What are the different types of cyber threats?
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Removable media such as flash drives.
Brute force attack using trial and error to decode encrypted data.
Web or email attacks.
Unauthorized use of your organization’s system privileges.
Loss or theft of devices containing confidential information.
Cyber threats can originate from a variety of sources, from hostile nation states and terrorist groups, to individual hackers, to trusted individuals like employees or contractors, who abuse their privileges to perform malicious acts.
Common Sources of Cyber Threats
Here are several common sources of cyber threats against organizations:
Nation states—hostile countries can launch cyber attacks against local companies and institutions, aiming to interfere with communications, cause disorder, and inflict damage.
Terrorist organizations—terrorists conduct cyber attacks aimed at destroying or abusing critical infrastructure, threaten national security, disrupt economies, and cause bodily harm to citizens.
Criminal groups—organized groups of hackers aim to break into computing systems for economic benefit. These groups use phishing, spam, spyware and malware for extortion, theft of private information, and online scams.
Hackers—individual hackers target organizations using a variety of attack techniques. They are usually motivated by personal gain, revenge, financial gain, or political activity. Hackers often develop new threats, to advance their criminal ability and improve their personal standing in the hacker community.
Malicious insiders—an employee who has legitimate access to company assets, and abuses their privileges to steal information or damage computing systems for economic or personal gain. Insiders may be employees, contractors, suppliers, or partners of the target organization. They can also be outsiders who have compromised a privileged account and are impersonating its owner.
Types of Cybersecurity Threats
Malware Attacks
Malware is an abbreviation of “malicious software”, which includes viruses, worms, trojans, spyware, and ransomware, and is the most common type of cyberattack. Malware infiltrates a system, usually via a link on an untrusted website or email or an unwanted software download. It deploys on the target system, collects sensitive data, manipulates and blocks access to network components, and may destroy data or shut down the system altogether.
Here are some of the main types of malware attacks:
Viruses—a piece of code injects itself into an application. When the application runs, the malicious code executes.
Worms—malware that exploits software vulnerabilities and backdoors to gain access to an operating system. Once installed in the network, the worm can carry out attacks such as distributed denial of service (DDoS).
Trojans—malicious code or software that poses as an innocent program, hiding in apps, games or email attachments. An unsuspecting user downloads the trojan, allowing it to gain control of their device.
Ransomware—a user or organization is denied access to their own systems or data via encryption. The attacker typically demands a ransom be paid in exchange for a decryption key to restore access, but there is no guarantee that paying the ransom will actually restore full access or functionality.
Cryptojacking—attackers deploy software on a victim’s device, and begin using their computing resources to generate cryptocurrency, without their knowledge. Affected systems can become slow and cryptojacking kits can affect system stability.
Spyware—a malicious actor gains access to an unsuspecting user’s data, including sensitive information such as passwords and payment details. Spyware can affect desktop browsers, mobile phones and desktop applications.
Adware—a user’s browsing activity is tracked to determine behavior patterns and interests, allowing advertisers to send the user targeted advertising. Adware is related to spyware but does not involve installing software on the user’s device and is not necessarily used for malicious purposes, but it can be used without the user’s consent and compromise their privacy.
Fileless malware—no software is installed on the operating system. Native files like WMI and PowerShell are edited to enable malicious functions. This stealthy form of attack is difficult to detect (antivirus can’t identify it), because the compromised files are recognized as legitimate.
Rootkits—software is injected into applications, firmware, operating system kernels or hypervisors, providing remote administrative access to a computer. The attacker can start the operating system within a compromised environment, gain complete control of the computer and deliver additional malware.
Cyber threats change at a rapid pace. Tactics and attack methods are changing and improving daily.
Cyber criminals access a computer or network server to cause harm using several paths. This is also called an attack vector.
Common ways to gain access to a computer or network include:
1) Removable media such as flash drives
2) Brute force attack using trial and error to decode encrypted data
3) Web or email attacks
4) Unauthorized use of your organization’s system privileges
5) Loss or theft of devices containing confidential information
Types of cyber threats include:
1) Malware
Malware is also known as malicious code or malicious software. Malware is a program inserted into a system to compromise the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of data. It is done secretly and can affect your data, applications, or operating system. Malware has become one of the most significant external threat to systems. Malware can cause widespread damage and disruption, and requires huge efforts within most organizations.
Spyware, a malware intended to violate privacy, has also become a major concern to organizations. Although privacy-violating malware has been in use for many years, it has become much more common recently. Spyware invades many systems to track personal activities and conduct financial fraud.
Organizations also face similar threats from several forms of non-malware threats. These forms of cyber threats are often associated with malware. A more common form is phishing. Phishing involves tricking individuals into revealing sensitive or personal information.
2)Ransomware
Ransomware prevents or limits users from accessing their system via malware. Ransomware asks you to pay a ransom using online payment methods to regain access to your system or data. Online payment methods usually include virtual currencies such as bitcoins. Ransomware is one of the most widely used methods of attacks.
Ransomware enters computer networks and encrypts files using public-key encryption. Unlike other malware, this encryption key stays on the cyber criminal’s server. Cyber criminals will request ransom for this private key. Cyber criminals are using encryption as a weapon to hold the data hostage.
Ransomware is hard to detect before it’s too late, and ransomware techniques continue to evolve.
3) Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks
DDoS attacks make an online service unavailable by overwhelming it with excessive traffic from many locations and sources. Website response time slows down, preventing access during a DDoS attack. Cyber criminals develop large networks of infected computers called Botnets by planting malware. A DDoS attack may not be the primary cyber crime. The attacks often create a distraction while other types of fraud and cyber intrusion are attempted.
4) Spam & Phishing
Spam includes unwanted, unsolicited, or undesirable messages and emails. Phishing is a form of social engineering, including attempts to get sensitive information. Phishing attempts will appear to be from a trustworthy person or business.
Cyber criminals pretend to be an official representative sending you an email or message with a warning related to your account information. The message will often ask for a response by following a link to a fake website or email address where you will provide confidential information. The format of the message will typically appear legitimate using proper logos and names. Any information entered into the fake link goes to the cyber criminal.
5) Corporate Account Takeover (CATO)
CATO is a business entity theft where cyber thieves impersonate the business and send unauthorized wire and ACH transactions. The unauthorized funds are sent to accounts controlled by the cyber criminal.
Many businesses are vulnerable to a CATO attack. Institutions with weak computer safeguards and minimal controls over online banking systems are easy targets. This form of cyber crime can result in large losses. Cyber criminals use malware to infect a computer through e-mail, websites, or malware disguised as software.
6) Automated Teller Machine (ATM) Cash Out
ATM Cash Out is a type of large dollar value ATM fraud. Cash-outs involve simultaneous large cash withdrawals from several ATMs in many regions. It may also include large withdrawals at one ATM.
The Cash Out usually affects small-to medium-sized financial institutions. The attack involves changing the settings on ATM web-based control panels. Cyber criminals change the ATM’s dispense function control to “Unlimited Operations.” The “Unlimited Operations” setting allows withdrawal of funds over the customer’s account balance or beyond the ATM’s cash limit. Stolen ATM or debit card information is often used to withdraw the funds. As a result, your financial institution can suffer large dollar losses.