool available. Regain control of your privacy with a cybersecurity scanner, detector and remover that’s ultra-fast and lightweight – and 100% efficient. If you are still thinking, we offer an interesting article “15 Reasons to Choose Gridinsoft Anti-malware”, which will definitely clarify your understanding.
- DDoS attack A distributed denial of service attack is a cybercriminal network attack in which hackers flood websites or services with fake traffic from multiple “zombie devices”.
- Botnets attack is a collection of internet-connected devices, including personal computers (PCs), servers, mobile devices, and internet of things (IoT) devices unbeknownst to their owner.
- Adware is literally adware. Such a program is designed to force you to show ads.
- Ransomware is malware that encrypts the files on the victim’s PC, and then asks for the ransom payment. Ransomware injection is one of the most dangerous forms of cyber attacks.
