How cyber attackers compromise your network?

Like the industrial revolution gave us the side effect of pollution, the same way the most advanced technologies gave us the side effect of cyber crime. As per Hindustan Times, India is rated as the top most vulnerable country in cyber crime after China and Russia. With the rise in the technology, cyber crime is the biggest issue across the world.

Most common cyber attacks and way to avoid them

·         Malware: -  It is a code with malicious intent that typically steals data or destroys something on the system. It is mostly introduced through email attachments, software downloads or operating system vulnerabilities. The best way to avoid it is not to open emails or attachments from unknown sources and make sure your computers operating system have the most up-to-date security updates.

·         Phishing: - It often comes as a request via emails to click on different links and enter their personal data. Due to advanced technologies, phishing has become much sophisticated making it very difficult to segregate from a legitimate request.

Verify any requests that arrive in your mail. Don’t entertain anything which is from any unknown sources.

·         Password Attacks: - It is exactly what it sounds like; a third party tries to gain access to the system by cracking users password.

This works with software that includes brute force attack made to guess the password.

Using strong password is the only way to prevent this, using of lower and upper case, symbols and numbers, special characters and the length should be at least of 8 characters. It is also advised to change the password on a regular interval.

·         Denial of Service Attack: - Unless your company is huge, it is rare to get a target of the denial of service (DOS) attack. A DOS attack focuses on disrupting a service to a network by sending the high volume of data or traffic through the network. It may have serious consequences related to security and online access.

The best way to prevent DOS attack is to keep your system updated on regular basis and keep it secured as much as possible.

A survey revealed that 55 % of small business owners are been targeted by the cyber attackers. The main reason behind this is the negligence towards the cyber security. There are many ways through which anyone can restrict the cyber crime.

·         Strong Password: - Use 8 to 12 characters in password along with uppercase and lowercase and don’t forget to add special characters also and the most important, keep changing the password of a regular interval.

·         Two Factor Authentication: - Also called as multiple factor or multiple step verification is an authentication process which checks twice that the identity is authorized or not. It helps to make the life of cyber attackers difficult and reduces fraud risks.

·         Invest in Security Control: - You need to invest in basic security controls like a firewall and antivirus softwares.

·         Encrypt your Data: - Encrypt data on all devices including mobiles and computer. Make password mandatory to access the data.

·         Surf Smarter: - Even if you have firewalls and antivirus protection, that doesn’t mean your device is always safe from online attacks. Thoroughly screen attachment before downloading and don’t download from any unknown sources.

·         Security Audit: - In business sectors it is important to hire an IT professional to evaluate your company’s computer and network on regular basis.

·         Back up Data: - In the case of the data gets lost due to a virus or computer failure or stolen from USB drive, laptop etc you can easily recover it if you have done a backup of the data.

 

For more details about cyber attacks, you can visit the website http://auth-shield.com/.